Compulsive hoarding is the great unspoken epidemic in the United States affecting two million people. Compulsive hoarding is an uncontrollable urge to collect a large number of things that seem useless or worthless. It manifests as compulsive shopping, collecting, fostering cats and dogs, and stockpiling free items like newspapers, magazines, magnets, pens, and even spam. Doctors tell us that it is a form of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).
At this point, you must ask yourself where it crosses the line from a natural interest in collecting and crosses over into a sick compulsive pathological collecting. In extreme cases, people have filled their homes with so much clutter and trash that it invades living areas and puts much of their home off limits. This manifests as two types of hoarding, the first type is instrumental saving. Hoarders believe that items serve a specific need and have a purpose to them. Hoarding makes sense to them, for example, they think they could sell the items in the future for a big profit. They really can’t imagine parting with any of it. The second type of hoarder is the person who hoards things for sentimental reasons. Possessions are actually a part of themselves as they have an emotional attachment to them.
Many hoarders believe that they have to hang on to the things they collect because they might need it later. This is commonly done with old furniture that accumulates in attics and garages because you never know when it will be needed. Indecision can also be involved in hoarding. In this case, the hoarder cannot decide whether to throw away or keep the object, so he keeps it and avoids making a decision.
The most surprising part of this is that most hoarders don’t even realize they have a problem. They can’t see their situation as anything more than normal, they miss their obsession out of control. In these cases, things are going well until a concerned family member, landlord or the Board of Health intervenes.
Doctors treat compulsive hoarding with medications such as certain antidepressants such as Paxil or with cognitive behavioral therapy. The therapist will go through a series of steps with the patient to help them solve the problem, such as:
- Exploring the Need to Treasure
- Learning organization and deciding which one to get rid of.
- Sort with the help of the therapist or a professional organizer.
- learning relaxation.
- group therapy
While not normally a required part of treatment, hospitalization may be necessary in severe cases.
Compulsive hoarding can be difficult to deal with, as stated, the person may not recognize that there is a problem even though their house is full of junk. If you need to deal with the problem, understanding is the best approach. Help the person see that his actions are not in his best interests. Ask them what things are really important to them and what they would like their life to be like in five years. It is not useful to argue, threaten or blame them; you need to establish some trust. After a while, you may be able to get them to admit that there may be a problem. This opens the door to introducing them to a professional to end their compulsive hoarding.