Saving stuff, in moderation, is usually considered normal. But this otherwise healthy impulse can go too far and develop into what some experts consider a clinical obsessive-compulsive disorder. Compulsive hoarding can't be chalked up to eccentricity or a character flaw. It's more serious and harder to control than that."This is not laziness, criminal negligence or failure to attend to the responsibilities of life," explained Sanjaya Saxena, MD, director of the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders Program at the University of California, San Diego."It is, in fact, a neuropsychiatric disorder that will not get better unless the person is treated."And it can lead to tragic consequences. One of the most famous cases involved the wealthy and reclusive Collyer brothers. In 1947, their bodies were discovered in a crumbling New York City mansion packed with more than 100 tons of junk.There were also reports of a resident of Shelton, Washington, who was smothered when a massive pile of clothes toppled on her, while a few fatal fires have made headlines.Hoarders tend to fill their homes with flammable material and often block hallways and exits in the process, which can make escaping a fire impossible.
One man's junk...
Hoarding can affect people of all ages and backgrounds, but many deny that they have too much stuff or that the clutter is a problem.And it's a myth that hoarders keep only junk. Like the rest of us, they may save things that are beautiful, useful or have sentimental value, say national experts Gail Steketee, PhD, professor and acting dean at the School of Social Work at Boston University, and Randy O Frost, PhD, a psychologist at Smith College. The difference is that hoarders often find beauty, utility and meaning where others don't.Most people, for example, can recycle an old newspaper without a second thought. But a hoarder who saves old newspapers may see an archive of valuable, potentially life-changing information.From that perspective, discarding a newspaper is wasteful, foolish, perhaps even a personal failure. And so this clinical disorder transforms the everyday act of throwing away an object into a deeply wrenching, personal violation.
Dangerous compulsion
Organisation is also a nightmare. Steketee and Frost say that compulsive hoarders usually have trouble categorising items, find it difficult to make decisions, and worry that objects not in sight will be forgotten.They might leave clothes on top of a bureau, for example, instead of putting them in drawers. Over time, a few items piled here and there grow into mountains of dangerous clutter.How dangerous? The dust, mildew, mold and rodent droppings commonly found in extreme clutter can irritate allergies, or lead to headaches or respiratory problems like asthma for hoarders and their families. In some cases, home maintenance suffers.Clutter also places hoarders and their families, especially the elderly, at high risk of injuring themselves in a fall.
Spotting a hoarder
There are varying levels of hoarding behaviour. A diagnosis of OCD of the hoarding type is made when there is significant distress or disruption to feelings of self-worth, interpersonal relationships, education, occupation, housing, finances, legal issues, or health as a result of hoarding behaviour. Symptoms vary from person to person, but may include:
Saving items seen by most people as unneeded or worthless, (ie, not true collectibles).
Compulsively buying or saving excessive quantities of items of any kind.
Treating all saved items as equally valuable-whether or not the object has sentimental, financial or functional value.
Experiencing intense anxiety or distress when attempting to discard-or even think about discarding-what most others view as useless objects.
Being unable to use furniture, rooms, or entire homes in standard ways due to saved items.
Treatment
Combining psychotherapy, exposure therapy, and medication can help individuals to make beneficial changes in their lives.Psychotherapy involves exploring the impact of learning, triggers, worrisome thoughts, and intense emotions.Exposure therapy involves practicing new ways of responding to uncomfortable thoughts and feelings that arise when hoarding behavior is challenged, and is often conducted in the home with pragmatic emphasis on both reducing the clutter and managing the doubt and anxiety that perpetuate the clutter.