Collecting or Hoarding

In this podcast, hoarding or collecting refers to a specific behaviour that can have a severe impact on a person’s life. Hoarded items can fill a person's home, and can cause severe problems with day-to-day activities and relationships, and even pose a danger to life through being a fire and safety hazard. Hoarders or collectors are motivated by an intense emotional attachment to objects that others see as trivial. They’d feel a sense of major loss if they had to throw certain items away. There is a sense that many items have an intrinsic value, like others might see in artwork or driftwood. There is an assumption that an item might be useful someday, which compels them to save far more than ‘the drawer of hinges, thumbtacks, string, and rubber bands’ that many of us keep. The safety risks in a home where hoarding is evident are many. There is an increased risk of combustion of materials, and in the case of a fire, the residents may have difficulty escaping the scene. It is estimated that 2-5 % of the population or 1 in 20 may have a problem with hoarding, generally in individuals in their 50’s. Although popular shows in the media have increased public awareness about hoarding, it is still difficult to estimate how many people have problems with hoarding as they usually keep their hoarding behaviour a secret. Terry Von Zuben is a Certified Fire Prevention Officer. In this Learning Forums video, he focuses on the safety hazards associated with excessive collecting. He brings to the viewers attention, the specific conditions that can quickly become a life threatening situation. Terry emphasizes the need to deal with the person who is hoarding in a compassionate way so that the behaviours which create an unsafe environment can be rectified and assistance offered to the individuals concerned. Questions for Further Consideration: 1. Is hoarding a disease or mental health illness? For a long time hoarding was thought to be just a bad habit of messy, gluttonous or undisciplined people. But since hoarding was added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) used by psychiatrists to diagnose mental illness, hoarding is now considered an obsessive-compulsive disorder. Dr. Peggy Richter, a psychiatrist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and an associate professor of psychiatry with University of Toronto says, "Hoarding is not a symptom. Hoarding is a disease. It is a disorder of the brain... Hoarding can range on a spectrum from very mild to very severe. At the mild end are people whose clutter would clearly be more severe than most of us would consider normal, very messy and very disorderly but might still be somewhat manageable." At the other end "are people whose homes can be full literally up to the ceiling". (CBC June 2015) Why do people hoard? There are numerous reasons why people might hoard: The culture of materialism and consumption (reinforced constantly in advertising and the media) that leads many people to believe that having more possessions will make one happy. Hoarding is pleasurable: When you first buy or acquire something, it is pleasurable at first, though usually short-lived. It’s painful to throw out things: People who hoard feel distress at the thought or act of throwing out things. They may have problems with organizational skills and other mental abilities which makes it hard to get rid of things. 3. Are there indicators that can point to someone being a hoarder? The following outlines 5 possible warning signs of hoarding: Chronic disorganization This impedes your ability to function. You can't find your keys, your purse, your wallet, your cell phone. You're chronically delayed getting out the door because of looking for things. A lot of us are chronically disorganized, but this goes farther. It gets in the way of your normal daily activities. Unwillingness to allow anyone into your home This happens when the clutter has become so bad that you are too embarrassed to let anyone else see it. Most people suffering from hoarding feel tremendously isolated by their shame. When you do let people into your home, they're taken aback by the clutter and comment on it. ‘Clutter blindness’ "Clutter blindness" blocks people from realizing how their home looks to others. Hearing concerns from somebody you trust is a good warning sign. Being distressed about your belongings Many of us enjoy collecting. But have your accumulated belongings become a burden rather than a pleasure? Do you have no way to display all the collectibles? If so, this has probably gone beyond understandable, healthy collecting and become hoarding. Compulsive buying or acquiring Do you bring home too much stuff? Perhaps it's shopping in person or online, or perhaps it's collecting free stuff. Realizing that you're always coming home with more than you intended to pick up or with more than you need is a warning sign. Another sign is that your purchases sit unused or unopened. Reference: CBC News post June 6, 2015