Life of a Hoarder

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).

In Lars Eighner’s short essay “On Dumpster Diving”, he describes his experience of being homeless and the art of dumpster driving. Eighner prefers being referred to as a scavenger rather than a dumpster driver. Eighner stated “I like the frankness of the word scavenging. I live from refuse of others. I am a scavenger.” (383) He describes scavenging as a full time job, that requires a lot of effort. He believes that if one follows certain guidelines and rules, with doing so this could possibly help one to become efficient. One rule is knowing good place and time to look for food and other items, that could be useful. Another rule is knowing how to eat safely from a dumpster . Eighner said

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

Hoarding Cleanup: Hoarding can create a wide range of biohazardous conditions. Allow our professional staff to aid in the restoration of your property.

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.

Hartord Hospital: A Hartford HealthCare Partner. (2012). Anxiety Disorders Center/Center for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Compulsive Hoarding. Retrieved from

The consumer has made another year successfully living paycheck to paycheck, no savings, no financial security, and more junk that triples its storage occupancy every year. So what to do? If the consumer has not yet made it to become a full fledged hoarder, who is imagining falsified meaning and value upon garbage, then the obvious choice is to make more room for money shredding objects by throwing the older objects away. Being as it is, most of these objects are going to made out of plastics or other non-biodegradable materials to be left on the side of highways, or the edges of a shore.

Since most Americans don’t know about what objects can be recycled, or just ignore the recycle labels, the objects end up in a landfill. In the U.S, people produce about 4.6 pounds of trash per person per day, which equates to 251 million tons of trash per year (Freudenrich). This is slightly less than all the other countries’ trash combined (Alabama Environmental Council). Most of this trash is buried in a landfill, and the rest is recycled, composted, and burned (Freudenrich). 81.8 million tons of trash in 2006 could have been recycled or composted, but were instead sent into a landfill (Freudenrich).

Hoarding - when we have the desire to hold on to things, we want to create some space for those things so we can use them later on in our lives. Many people have this fear of throwing things which they think may be useful for them in the future. There are numerous examples of people in the self storage industry of renting a storage space which they can use to collect items which they cannot store in their homes anymore. In most families, hoarding can cause a real problem because it creates an actual reduction in the living space. When we make use of self storage facilities, we can clear that space in our homes and at the same time retain those items.

There are a few categories that someone with OCD can fall into which include hoarders, counters, washers, checkers, and organizers. Hoarders tend to collect items and have difficulty getting rid of the items they have collected, there are bad cases of hoarding like when someone collects way too much that their house is full and cluttered with trash, items that someone may collect include furniture, cans,

When we don't feel safe on the inner level, then we try to make ourselves feel safe on the outer level, and clutter is one way of doing that. Whether it's things, such as hair dryers, or information, such as in magazines and newspapers, clutterers do not trust that they will have what they need. In addition, clutterers may be resistant people who see messiness and clutter as a way of not being controlled by someone who wants them to be neat.

Waste management is crucial in American Society. It is crucial because it would save money, decrease pollution, improve the environment and the overall health of the population and future generations. In the 17th and 18th century, waste management was much less than it is today. By the 20th century the availability of newer, cheaper products increased. As the population has increased, so has the amount of waste. The U.S. Industry produces more than 46.7 million tons of hazardous waste each year and the average person creates more than four pounds of waste each day. In essence, America has earned the nickname “The Throw Away Society”. People are not likely to repair things and they just throw them away. People even throw away things that are perfectly good just because it is old or out of style. Landfills are well-engineered facilities that accept solid waste. Landfills are getting filled up by an alarming rate and therefore cities need more land to purchase to dispose of the accumulating waste. They are regulated by the state and local governments which all taxpayers support with their taxes. They are monitored for compliance by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency).

To the common man, life 's basic needs are at reach. If one needs food, a simple drive to the market should fulfill that need. If a person is ill or in medical need, help is just around the corner, everything is tangible in their world. I am not a common man. My treasures are worthless in your eyes. What I own has no value or meaning to you. I know this because I have seen it for myself. I have no home and own only the necessities I find on the open road; I dumpster dive, and I see more than just trash and and unwanted items. I notice the broken glass clock that still ticks, the canned goods that are bent but are still up to date, the faded clothing they no longer want, and the hole in the ripped sheets. I am a human just like you but my lifestyle is quite different. I mainly dumpster dive in San Francisco in a small area that goes by the name of Hippy Hill.