The topic of compulsive hoarding has come more into the consciousness of people because of a number of television documentaries on the topic, as well as a new reality TV show on A&E network devoted to showing the lives of hoarders as they interact with therapists and clean-up crews.
For some viewers this topic may be pure entertainment, and some people unfortunately even view the hoarders depicted as if they were exhibits at a freak show instead of human beings with feelings. Others may view it because they wonder if a messy friend or family member is actually a hoarder. And some of us view these things with concern that we ourselves are hoarders, or that we are on the road to becoming hoarders.
Compulsive hoarding is not officially defined as a disorder in the DSM of the American Psychiatric Association. While it is most commonly found in people who have obsessive-compulsive disorder, it can also be found in people with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and other disorders as well.
The concept of compulsive hoarding as a pathological condition can be a problem when persons with a messy house or a habit of collecting certain things are presumed guilty of having a compulsive hoarding problem. The lay person- even one who has watched a television program about hoarding- is not qualified to make a diagnosis. Some people, as an example, are compulsive book hoarders- they may own not only large numbers of books they don't read, but often with many copies of the same edition of the same book. But other people are simply book lovers who amass books because they want to read them. A person who is not a book lover and who does not read at all for entertainment may look at a book lover's crowded shelves and believe that it must be compulsive hoarding.
There are some signs to tell if what you or another person are experiencing is actual compulsive hoarding or just bad housekeeping habits.
1. buying, and failing to throw away, large numbers of possessions which seem to have limited value, or no value at all.
2. living spaces become so cluttered that one cannot use them for their intended purpose- for example, the kitchen is too cluttered to cook in, or the bed too full of clutter to sleep there.
3. the clutter and chaos cause a person a significant amount of distress, or impairment in daily living.
4. reluctance or inability to return borrowed items, in some cases leading to actual stealing of items to add to the hoard.
Some hoarders know that many or most of their hoarded items are useless and they are better off without them, but have a problem with discarding them. In particular, a person who has known poverty and who has been strictly taught not to waste things may have a hard time throwing things away that might potentially be fixed. Other hoarders have false beliefs that their hoarded items are valuable or repairable. They may believe that expired food items can still be eaten, or that a spoiled piece of fruit should be saved for the seeds.
How does a hoarder seek help? Most often it is recommended that the hoarder seek psychiatric help. But this can be problematic if the first therapist encountered is unsympathetic or not very knowledgeableabout compulsive hoarding. Many people have difficulty affording therapy, and may not be able to cure their deep-seated hoarding problem in the few therapy sessions that may be available to them, or if the only therapists available just don't want to handle hoarders and brush the hoarder off after a session or two.
Some people turn to professional organizers who specialize in helping hoarders. If the organizer is actually good at this, willing to listen to the hoarder's feelings about keeping items, and not attempting to force a hoarder to give up everything at once, this can be a viable option if the price of this service is within means of the hoarder. One might also turn to internet support groups for hoarders or for reducing clutter, or read books on household organizing and on compulsive hoarding to help develop insight into the problem.
Should the hoarder offer his or her name to a reality TV show such as the one on A&E? This should probably be an absolute last resort. Compulsive hoarding is a serious problem, not a form of entertainment. The producers of the show know that it may not be in the best interest of a person with compulsive hoarding disorder to be put on public display, but they'll go ahead and film their show anyway. It would be better to seek out all the other possibilities of help, even to beg a professional organizer to lower the fee, rather than resort to the kind of help reality TV may seem to offer.