What´s Hoarding Disorder?

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).

A picture of hoarding disorder is created through personal interaction and the diagnosis is supported by the DSM V.

Like most mental illnesses, this disorder is not exclusive to affecting individuals of a certain age group, race or socioeconomic status. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, OCD affects about 2.2 million American adults and about one-third of adults with the disorder developed symptoms as children. Unfortunately, there are several obstacles and misunderstandings that have lead the majority to think that this disorder is rarely found in children or adolescents. There is a stigma about mental health and seeking proper treatment as well as misdiagnosis. Children that present with OCD symptoms may be diagnosed with conduct disorder, ADHD, or depression. Even then it depends on the parents or caretakers ability to recognize the problem and the

In Bookmarks, Possessed by Our Possessions, Diane Cole states, “But never has hoarding been so visible as it is today in westernized societies. Perhaps the abundance of inexpensive and easily accessible objects makes it the disorder of the decade” (Cole 3). This quotes is very relevant to my views on how and why America seemed to be consumed by consumption. This isn’t just a coincidence but, an action that has turned into an emotion. Buying items used to be dependent on necessity but now it is based on the feeling. To buy items people enjoy themselves and it turns into a leisurely activity. Because of the emotion shopping creates, individuals who suffer from depression use this as an outlet and tend to buy at

Thesis: Hoarding is seen as unhygienic and repulsive, but it is simply a disorder due to either genetics or as a coping mechanism to trauma. While it has been linked to other problems, researchers are still trying to find better treatments for the destructive habit causing emotional, physical, and legal effects.

Anyone who suffers from a hoarding disorder knows the debilitating feeling that comes from living in a cluttered environment. Hoarding can result in physical, mental, social, emotional, and financial burdens. Each of these intense feelings can aggravate one another, causing a vicious cycle of events, which can eventually ruin a person’s life.

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.

Whether people some people have a hoarding compulsion or simply collect too much stuff in a land of much abundance, we at RestorePros Remediation can help lift the burden from off your shoulders. Perhaps, you know of someone that just has trouble getting and keeping things organized. If you do, then just call us, and help will be dispatched to your side quickly.

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

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).

Previously hoarding behaviours were included in the obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) category (Murphy, 2014 p.21), but it is now presented as its own disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM 5). Research determined that hoarding should be its own category due its diagnosis characteristics and individual treatment. “Hoarding has been defined as the excessive collection and retention of things or animals to the point that they interfere with daily function (Textbook Source)”. While one individual may only extremely collect one item or animal, another individual may collect multiple things. Hoarding starts when individuals begin to have a difficulty time getting rid of certain possessions and

There are many reasons behind the act of hoarding. People become hoarders because they believe that a specific item will be useful, meaningful, or valuable to them in the future, because it has sentimental value, or because the item was purchased at too big a bargain to simply just throw away. Hoarders also see items as a sign that will recall their memory of an important event or person from the past and without it they will no longer be able to remember it. Other powerful anxiety driven motivations for hoarding include: altered beliefs about the importance of possessions, excessive emotional attachments to inanimate objects, the fear of making wrong decisions, as well as worrying about be wasteful. The need to hoard is related to other psychological

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.