Hoarding disorder is a problem that often impacts entire families, rather than just the person who has it. Hoarders can be difficult to get into treatment because they often don’t recognize that they have a problem or they are too fearful to confront it.
Montare Behavioral Health understands how to deconstruct the mindset that leads people to become hoarders, even for years or decades. Our skilled staff of therapists uses their experience to get the person who hoards to open up and talk about their condition. From there, treatment helps them begin to see the reality of the restraint hoarding puts on their lives. They learn how to let go of their accumulated items and resist the triggers to replace them with others. We offer treatment for hoarding with outpatient and residential plans. Our admissions staff can help you decide which is the best option for you or your loved one.
What is Hoarding?
Hoarding is the repetitive act of saving items and refusing to throw them out, give them away, or sell them, even though the individual has no need to hold on to them. The person believes they have to keep their possessions, often including high numbers of the same items. They also hold onto trash and refuse any attempt to throw out their stash. The idea of getting rid of the items they have hoarded causes tremendous mental strain on the person.
The collection of items eventually overtakes every room in the house, including surfaces like countertops, and the floor. Many people have to create a narrow walkway just to make it through a room. Hoarding can range from mild to severe status. The sooner a person seeks treatment for it, the easier it will be for them to heal.
Types of Hoarding
Not everyone who engages in hoarding collects the same things. There are five categories for hoarding:
- Garbage/trash
- Animal
- Food
- Paper/media
- Sentimental
What do People Commonly Hoard?
People who hoard have tremendous difficulty disposing of or finding a new home for the items they keep. Commonly hoarded items include:
- Newspapers
- Magazines
- Mail (often unopened)
- Bags of trash
- Clothing
- Receipts
- Letters
- Containers such as bags and boxes
- Household supplies like cleaning supplies
- Multiples of the same items, such as several bottles of shampoo or a dozen shirts in different colors
- Animals that the person usually ends up unable to care for because of how many they have
What Causes Someone to Become a Hoarder?
Experts cannot point to a singular causal factor for why someone becomes a hoarder. Studies have been ongoing for a short time compared to other illnesses. Experts do know that if one family member hoards, another is likely to follow suit. Hoarding can be triggered by a traumatic or stressful event, such as the death of a loved one, a divorce, or a long-term illness. For someone who already hoards, those events can intensify their symptoms.
Hoarding has a neural correlation absent in other disorders like obsessive-compulsive disorder. People who hoard tend to have difficulty with visuospatial learning, paying attention, organization, planning, and problem-solving. The act of hoarding tends to begin in the late teenage years, although it can happen to anyone at any age.
Who Are Most Susceptible to Hoard Items?
Approximately 3% to 6% of the population struggles with hoarding. The rates are highest for people over the age of 60, as well as those who have a mental health disorder such as depression, anxiety, OCD, or schizophrenia. People who hoard often live alone although it can also occur in family homes. Many acts of hoarding have a genesis in a childhood of deprivation which causes the person to hold onto everything out of fear they will never have more.
Dangers of Being a Hoarder
Hoarding can cause several different dangers to a person, including emotional, physical, and financial. Common dangers include:
- Depression or anxiety
- Risk of falling
- Fire hazard
- Potential to be injured by falling items
- Unsanitary conditions that can cause infection and disease
- Eviction from rental property or housing deemed unsuitable because of the hoarding
- Medical ailments such as headaches, body aches, nausea, and diarrhea related to the stress of hoarding
- Conflict with loved ones
- Difficulty at work or in school
- Residents and animals in the home in medical danger
- Financial devastation from spending so much money on items to hoard
How to Talk to a Loved One Such as Your Mom About Hoarding
Getting someone to accept help for hoarding happens in stages. First, speak calmly to the hoarder and ask them to attend an appointment with a doctor or therapist to discuss their situation. Reassure them that no one will come in and clean out their entire house the next day. Express your concern about their safety and ability to continue to live in a house that has become so compromised.
Do not refer to the hoarded items as “junk” or “trash”. Language counts, which also means not accusing the individual of being crazy. Suggest getting rid of just one type of item or clearing out one small area of the house, like a closet, a drawer, or a corner of a room. Then offer to help take care of another area.
If the hoarder is your mom or dad, let them know you respect them as adults and their home environment. Assure them that you don’t want to usurp their authority but instead want to help them reach a peaceful place in their minds in which they no longer need the items they hoard.
Types of Treatment for Hoarders
A popular type of therapy used to treat hoarding is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). This helps the individual understand how their feelings, thoughts, and behaviors all tie together. They learn why they have such difficulty throwing things out and become desensitized to the idea of decluttering their home.
Family therapy can also help because it teaches the family to understand the thought processes behind hoarding. From there, they learn how to support and communicate with their loved ones.
Prescription medications also offer relief from the anxiety and urge to hoard.
Contact Montare Behavioral Health About Treating Hoarding Today
Do you have a loved one who hoards and lives in unsanitary and dangerous conditions? It’s heartbreaking to watch someone you love become lost in the world of hoarding. No matter how much you try to help them change and clean up, the pull of this disorder keeps them rooted in staying sick. Montare Behavioral Health offers world-class treatment for hoarding that respects the individual and provides care in a judgment-free zone. We can treat this disorder with outpatient appointments during the week or in a residential live-in program. With our help, your loved one can learn to let go of their emotional and physical baggage for good.
Contact us today for more information on hoarding. It’s more common than you think, and we can help someone you love to overcome the problem.
Published 10/29/2024