Hoarding Mental Health Disorder

What is Hoarding Mental Disorder?

Hoarding disorder is a psychological condition in which a person feels an intense need to save a lot of items, whether they have economic value or not, and faces significant distress when trying to get rid of the items. The hoarding negatively impacts their daily life.

 

Typical hoarded items commonly include magazines, newspapers, clothing and household goods. Sometimes, people with hoarding mental disorders collect a large number of animals, which are often not properly cared for.

 

Hoarding disorder may lead to dangerous clutter. The condition can interrupt with your quality of life in various ways. It can cause people stress and shame in their family, work, and social lives. It can also cause unhealthy and unsafe living conditions.

 

Psychology of Hoarding

Compulsive hoarding can be associated to painful feelings and difficult experiences. You can find these hard to disclose, face or resolve. Some people say hoarding distracts them from feeling upset, anxious or afraid and helps them cope with other mental health.

 

Why are Hoarders Dirty?

Hoarders are considered dirty due of the amount of clutter that takes up their living spaces. This clutter makes it very difficult to clean the house properly, causing an accumulation of grime and dirt in all kinds of places. The hoarder themselves may not be a dirty person, and the house might not be as messy as it appears.

 

5 Stages of Hoarding

The 5 stages of hoarding are mild clutter, minimal clutter, moderate clutter, extreme clutter, and severe clutter.

 

Clutter vs Hoarding

Clutter	Hoarding
Things or possessions are unorganized and may gather around living areas.	Possessions become disorganized piles and prevent rooms from being used for their planned purpose.

 

Hoarding Disorder Symptoms

Some people having hoarding mental disorders recognize that their behaviors and beliefs related to hoarding are problematic, but many people don’t. In many cases, traumatic or stressful events, such as the death of a loved one or divorce, are associated with the onset of hoarding symptoms.

 

People with hoarding mental disorders feel a strong need to save their stuff. Other symptoms may include:

• Inability to get rid of useless stuff
• Experiencing extreme stress when trying to throw out items
• Anxiety and stress about needing items in the future
• Uncertainty about where to keep things
• Doubt of other people touching possessions
• Living in useless spaces due to clutter
• Withdrawing from family and friends and family

 

People having hoarding mental disorder may hoard things for any of the below reasons:

• They believe that an item will be useful or valuable in future
• They feel an item has emotional value, is irreplaceable or unique
• They think an item is great of a bargain to throw away
• They think an item will assist them remember an important event or person
• They don’t know where an item belongs, so they save it instead of discarding it

 

Many people with hoarding mental disorder also have linked issues with cognitive functioning, including:

• Indecisiveness
• Procrastination
• Disorganization
• Perfectionism
• Distractibility

 

These issues can highly affect their functioning and the overall intensity of hoarding disorder.

Causes of Hoarding Mental Disorder

Brain functions, genetics, and stressful life events are known as possible causes.

Researchers do not yet know the exact cause of this disorder. Brian functions, genetics, and stressful life events are being studied as possible causes. So far, they have identified various information (mental) processing deficits linked with hoarding disorder, including issues with:

 

• Planning
• Organization
• Problem-solving
• Visuospatial memory and learning and memory
• Sustained attention
• Working memory

 

Hoarding mental disorder can develop on its own or may be a part of another psychological condition. Mental health issues most often associated with hoarding disorder include:

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD)
• Depression
• Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

 

Researchers have determined other risk factors linked with hoarding disorder that can make it more likely that you will develop the condition, including:

• Having a relative experiencing hoarding disorder
• Traumatic life events
• Brain injury
• Impulsive buying habits
• Inability to pass up free items, like flyers and  coupons
• Prader-Willi syndrome
• Alcohol use disorder or substance use disorder

 

Risk factors

Hoarding mental disorder usually starts around ages 15-19. Hoarding mental disorder is more likely to get worse with age. Hoarding is most common in older adults than in younger adults.

 

Risk factors may include:

• Personality: Many people who have this disorder have a behavior style which includes problems with organization, attention, and problem-solving and troublemaking decisions.

 

• Family history: There is a strong relation between having a family member who has this disorder and having hoarding disorder yourself.

 

• Stressful life events:Some people develop hoarding disorder after facing a stressful life event that they had trouble coping with, such as divorce, the death of a loved one, or losing possessions in a fire.

 

Complications

Hoarding disorder can cause a lot of complications, such as:

• Increased risk of falls
• Being trapped or injury by shifting items or falling items
• Family conflicts
• Social isolation and loneliness
• Conditions that are unclear and can become a health risk.
• A fire hazard
• Poor performance at work
• Legal issues, like eviction.

 

Other Mental Health Disorders

Hoarding mental disorder also is linked with other psychological conditions, such as:

• Depression
• Anxiety disorders
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

 

Prevention

Because less is understood about what causes this disorder, there’s no known way to prevent it. However, as with many psychological conditions, getting treatment at the first sign of a problem may assist prevent hoarding mental disorders from getting worse. This is particularly important because by the time clutter becomes a noticeable problem, hoarding likely has been continuing for a while.

 

How is Hoarding Disorder Diagnosed?

People with hoarding mental disorders occasionally seek help on their own. Concerned family members or friends often get in touch with a professional to help a loved one with the condition.

 

Contact a mental health professional or healthcare provider if hoarding makes a living situation unsafe or unhealthy for you or someone you know. If your closed one is hoarding animals, it’s necessary to contact the correct authorities, like Animal Control Services, to care for and safely acquire the animals.

 

To diagnose hoarding mental disorder, your healthcare provider will ask regarding your collecting and saving habits. To confirm a diagnosis, a person must have following symptoms:

 

• Facing difficulty getting rid of useless things or possessions whether they have value or not
• Feelings of distress and feeling a strong need to save items associated with discarding items
• Residential spaces that are so filled with possessions that they’re unsafe and/or unusable

 

Hoarding Mental Disorder Treatment

Mental Health professionals use two main types of therapies to treat hoarding disorder:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy, a kind of talk therapy (psychotherapy)
• Antidepressant medications, that are commonly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)

 

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a general treatment for hoarding mental disorders. With the help of a licensed mental health professional, like a psychologist, people learn to realize why they hoard and how to feel less stress and anxiety while throwing away items. Specialists also teach decision-making and organization skills. These skills help you better manage your possessions.

 

Some healthcare providers prescribe medications known as  antidepressants to help treat hoarding disorder. These medicines improve the symptoms of this condition for some people.

 

Summary

Hoarding mental disorder is a diagnosable condition which requires the help of a medical professional. With professional help and time, an individual may be able to move on from their hoarding behaviors and reduce tension-inducing and dangerous clutter in their personal space.