Hoarding listed as complex disorder

[Glass]

Hoarding listed as complex disorder
Hoarding is a crippling psychiatric disorder that will be recognised for the first time as a separate diagnosis by the American Psychiatric Association. The recognition of Hoarding Disorder (HD) means that the ease with which hoarding is diagnosed and treated will greatly increase.

Swinburne University Professor Michael Kyrios held a workshop with the Australian Psychiatric Society at the National Convention Centre yesterday to cover the diagnosis of hoarding problems, while presenting typical cases that highlight the specific components of HD. ''Hoarding is an incredibly complex disorder,'' Professor Kyrios said. It differed both from collecting and messiness. ''Collectors are very organised and are willing to discard items to add value or quality to their collection,'' he said.

''Unlike those who suffer chronic disorganisation, hoarders experience immense grief when faced with losing an item, and rates of suicide increase greatly when faced with forced clean-ups due to that grief.''

HD may affect up to 5 per cent of the population and is generally considered to be the irrational compulsion to acquire, without discarding, things that are useless or of limited value.

HD can occur concurrently with other psychiatric disorders, most commonly major depression, but may appear as a result of childhood neglect, a history of material deprivation or a genetic history of hoarding.

Compulsive hoarding presents physical risks as well as mental anguish as the sufferer's home eventually becomes unlivable due to clutter, mould and vermin.

This disorder affects the sufferer's family and friends as well as causing problems for local councils, public and private housing and all manner of services, from rental companies to health services.

Although HD has proved difficult to treat, Professor Kyrios says it is possible.

Article @ the Age (http://www.theage.com.au/national/hoarding-listed-as-complex-disorder-20111007-1ldvt.html)

I'm not sure I'm a collector based on this but I'm pretty sure I'm not mental.

[keehah]

I like that an example wiki gives specifically makes clear that collecting silver is not "hoarding". ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsive_hoarding

The hoarder may believe that the hoarded items are very valuable, or know that the accumulated items are useless but keep them anyway, or attach a strong personal value to items which other people claim would have little or no value. A hoarder of the first kind may show off a cutlery set claiming it to be made of silver and mother-of-pearl, disregarding the fact that the packaging clearly states the cutlery is made of steel and plastic.

[Hatha Sunahara]

The first step in addressing the hoarding issue is for the hoarder to stop buying useless sh*t. When stuff stops accumulating, then it is easier to cast the accumulated stuff as 'unneeded' and a slow disposal process can begin--but the buying of new stuff has to stay turned off completely for the process to work.

There is a good TV series called Hoarders. Don't know what channel it's on but you can watch it on Netflix streaming.


Hatha

[Olmstein]

Hoarding and prepping are very different things.

Hoarders have junk and trash from floor to ceiling all over their house.

Preppers have tidy collections of useful items, like canned food, precious metals, guns, etc.

[Gaillo]

...Preppers have tidy collections of useful items, like canned food, precious metals, guns, etc.

"Tidy"? You've obviously never seen my stashes! ;D

[Neuro]

As long as you're not hoarding diamonds, you are probably ok...

[gunDriller]

i know a hoarder. an old friend that hoarded BMW parts and spent about $75K - probably more - to store $25K worth of BMW parts over about 20 years.

their house was so full of stuff that you couldn't get to the piano in the living room. basically about 4 feet high of stuff that never got organized, not BMW parts. that was in the garage and at public storage places. that's where the $75K went.

then he went to support group meetings for clutter-holics anonymous.

i think it's the kind of behavior you see in 'advanced consumer' cultures, where there is a chance to collect that much stuff - enough stuff for a small town, in some cases.

i was a witness to the friend's marriage proposal ... i was his office-mate. then i was a witness to the divorce, 15 years & 3 children later. i didn't ask but i think his ex-wife's new boyfriend was less of a collector.


the clutter-holic meetings are in San Francisco. obviously co-ed. i think it's a way for people with clutter dis-orders to hook up, which seems like a healthy response to the 'problem'.

to me it almost sounds like a movie script. it made for a bizarre but enjoyable place to visit, sort of like the Adams Family. they would just pretend the mountain of debris wasn't there, and i wasn't going to bring up the subject.

so we would just watch a movie and eat dinner and deal with their family stuff. on one visit that involved putting their old dog to sleep. on another visit it involved the new dachsund's house-breaking - or lack thereof.


i've been to a few garage sales this summer. i notice that sometimes people hoard copper wire. i think that kind of hoarding is healthy.

[ximmy]

Hoarders usually have dirty, unkempt homes.

[gunDriller]

Hoarders usually have dirty, unkempt homes.

complete with dachsund puppy turds.

[Serpo]

Photos of some despot hoarders......http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_1klTlbciqXY/SdeXILYjR3I/AAAAAAAAAOc/0fBiSJnzUkY/S692/rebel_squirrel_resized.jpg






http://cache.blippitt.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/army_squirrel.jpghttp://assets.smokingmeatforums.com/b/b8/b840d39c_mad_squirrel_by_whiteand.jpg

[Glass]

the clutter-holic meetings are in San Francisco. obviously co-ed. i think it's a way for people with clutter dis-orders to hook up, which seems like a healthy response to the 'problem'.

yeah that's what you need. A clutter of clutter-holics. A hoarde of hoarders if you will. ;D


http://assets.smokingmeatforums.com/b/b8/b840d39c_mad_squirrel_by_whiteand.jpg

Very Steam Punk!8)

[gunDriller]

yeah that's what you need. A clutter of clutter-holics. A hoarde of hoarders if you will. ;D

Very Steam Punk!8)

i like it when animals hoard.

there's some bird that collects stuff, and some of them actually construct their nests from aluminum cans. i saw a picture in National Geographic and thought, "hey that looks familiar."

[TheNocturnalEgyptian]

I like the term "Clutter-aholic"

I do not like the term "Hoarder"

Clutter-aholic means someone has no handle on their lives. Cannot organize, cannot acquire new goods because they have not dealt with the old.

"Hoarder" seems to connote that anybody who collects anything or buys more than they need for a week at a time is mentally sick, when in fact, you'd have to be mentally sick to not realize the danger the just-in-time economy represents.

[Serpo]

I like the term "Clutter-aholic"

I do not like the term "Hoarder"

Clutter-aholic means someone has no handle on their lives. Cannot organize, cannot acquire new goods because they have not dealt with the old.

"Hoarder" seems to connote that anybody who collects anything or buys more than they need for a week at a time is mentally sick, when in fact, you'd have to be mentally sick to not realize the danger the just-in-time economy represents.

And as glass said.....haha..........A clutter of clutter-holics ...

may be another name for GSUS