HOARDING - (part 2 of 2 part article)

The NSGCD (National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization) has a “Clutter Hoarding Scale” that has five (5) levels, from Level 1 being low, to Level 5 being high. They have four (4) different categories which define the severity of clutter and hoarding potential:

* Structure and zoning
* Pets and rodents
* Household functions
* Sanitation and cleanliness

Hoarding can be deadly if you eat old food. Hoarding can cause you to lose your kids. Hoarding can be deadly if a fire breaks out and you don’t have a clear path to the door.

People can’t part with things for many reasons. They can have an “emotional or sentimental” attachment to things. The object reminds them of an “event” or “person” or “place”. By throwing it out they are “throwing out” that memory. And that can’t happen.

For a lot of hoarders they can’t make decisions. “What if I need it someday”. By not making decisions they can’t make the “wrong” decision.

A lot of people don’t know how to organize. The hoarder might use that excuse for his “piles”. He also might use the excuse that he needs to “see it” to find it. Therefore everything is out and piled high. Very visual.

A lot of hoarders are older people that want to “have things” for their children or friends….”just in case they need it”.

Control issues are a major problem with hoarders. Once they “let go” of an item they won’t be able to “control it”, therefore they won’t get rid of it.

There are a few treatments for Hoarders that have helped. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Behavioral Therapy.

The therapist helps them “restructure their thoughts and beliefs” and can “teach the hoarder how to tolerate their fears”.

Family and friends of hoarders don’t always understand that “hoarding” is an “illness” and that the hoarder needs professional help. They sometimes feel that by just going in and cleaning out the house (sometimes even when the hoarder doesn’t know that they are going to do it) that everything will be “o.k.”. Once the mess is gone. Problem solved. But that can actually make it worse.

A Professional Organizer can teach the hoarder how to improve their organizational skills.

It’s a long process. The hoarder did not get that way overnight.

You can’t rush the process or the hoarder might complete shut down. You have to start slowly and show a lot of compassion. If you just “throw out” all of the “stuff” the hoarder might feel that you really don’t understand or care. And you will have lost the battle. By giving away or donating some of the objects you might be able to break through to the hoarder by making him feel that his “things” had a purpose. A purpose for someone else, not him. This is a very delicate area. You are trying to teach the hoarder how to be more organized, yet you don’t want to convey the message that “yes, this stuff is really worth something which is why I should have kept it”.

Hoarding is a complex issue. An issue that not even the mental health community can agree on. An issue that there might not be a cure for.

It’s a problem that many people won’t admit they have and one that might cost them their family or even their life.

A problem that is more common than you think.


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