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Compulsive Hoarding Disorder

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People With Disposophobia Fear Throwing Anything Out

Compulsive hoarding disorder goes by several different names. This will be an attempt to describe the unusual behaviors found in the disorder. Syllogomania, Collyer brothers syndrome and disposophobia are a few of the names that are also used. Compulsive hoarding is poorly understood and is thought to be at least in some part an (OCD) obsessive compulsive disorder. It progresses over time and manifests mostly in older people even though it is seen in the young and middle aged. It causes people to be self abusive in how they live. They amass huge amounts of items, junk or even animals. Some cannot get rid of anything including waste products and obvious garbage. Many of them become isolated afraid of letting anyone see how they live. Some are ashamed of their life style and try to hide it, others seem oblivious to the mess. They cannot stop themselves without some sort of intervention.

My Zimbio

The Isle of Squid

Disposophobia

Living With Clutter

People might start out buying but end up hoarding. They can hoard anything or everything including animals and even trash. These individuals don't necessarily start off with giant dusty piles. Some in the beginning are organized and do dust and clean their environment. As time goes on and as more things start to accumulate it gets harder to clean and keep things organized.

Sometimes you can't tell if someone has a compulsive hoarding problem because the ones that are still social make a point of hiding it. Their appearance is reasonably neat and clean but their home tells another story. These people still take care of themselves and interact with others outside of their home. They will visit others but probably wont let others reciprocate.

Some consider themselves collectors. They claim that the stuff they collect would be worth something some day. If they have family or friends sometimes they try to store some of their possessions with them. This can cause feuds if the items start taking over living space and if the friends want the things out. If the hoarder has money they may use paid storage facilities. This can eat into finances. They also fill up garages, tool sheds anywhere there is space. They have even filled up vacant apartments or houses that either did or did not belong to them. People are not invited over and are too embarrassed to have repairmen fix anything broken which adds another level to the situation. Deferred maintenance can cause problems like mold and mildew from unfixed leaks . They keep the windows covered so that people can't see inside the living area. It can becomes public if they run out of space and the stuff ends up outside the house in the back or front yard where others can witness the problem.

There comes a time with some of them that they are forced to have their place emptied and cleaned. Sometimes getting physically ill and having to be hospitalized due to the stress of losing some of their possessions. If left to their own devices it doesn't take long for them to fill it up again. Family has to be careful in how they approach this.The hoarder might truly feel devastated at any decluttering attempt and place blame on the well meaning family member who is trying to help. They might try to isolate themselves more or shun that family member while continuing to hoard.

If, due to circumstances they end up living in a nursing home they cannot take many things. Depending on the room, there is only limited space available for what they really need much less to hoard things. Some do start to collect newspapers and items they find. They are monitored by the staff and even if involuntarily they will be made to declutter.

Medication Safety And Hoarding

Medicines Among The Clutter

Health can suffer from living in such an environment. Compulsive hoarders will also hold onto their medications. Being disorganized they may put them in different locations and store them inappropriately. If medication is not stored properly it can lose its potency and not work. Putting medicines in different places means they will be lost or forgotten and maybe become expired. Hoarding them means the expired and badly stored medicines will still be used. It is not safe taking old medicines. The effect is unpredictable, it could be very weak and not helpful or very strong causing a overdose like reaction.

People With Syllogomania Can Be Artistic And Thrifty

Is It Stockpiling Or Hoarding?

Stockpiling CouponsWatching some of the organization shows on TV demonstrates the thinking of hoarders. The bigger the house, the more junk that can fit it it. They are reduced to tears when confronted with throwing things out. A lot of them are artistic with many unfinished projects. The organizers point out that in four lifetimes they will never finish all those projects, so they need to donate their supplies of yarn, material, or scrap booking stuff.

Some hoarders consider themselves frugal or green. This type of person theoretically can find a use for everything. The operative word is "theoretically" because they don't or can't follow through. To them it seems wasteful to discard anything that can be reused. They go to rummage sales, auctions, liquidators or dumpster dive and stock up on things that are pretty much useless.They hoard food products that are way past their expiration date thinking that they are being thrifty.

Buying on sale or with coupons gives them a rush, but overbuying is a problem. Extreme couponing is interesting in that you will see some individuals buying things just because they have a coupon and not because they like the product. Claiming that someone else would want or could use it is just an excuse they use. They also put monetary value to their stockpile. But there is value only if it is used or sold.

One of the issues is a failure to make decisions. Keeping the stuff is a non decision while convincing themselves of their frugality. There are other non hoarders that are able to part with their goods without a problem and give to family, friends and charities. Hoarders have trouble with problem solving and are poor decision makers. It runs in families so it can be both nurture and nature.

A Case of Book Hoarding (Bibliomania)

A Sad Story Of Hoarding To Homeless

While at work in a hospital I was interviewing an patient about his complaint of not breathing well. He started to tell me how he had a new landlord and he wanted to evict him from his apartment of 14 years. This landlord had made an inspection of his apartment and told him it was a fire hazard. He was told that if he didn't get rid of his books he would have to leave. At that time I couldn't imagine books being a safety hazard. I asked him how many books did he have. He said he loved books and picked them up from everywhere and he had many. It seemed like an easy answer, get rid of some of the books to show the landlord that he was cooperating. But he said he couldn't.

