Can’t you just tidy up? Understanding Hoarding Disorder
Over the past twenty years, there have been numerous TV shows made about hoarders across the globe. Unliveable homes with stacks of compulsively collected items, leading to mould, dirt and rodent infestations, showing you what your home could become if you don’t keep on top of your cleaning. While the impression people get is often that those people are lazy or neglectful, hoarding is far more nuanced, with hoarding disorder being classified as a mental health condition in its own right from May 2013, within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Isn’t hoarding just collecting on a bigger scale? Hoarding can be distinguished from simply collecting by the type of item that is being saved. Collectors will typically only keep items they find to be collectible or special, whereas hoarders will acquire as much of that item as possible, regardless of quality or value, to the point that it impacts their day to day life. Hoarders find it really difficult to part with these items and can get really distressed at the thought of being without them, often becoming anxious at the idea of throwing things away, and wanting to carefully sort through things. Hoarders will often come up with reasons why each item needs to be kept, even if there’s no apparent use or need for the item and to other people, all they can see is that their home is a mess and quality of life is being impacted as a result.
How can you tell if someone is a hoarder or just a bit messy?
In order to assess the level of hoarding that someone is experiencing, practitioners use the Clutter Image Rating to understand how much the level of disorder is affecting someone’s ability to use their home. In general, if the individual presents with a level of 4 or above, therapists would suggest that this is a hoarding disorder that requires help to improve their living conditions. Why do people hoard?
There are myriad reasons why someone might start to hoard things, but it’s important to remember that the situation is about the person, not about the items themselves. People who become hoarders may have suffered a bereavement or trauma, have had deprived childhoods, or may lack the skills to manage their environment without it causing them overwhelming anxiety. It may also be linked to another mental health disorder, such as psychosis or bipolar disorder, so a caring approach is essential to helping hoarders successfully reduce the amount that they cling on to.
Can’t I just throw everything away while they’re out?
It can be really tempting to think that this quick fix will be helpful because living in this way is so different to your own living standards, but you should never do this to someone with hoarding disorder. It’s likely that coming back to see that everything that gives them comfort has been removed will be really upsetting for them, but importantly, it also doesn’t help to treat the problem, and they’ll likely start hoarding again.
How can I help someone who is a hoarder?
Helping them understand the impact that their hoarding has on their lives can often be helpful, for example ‘with all of these things blocking the walkway, what would happen if there was a fire and you needed to leave your house quickly?’, or ‘you might fall on the stairs with all of those shiny magazines on the steps’. However, it’s most important for people with hoarding disorder to understand what is causing them to hold on to items and make the change for themselves so that changes are sustainable rather than a temporary fix. Helping them to find someone, such as a therapist, who can help them to identify where the need to hoard came from can be really beneficial so that they can find comfort in other ways that don’t impact their lives so adversely. There are also support groups for hoarding disorder sufferers available locally where practical, non-judgemental advice can be discussed.