Hoarding disorder is a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder that is characterized by a difficulty of discarding or giving away items because of the alleged need to have them (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). There are many things that contribute to people developing this disorder, such as biological, psychological, and social factors. In the case of Jenny Irvine, a 35-year-old woman, symptoms started at a young age and developed into a serious case of hoarding disorder that she eventually sought out treatment for. In analyzing Jenny’s scenario, it is clear that there were major factors that played into her development hoarding disorder that can be traced back to her childhood through evaluating her symptoms and background information provided. Jenny Irvine is the daughter of Paul and Grace Irvine. She has two children, Claire and Jeremy, and is divorced to her husband, Steve. Jenny graduated from college with a degree in both English and Communications. She used to work at a university to help doctoral students prepare their dissertations, but is currently unemployed. After Jenny’s hoarding symptoms began to significantly impact her and her family’s lifestyle, Steve decided to file for divorce and took the children with him to North Carolina where he accepted a new job offer. Although Jenny has children, she currently lives alone since her husband left and has been very distant with her loved ones, rarely leaving the house or answering any phone calls. Due to her
People with hoarding behavior also may be suffering from a variety of other disorders. Many hoarders have problems with anxiety, separation anxiety, and attachment disorder (HelpGuide, 2010). Someone with separation anxiety and attachment disorder feels afraid to be apart from a certain person or object or is fearful of being alone. People with these attachment disorders or other attachment problems have difficulty connecting to others and
Individuals accumulate large numbers of items hat fill up and clutter active living areas to the extent that their intended use is no longer possible (2014). We see examples of this disorder by the mountains of containers of Chinese take-out and pizza boxes and the way he stores the mutilated remains of his victims in Tupperware containers. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder was ruled out because didn’t display obsessions or compulsions
Hoarding is not currently considered an illness on its own right. Compulsive hoarding has been treated as symptom or subtype of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (Cluttergone).
“I know my hands are clean. I know that I have touched nothing dangerous. But… I doubt my perception. Soon, if I do not wash, a mind numbing, searing anxiety will cripple me.
Sarah’s mom suffered from effects related to diabetes and passed away and her father passed away from cardiac dysfunction. Also, Sarah and her husband begin to have problems with her marriage. In her early 40’s, I decided that Sarah and her husband were in an unhealthy relationship and needed to file for divorce and live separate lives. She begins to focus more on herself and being with her children and close friends after the divorce. Ten years later, Sarah finds a new romance and is again married. At this point in adulthood, Sarah’s children are all grown up at this point in adulthood. Hannah graduated from school, gotten married, and has a child named Lucy. Sarah’s other child Will, has gone to college and is attending a top-ranked program for engineering. Sarah’s health must be watched closely during this stage in adulthood because previous stressors in her life caused significant weight changes earlier on in adulthood. As Sarah enters late adulthood, she comes to terms with her identity and is always finding new ways to engage in different
Ingrid is a social worker, wife, and a mother who lives in a two story colonial home with her husband and two daughters, aged 8 and 15 years old. She was active in the school of her children, serving on committees and volunteering to read in the classroom. She attended to church habitually, though her husband did not accompany her. Her interests included swimming, snorkeling, and hiking. Not only was she close to her immediate family, but also maintained frequent contact with her college friends living throughout the country. As well, Ingrid requires moderate assistance with most of her basic activities of daily living (BADL).
Caroline Collins is a 38-year-old white female of average height and weight, appearing her stated age, who referred herself for a mental health assessment through the recommendation of her husband to go for counseling regarding her situation. Caroline wore a blue hospital scrubs and she appears exhausted. The client has been married for 15 years to her husband Alex. She has two children, a girl named Josephine, age 14, and a boy, Carter, age 12. Caroline works a rotating shift at the hospital on the surgical floor. She begins the sessions by explaining that she has trouble with certain fears such as, driving, dark places, and standing in line also stressed and worried. She feels
The following is an overview about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), one of the most difficult psychiatric illness to be understood. The way of doing certain behaviors, thoughts or routines repeatedly is the essential condition of a person with OCD. In general, it is known and described by someone who is extremely perfectionist and meticulous. Unfortunately, they do realize those habits and be able to stop doing it. Common behaviors are such as checking locks, doors, stove bottoms, and lights, hand washing, counting things, or having recurrent intrusive thoughts of hurting oneself or somebody else.
