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Write An Essay On Hoarding

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In Stuff, the Collyer brothers, Langley and Homer, had been found dead in their cluttered house. Distant from the general public, their behavior was deemed as "bizarre and mysterious, but not unusual" (8). They were known as hoarders, people who acquire lots of stuff with the difficulty of discarding them away. It got so out of control to the point where the fire department found the Collyer brother's house packed with newspapers, tin cans, magazines, pipes, books, and labyrinth of tunnels, in which each room were filled with junks as well. Irene, a woman also diagnosed with hoarding experienced a very similar case to the Collyer brothers. Because Irene couldn't rid of her stuff and clean up, the mess has driven her husband to leave her. It is as if there is a deep sentimental value and connection with each item she collects. Hoarding has become a vigilant disorder throughout the years. …show more content…

We all have objects that gives sentimental meaning to it. Studies have shown "between 2 and 5 percent of the American population suffer from hoarding" (9). As in the case with the Collyer brothers and Irene, it might have been their past lives which drove them to hoarding. The objects they collect helped them preserve their identity and relieve past events. It also allows them to express what they feel and collecting promises releif. Rachel's study of hoarding lead her to discover that many hoarders were "highly perfectionists and indecisive" (10). This complicates hoarders from working and thinking effectively. The uncontrollable desire to virtually collect anything can lead to affliction of the hoarders personal

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