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:
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.
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).
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
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.
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
During the last couple of years, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) have gone through many difficulties; ranging from teacher strikes to low funding, which has tremendously taken a toll on the students attending these schools. The Illinois Policy Institute, which writes to inform the public of issues affecting Illinois states, “Seventy-five percent of students at the lowest-performing elementary schools failed to meet standards on state exams. More than 20 percent of these students scored in the lowest category in reading, meaning they have a difficult time determining the main idea of a persuasive essay or the plot of a short story…Students at Chicago’s lowest-performing high schools drop out at nearly 12 times the rate of average Illinois
OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is the unwanted recurrent thoughts, actions, or impulses and repetitive behaviors and actions that a person feels driven to perform (Obsessive Compulsive Anonymous World Services, 1999). People suffering from OCD perform a variation of strange rituals everyday uncontrollably. There are different types of compulsive behavior people with OCD display. For example, hoarders fear that something bad will happen if they throw anything away or give anything away. They compulsively hoard things that they don not need or use. These victims of OCD can become obsessed with not only performing actions, but with keeping objects and possessions.
"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)
Society makes one of the biggest impacts on how we look at things. So how does society look at veterinary medicine and the staff? The field is often looked down on even though they go through a lot and have to handle a lot which leads to high suicide rates and a huge burnout in the field. So why would people who have devoted their entire live to saving, take their own?
B. When hoarding is extreme, family members and/or friends should refer an individual to a clinician. From there a clinician should consider a diagnosis of OCD.
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.
vi. Hoarders have hundreds of animals living in their home living in filth including garbage and layers of feces.
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
They diagnose the compulsive hoarding syndrome according to three criterions. First, the accumulation of useless possessions and failure to discard them can be a sign of the disorder. Compulsive hoarders have an obsessive need to accumulate and save many objects, and also have a tremendous anxiety about throwing them away. This is because of a supposed need for the objects and their value or an unnecessary emotional attachment to them. If they have any doubt at all about the value of an object, compulsive hoarders will keep it, “just in case” (www.rd.com).