From jammed closets to overflowing garages, we all have a lot of stuff. So what separates a hoarder from a collector? And when does the compulsion become destructive? Learn why people hoard, 10 signs of trouble and where to turn to for help. Plus, are you a hoarder? Take our quiz to find out...
Barbara Allen grew up in a home so crammed with mail, catalogs, broken toys, mugs and empty pizza boxes that she had to navigate narrow “goat paths” between rooms.
“Once something came into that house, it could never go out,” says Allen, now a 53-year-old nurse liaison in Framingham, Mass., who blogs about her childhood at Nice Children Stolen from Car. “We would sneak things out” to get rid of them.
Her father, a well-respected, hard-working professional, described himself as a collector, but he was a classic hoarder, and the family suffered.
“I thought he loved this garbage more than his own kids,” she says.
Do you have a family member, like Allen’s father, who won’t throw out old clothes, magazines or moldy food? A friend who won’t let you in her home because it’s “too messy”? A husband who insists on keeping a growing pile of broken items he plans to fix “someday”?
These are signs of compulsive hoarding, a complex mental disorder involving a need to acquire and save lots of objects, regardless of the toll on finances, family and living conditions. Hoarding can be as destructive as alcoholism or drug addiction, as TV shows like A&E's “Hoarders” and Style Network’s “Clean House” have shown.
“We watch people give up their houses, children and health,” says Christiana Bratiotis, project director of Boston University’s Compulsive Hoarding Research Project.
What’s Compulsive Hoarding?
We all hang onto things, especially of sentimental value. But a hoarder has a passion for objects that’s out of control, says Bratiotis. They feel, “My objects are better than human relationships. My objects make me feel comfortable,” she says.
It’s not just the tendency to accumulate too much stuff that makes a hoarder: They may have different brain chemistry. A 2004 UCLA study of hoarders’ brain scans showed lower activity in the part of the brain that rules decision-making, motivation and problem solving.
Compulsive hoarding was once categorized as a form of obsessive compulsive disorder. But research in the last two decades has shown it’s a separate condition, and, in fact, OCD treatments are often ineffective in hoarders.
Other myths persist about compulsive hoarding too. The big one: That it mainly affects seniors who lived through the Depression.
In fact, hoarding habits typically start in the early to mid teens – even kids as young as 4 show hoarding tendencies, says Gail Steketee, dean of Boston University’s School of Social Work.
Hoarders also aren’t always stereotypical recluses either. Brenden McDaniel, a certified professional organizer in chronic disorganization and owner of the Milwaukee-based Action Organizing Services, says many of his clients are outgoing and smart. One has a master’s degree and Ph.D., yet her bedroom was so cluttered that “you couldn’t see where the bed was.” She could get to her bathroom only by climbing over mounds of stuff and stored buckets of excrement in the house, which McDaniel attributes to a profound depression.
Compulsive hoarding spans all economic levels and may affect 2.5%-5% of the world population, according to at least three recent studies conducted in Baltimore, Germany and the United Kingdom, says Randy O. Frost, psychology professor at Smith College and co-author, with Steketee, of Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).
In the U.S., about 5% are compulsive hoarders, according to a survey published in the journal Behavior Research and Therapy in 2008.
Compulsive hoarding seems to strike both sexes equally, but more women than men admit they have a problem, says Steketee.
When our stuff starts to take over, most of us purge belongings by having garage sales or donating items to charity. Not a compulsive hoarder. They’ll risk bankruptcy or foreclosure to keep acquiring possessions. They may refuse to clean or repair their home until it’s condemned and the family is evicted.
Hoarding may seem like selfish behavior, but it often isn’t. Some hoarders insist they’re buying or saving items for other people, thinking a friend may want a newspaper article or a daughter may need baby clothes someday.
In fact, many have an easier time giving away their possessions than tossing them in the trash.
That’s because they just can’t bring themselves to waste something they see as valuable, says Steketee.
Possession Obsession
What do people hoard? Just about everything, useful and not: mail, magazines, empty boxes, clothing, broken machinery, chipped dishware, plastic containers, Styrofoam cups, stray cats or dogs – even if they can’t care for these animals.
“What people hoard is connected to their sense of identity or wishes about their identity,” Bratiotis says.
For example, one of Bratiotis’s clients collected all kinds of baking pans, but not because she liked to bake. She wanted co-workers to like her so she brought in homemade treats on birthdays.