Joan’s family was selected for this because she has experienced parenting, marriage, and divorced at the tender age of twenty-five. She has also taken on other significant responsibilities such as purchasing a home and a vehicle in addition to raising two children solely on her income. Joan is driven and motivated to pursue and finish her education; rear her children in a stable home environment, despite facing the challenges of single parenting. She does not receive any type of financial spousal or child support from her ex-husband. Joan’s ex-husband is currently employed as a police officer and lives with another woman. The ex-husband rarely interacts with the children; he sees them only when his mother keeps them for Joan. Joan heavily relies on her parents and other family members to assist her with finances and childcare.
Imagine feeling like a slave in your own body. Being forced to do ridiculous rituals and having constant compulsions to do things that you know don’t make sense. This is what it is like to live with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). In the United States alone, over 2 million people suffer from OCD (Parks, 2011) but no one has found the cause of this disorder. It affects people of all races, genders and socioeconomic backgrounds (Parks, 2011). Since it’s discovery and modern conceptualization, there has been an ongoing debate whether OCD is caused by environmental factors or if it is inherited through genetics. However, since both sides of the debate raise a solid argument and there is not enough hard evidence, the source of the disorder
Up to 5% of the world’s population displays some sign of clinic hoarding. Hoarding involves the compulsive acquisition and accumulation of objects, animals, and trash and other debris. The hoarder, who often has another mental illness such as depression, is unable or unwilling to discard items, frequently resulting in health and safety hazards to those who reside in or visit the dwelling (Hurd, 2015). Hoarding can affect many aspects of one’s life causing severe problems and can begin as early as adolescent years continuing through elderly life.
Obsessive compulsion disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder described by irrational thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead you to do repetitive tasks (compulsions) (Obsessive Compulsion Disorder, 2013). When a person has obsessive-compulsive disorder, they may realize that their obsessions aren't accurate, and they may try to overlook them but that only increases their suffering and worry. Eventually, you feel driven to perform compulsive acts to ease your stressful feelings. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is often driven by a reason, cause, or fear for example, a fear of germs. To calm the feeling of this fear, a person may compulsively wash their hands until they're sore and chapped. Despite their efforts, thoughts of obsessive-compulsive behavior keep coming back. This leads to more ritualistic behavior and a brutal cycle of obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD is the fourth most common mental disorder, and is diagnosed nearly as often as asthma and diabetes (Who We Are, 2012). In the United States, one in 50 adults suffers from OCD. Obsessive compulsive disorder affects children, adolescents, and adults. About one third to one half of adults with OCD report a childhood onset of the disorder, they felt these anxieties but were not diagnosed or felt no need to be diagnosed until the compulsions over whelmed them (Who We Are, 2012). The phrase obsessive compulsive has been used to describe excessively meticulous, perfectionistic, absorbed, or otherwise fixated person. While
Obsessive-compulsive disorder, also known as OCD causes people to suffer in silence and secrecy and can destroy relationships and the ability to work. It may bring on shame, ridicule, anger, and intolerance from friends and family. Although it has been reported in children, it strikes most often during adolescence or young adult years. The illness can affect people in any income bracket, of any race, gender, or ethnic group and in any occupation. If people recognize the symptoms and seek treatment, OCD can be controlled.
Obsessive compulsive disorder is a disease that many people know of, but few people know about. Many people associate repeated washing of hands, or flicking of switches, and even cleanliness with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), however there are many more symptoms, and there are also explanations for those symptoms. In this paper, I will describe what obsessive compulsive disorder is, explain some of the effects of it, and explain why it happens. I will also attempt to prove that while medication doesn’t cure OCD, it vastly improves one’s quality of life. Furthermore I intend to show that behavior therapy (cognitive based therapy) is another useful tool in helping a person to overcome their OCD.
Some of the symptoms of Jenny’s condition was that she first kept a messy desk at school, in which her teachers would complain about. She then began hiding her toys from her father and thus, became very emotionally attached to them. After she was put on medication for her ADHD, she was having troubles making simple decisions such as what to wear for the day, and had extreme troubles with throwing away boxes, in which she justified that “she knew they would come in handy for something one day” (34). Jenny began making excuses like this for other irrational hoarding behaviors, such as keeping the original packaging for her toys because, “she knew that an item would typically sell at a higher price if it were in the original packaging” (34). She had anxiety when she thought about losing these types of items, and even had an emotional breakdown when her mother threw away all of her toilet paper rolls. Once she became engaged, she began to become obsessed with wedding planning, which then turned her office into a mess. Even after she had kids, she continued “collecting things that she believed were important,” refusing to throw away anything, which only took over their whole house. She would even constantly buy items off Ebay or Amazon to hoard. All of these dynamic symptoms combined, described hoarding disorder, identified within the book, which is “excessive acquisition and difficultying discarding items, which results in extreme clutter in the living environment.” This is