Many people know the television shows, Hoarding: Buried Alive, on TLC or Hoarders on A&E. These reality TV shows feature hoarders and their families. The crews of the shows follow the hoarder for a few days to study how hoarding affects their daily lives. A professional organizer and a therapist are taken through the house to see what the hoarder collects. The houses are disgusting; many times, there are rodents, cockroaches, stacks of paper and garbage everywhere. The audience is shown interviews of the family members of the hoarder. The therapist and the professional organizer help the hoarder and the family cope with the compulsive behaviors and make an attempt the help the hoarder clear the house. Most times, at the end of the episode, …show more content…
There are many different types of hoarding including animal hoarding, bibliomania (hoarding of books), syllogomania (hoarding of garbage), larder hoarding (hoarding of food), and more (“Types of Hoarding”).
Hoarding is thought to be a symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder, but some hoarders do not have other symptoms of OCD (“Hoarding: Definition”). “Some estimate that that as many as 1 in 4 people with OCD also have compulsive hoarding. Recent research suggests that nearly 1 in 5 compulsive hoarder have non-hoarding OCD symptoms” (“The OCD Foundation: Hoarding Fact Sheet”). The International OCD Foundation fact sheet states:
Compulsive hoarding includes all three of the following:
1. A person collects and keeps a lot of items, even things that appear useless or of little value to most people, and
2. These items clutter the living spaces and keep the person from using their rooms as they were intended, and
3. These items cause distress or problems in day-to-day activities. The International OCD Foundation also says that signs of hoarding can be seen in the teenage years, but most people who seek treatment for hoarding are around 50. Hoarding is a lifelong struggle. Most hoarders live by themselves or with a family member who is also a hoarder. Severe hoarding cases are seen in one out of every 50 people, but less severe problems are seen in one out of every 20 people (“The OCD Foundation:
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
Heather Roger claims our current garbage disposal methods are short term and etiquette. Rogers’s position is clear that we need to minimize the use of landfills and create better means to discard trash. In supporting Rogers’s environment views I think that we need to create a more economic and environmental friendly garbage disposal system. Heather Rogers and Lars Eighner both acknowledge the issue with society’s throwaway mentality. Eighner proves that we throw away perfectly working stuff, having survived off others discarded materials. Eighner argues against excessive waste we create but does not have any prospected solutions. Whereas Rogers acknowledges the obvious need to minimize our consumption of waste but argues the need
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).
In today’s society, there is an abundance of waste. This is clear in observing how people live, we often throw out items because we want something better. Lars Eighner, author of "On Dumpster Diving," writes about his experiences being homeless and how he survived on the waste of others. This provides insight on how the phrase "one man's trash is another man's treasure," is true. Jeremy Seifert, who directed the documentary Dive!, also talks about how he survives off of other people's waste, but this was a decision he made. As they tell of their experiences, Seifert and Eighner both come to the conclusion that society is wasteful. While both individuals provided good information, I believe Seifert presented the better argument. Both of
Eighner chooses to dive into dumpsters not because he needs the material items he finds, but rather because he does not. In the conclusion of his essay “On Dumpster Diving,” Eighner makes it clear that he believes excess material objects are unnecessary and that they do more harm than good for a person, and this is true. Eighner accurately describes how having large amounts of material goods does nothing to improve the well-being or morality of the human race because holding onto physical possessions leads to the development of bad habits and traits within society.
The essay “On Dumpster Diving“, by Lars Eighner is based on a man who speaks of his survival as a homeless man accompanied by his dog named Lizbeth. Not only does he explain his strategies living out of dumpsters, but also the lessons he has learned as a scavenger. Most importantly I think the true message he was trying to get across is that we waste way more then we think we do, it’s in our nature.
Lars Eighner “On Dumpster Diving” originally published in The Threepenny review in fall 1990. Eighner’s arranges his essay into 3 main ideas to all tie into his overall theme. He ties it all into the idea that our society is wasteful by nature. Eighner uses his own experiences to show how wasteful people really are. Although he has not always been homeless, it has taught him a way of life he had never dreamed imaginable. If he doesn’t discover the hidden treasure of the dumpster’s then who will.
Many individuals are accustomed to waste at least a portion of what they buy, whether it is food, clothes, furniture, supplies, or materials worldwide. According to the article: “On Dumpster Diving” many valuable items were found by the homeless who searched the dumpster for food. Surprisingly, they found useful items that helped them survive throughout each day. In fact, the products were worth for the exchange of money. At certain times, I myself may be considered to be a wasteful person during certain times such as, not finishing my drink and throwing more than half of it away. While rushing at work during break, this is a usual situation for many people Although, it isn't necessarily on purpose it is considered wasteful, valuable and influence advertising.
vi. Hoarders have hundreds of animals living in their home living in filth including garbage and layers of feces.
Compulsive Hoarding also known as hoarding disorder, syllogomania, and disposophobia dates all the way back to a Smith College psychology laboratory. One reference of hoarding
"OCD patients have a pattern of distressing and senseless thoughts or ideas- obsessions- that repeatedly well up in their minds. To quell the distressing thoughts, specific patterns of odd behaviors- compulsions- develop." (Gee & Telew, 1999)
B. Compulsive hoarding could be a subtype of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), which is defined as an anxiety disorder characterized by unreasonable thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead to repetitive behaviors (compulsions).
Many people may think they have OCD simply because they have to have something in a certain order. While this may be a symptom of OCD, they usually don’t spend their whole day doing it over and over again. People who suffer from the disorder take their obsessions
Hoarding is defined as the acquirement of, and inability to discard worthless items even though they appear to have no value. Hoarding behaviors can occur in a variety of psychiatric disorders and in the normal population, but are most commonly found in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Those people who report compulsive hoarding as their primary type of OCD, who experience significant distress or functional impairment from their hoarding, and who also have symptoms of indecisiveness, procrastination, and avoidance, are classified as having compulsive hoarding syndrome (www.ocfoundation.com). An estimated 700,000 to 1.4 million people in the United States are thought to have compulsive hoarding syndrome.