Emotional hoarding is holding on to past grudges and negative feelings, allowing them to clutter your mind until you cannot mentally function in your present life.
Much like the traditional hoarder of possessions, the emotional hoarder has difficulty letting go of things in his mind. Individuals who hoard emotional baggage might lament and ruminate over past wrongs inflicted upon them by others, mistakes they themselves have made, and things that have gone wrong in any way with relationships and events in their past life.
Some people are capable of letting go of a grudge in a few days. Others may take a few weeks to make peace with a negative issue that is plaguing their mind. Still others hang on to their hard feelings, playing them over in their mind, fantisizing about how they would handle the issue if it were to reoccur in the future. These individuals could be aptly described as emotional hoarders.
Emotional hoarders often cut off relationships with family members, friends, coworkers or neighbors whom they percieve as having done them wrong. Instead of communicating their displeasure, emotional hoarders will tuck the infraction away in the back of their mind and stop speaking to the person that offended them. By dealing with relationships in this manner, the emotional hoarder potentially ends up lonely, depressed, angry and emotionally depleted.
Emotional hoarders assume the victim role in their interpersonal interactions. They fail to make the choice to either forgive, deal with,or let go and move on.
Although not recognized by the mental health community as a bonafide mental disorder, emotional hoarding carries with it a risk of developing mental problems, such as depression, anxiety, paranoia or masochism, which all have the potential to exacerbate to the extent of requiring professional intervention and treatment.
Emotional hoarding might also lead to developing physical issues, such as high blood pressure, headaches, digestive problems and stress-induced heart disease. The unhealthy ramifications of bottling up negative feelings cannot be overestimated.
If you find yourself consumed with negative thoughts about something that occurred in the past, and you are still ruminating about it today, chances are that you suffer from emotional hoarding. If you are unable to let go of negative feelings and enjoy living in the present moment, you may want to consider seeking professional counseling.
Emotional hoarding can literally overwhelm the possibility of enjoying inner peace and all the good and positive things life has to offer.
Source: As reported on NBC's Today Show's mental health segment, August 10, 2010.