HOARDING - (part 1 of 2 part article)

Some people have an obsessive need to acquire things. They tend to develop an emotional attachment to things that many of us would consider trash.

A subject that has been in the public eye recently is that of “hoarding”. People watch it on T.V. and are amazed that people actually live like that. What they don’t realize is that “hoarding” is more common than they think.

What exactly is “hoarding”? According to “Frost & Hartl’s (’96) definition of clinical hoarding:

1) the acquisition of, and failure to discard, a large number of possessions that appear to be useless or of limited value
2) living spaces sufficiently cluttered so as to preclude activities for which those spaces were designated
3) significant distress of impairment in functioning caused by the hoarding

What you see on T.V. are people with houses full of “stuff”. Useless stuff. Pieces and parts of stuff. Stuff that has no “value”. Stuff that they will never use or couldn’t use up in fifty years. Stuff that doesn’t work. Stuff that is old and rotten (food). Stuff that is outdated (medications).

Floor to ceiling, they can’t see into the room, they can’t walk in the room…..stuff.

But to these people it is “precious”. Stuff that they need. Stuff that they will “someday” use. Stuff that they can pass down to their children. Stuff that “someone someday” will need.

Stuff that they can’t part with. Stuff that they won’t part with. Stuff that they will never in a hundred years be able to wear, use or eat.

It’s almost impossible for the ‘average person’ to understand. Yet, it’s a phenomenon that is growing and more common than you think. As a Professional Organizer I have run into this situation numerous times.

One thing that might surprise many people is that the “hoarder” is not some “lower class” or “poor” person that doesn’t know any better. Hoarders come in all shapes, sizes and economic levels. They can be highly educated, professional people. They can hold high level jobs and wear suits.

But they won’t allow you into their home because they don’t want you to know their “secret”.

Hoarders can be elderly people that have accumulated “things” over a lifetime. They don’t want to throw anything out because their children “will want it someday”.

Hoarders can be people that have lived through the depression and don’t ever want to feel that they “won’t have enough” of …whatever.

Hoarding is a very difficult problem to “fix”. You might be able to convince a hoarder to “clean up” his home but that won’t “fix” the problem. It goes much deeper than that. Some hoarders believe that if they throw things out “bad things will happen”.

Most hoarders don’t think that they have a “problem”. They aren’t willing to “change”. And without their willingness and cooperation there isn’t much that can be done.

Hoarders suffer from low self-esteem and many times isolation because they won’t allow anyone into their home so that they won’t be found out.

Hoarding isn’t about “being clean or messy”. It’s not about “being lazy”.

There are so many aspects and / or reasons for hoarding. Not all of them are known and not all of them are understood. Some reasons are: Depression, OCD, Mental Illness, a life altering or traumatic experience….

**** (part 1 of 2 part article).


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