Hoarders will roam streets picking up trash or sorting through garbage bins for “treasures.” In severe cases, a compulsive hoarder will keep food long after it goes bad.
That’s when hoarding turns dangerous and creates health hazards and degraded living conditions. Like Allen’s father, many hoarders fill living areas to the brim, blocking access to exits and jeopardizing the family’s safety in fires or other emergencies. They also create health hazards, especially when piles of garbage fester with bacteria and attract rats and cockroaches.
Treating Hoarding
Hoarding treatment isn’t as easy as cleaning up or getting organized. Shows like “Hoarders” – which usually wrap up extreme situations in one episode – often fail to show how hard it is to treat hoarding.
“It’s not like the TV shows; you [don’t] try to do it all in 1-2 days,” says McDaniel, whose mother was a hoarder and committed suicide.
Often, hoarders know they need help but don’t get it because of shame or embarrassment about their unwieldy piles of possessions. Rather than let someone into their house, they’ll put off repairs, sometimes living for years without a working sink or toilet. Some also are ashamed that they can’t control their problem and keep it a secret.
And when they do seek treatment, Bratiotis finds a “push-pull” effect. “A client will beg for help, but also plead, ‘Don’t make me get rid of any stuff,’” she says.
Or they may turn to professional organizers who don’t understand compulsive hoarding, leading to arguments and often-futile efforts to get the hoarder to give up their belongings and get organized, McDaniel says.
“You have to gain a person’s trust,” he says. “You want them to truly know you’re not going to take away all their things; you’re there to help.”
In fact, a rapid-fire cleanup – something family members of hoarders often insist upon – can “create considerable trauma,” Bratiotis says.
While clearing out the mess is crucial to make a home safe for family members, especially children and pets, therapists and professional organizers should work closely with hoarders to teach them to let go, she says.
That often requires long-term behavioral therapy and assistance by professional organizers trained in dealing with hoarders, experts say.
Behavioral therapists help hoarders re-think their need for possessions. A therapist may have a hoarder save a photo of an item, instead of the object, to retain an emotional memory. Or people who save every piece of mail might be persuaded to scan letters and store them in a computer.
Hoarding treatment with McDaniel's clients last long-term in 2- to 3-hour shifts daily or weekly because many find dealing with possessions mentally exhausting.
Group therapy can also help hoarders develop coping strategies to help get organized, Frost says.
Self-help groups like Clutterers Anonymous (a 12-step program like Alcoholism Anonymous) allow hoarders to help each other, and Children of Hoarders provides support for those who grew up in cluttered homes.
10 Signs You Could Be a Hoarder
Could you, or someone you love, have a hoarding problem? Watch out for these red flags. (These were adopted in part from the workbook “Compulsive Hoarding and Acquiring” by Steketee and Frost.)
1. Acquiring objects brings a rush. Many hoarders report feeling powerful joy from finding a bargain or rescuing what they perceive as a useful item from the trash.
2. You have trouble finding things. Hoarders often can’t locate items or even enjoy them. Sometimes they don’t take purchases out of the bag.
3. Throwing things out upsets you. Hoarders let items pile up to avoid the emotional distress of discarding them.
4. Fix-it projects pile up faster than you can repair them. Hoarders intend to mend broken items but never get to them.
5. You avoid having visitors. Many compulsive hoarders find excuses for keeping guests out of their homes.
6. You put off repairs because your house is a mess. Hoarders are often too embarrassed to open their door to a plumber, carpenter or landlord.
7. You’re saving items because they might be useful or valuable someday. Hoarders place value on items that are worthless or of little value.
8. You’ve maxed out credit cards. Hoarders can’t resist sales and bargains – even for non-essential or frivolous items – and will spend themselves into bankruptcy.
9. You’re afraid to throw out old newspapers or magazines because you might miss something important. Hoarders often convince themselves that they need to save every publication that comes into their home. Or they save articles they think will interest others but never get around to sharing them. (This often leads to dangerous piles of combustible material.)
10. You can’t use rooms in your house because of clutter. If you can’t cook in your kitchen because of all the items stored in it or sleep in your bed because it’s covered with clothes, you’re entering hoarding territory.
Stephanie Schorow is a Boston-based freelance writer.
For more information, visit our Mental Health Center.
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