It seemed inconceivable that facing eviction from his apartment and facing homelessness or life in a shelter he could not get rid of the books. His options were limited, obviously he couldn't move anywhere with them and he said he didn't have much money to rent a new apartment. It wasn't easy, he was in the clinic because he was having breathing problems from the stress, but he didn't want to get rid of the books. Even though the potential dust and mites from all the books was not helping his breathing. It was unlikely he was able to get to the dust with all the books. He said he had an appointment with the social worker to help him with the situation.

The Shame of Hoarding

Due to shame of their surroundings they do not have people come and fix things. If the house becomes too dangerous due to gas leaks, water leaks, infestation etc, it could become condemned and the person has to move. If they rent they could face eviction. Homelessness is a possibility or they could be placed in a nursing home if they have any health issues. In a nursing home they will be restricted in the amount of personal items they can accumulate.

Holidays and Compulsive Hoarders

It's Not Personal it's Compulsion

Holidays can be hard on the compulsive hoarder by all the temptation. It can be an excuse for over buying while getting things that will be saved and not used. The dumpsters and garbage cans will be filled with things people have discarded to make room for the new stuff. Old decorations get thrown out when the 50% off sale comes around. Plenty of perfectly good boxes and shiny colorful wrapping paper. It seems advertisers are speaking to them about the ease of putting your items into paid storage instead of decluttering.

Family and friends want to visit during the holidays and they have to make excuses for not receiving visitors maybe losing friendships from people who don't understand.
Holiday Shopping, Dreaded By Many, Can Trigger Serious Consequences for Compulsive Buyers
But for the 2 to 8 percent of the U.S. population estimated to have a problem with compulsive buying, setting out to purchase a gift can trigger a complex series of behaviors and reactions that are psychologically -- and even physically -- debilitating
Hoarding and the Holidays
For people with a hoarding problem, the holidays can be a challenging time of year. We asked the three authors of Buried in Treasures, Randy O. Frost, Gail Steketee and David F. Tolin, if they had any advice for people who struggle with saving and hoarding during the holiday season.
Hoarders at Holiday Parties
Discussing hoarding stories at holiday parties
The Holiday Blues and Compulsive Shopping
An Overview of Mental Health and the Affects of the Holiday Season

Neighbors Of Extreme Hoarders

Is It A Home Or A Landfill?

Compulsive hoarding can become a problem for neighbors who might be put in danger because of this. There was a complaint recently of a fire that was delayed in being put out because the firefighters had a problem getting into a very cluttered apartment. Also with so much dry rotted papers and stuff blocking most of the exits it was considered a fire hazard. EMT has to try to negotiate these places when they get emergency calls, they might have to wear protective clothing from fleas and dangerous smells and try to prevent from falling and hurting themselves.

Vermin can live in the mess and migrate to neighboring apartments or houses. Bed bugs have now made a resurgent after many years of minimal presence. It can be very hard and expensive to try to eradicate them. If an apartment becomes over run with them they can infest a whole building. Infested furniture and other items on the outside of a house or building can infest a neighborhood. Clutter from hoarding makes it nearly impossible to control the pests. This can go on for years without any resolution.

Recently police and firemen broke down the door of an apartment in a city project because the smell was so putrid they thought there was a dead body in it. The tenant was alive and inside the apartment they described as looking more like a dump site than a home. The other neighboring tenants had complained to no avail and most moved.

The accumulated weight of heavy items and leaks from garbage that accumulates can cause structural damage which might mean eventually the structure has to be condemned. If the hoarder smokes there is the very real danger of fire from the cigarettes and all the flammable materials around. A house full of junk is not the place for flaming embers. The dangers of smoking can affect the neighbors also if there is a fire.

There is also the ugly truth of trying to sell your house when your neighbor has a very visible junk collection in his front yard or a vile odor surrounding it. And of course the property value can decrease because of it

Cases Of Workplace Hoarders

How Syllogomania Impacts On Other Workers

Photo courtesy of photo8.comThose that are still in the workplace can be a bane on the existence of their fellow workers or supervisors. Depending on what their job category is and and space allotment would determine how much hoarding they would be able to do. I remember before inspection at this job, we were cleaning up the office of a high placed employee. Much of what we found were personal items that he brought from home or didn't take home because his wife wouldn't let him hoard there. He had various areas he stashed papers, bills, correspondence, books, plaques, unopened gifts even two old junkers in the overcrowded parking lot taking up coveted spaces. Finally security made him tow the cars out and his new boss downsized his space and made him get rid of his stuff. People said he rented storage space to put it. His immediate subordinate also couldn't get rid of any kind of machine or instruments. They were very similar in that way. Outdated equipment lingered year after year in store rooms and in the basements. After he retired and space was at a premium it was left to his replacement to get rid of the unusable junk.

When employees left the job with their locks still on the locker, after repeated attempts to get them to clear it out the lock would be broken. One locker stays in my mind. It was a tall one filled to the brim with years of things she didn't take home. Papers, pay stubs, memos, cups, eating utensils, personal items, whatever. Some of the things were sent to her the others were thrown out.

Links On Compulsive Hoarding

Children Of Hoarders (COH)
For the adult children of compulsive hoarders.
Compulsive Hoarding Poses Safety And Psychological Risks
But for more than an estimated million Americans, the saving may get out of hand and cross over to a psychiatric condition known as compulsive hoarding.
The Things We Carry: Artists Confront Compulsive Hoarding
Right now, in the Museum of Modern Art's second-floor atrium, there is a pile of junk: empty toothpaste tubes, bottle caps without bottles, used Styrofoam containers, slivers of soap. Thousands of items-piles of clothes, pots, pans, toys, books-overwhelm the 3,000-square foot display space. Collectively, these items are a new installation, called "Waste Not," by Chinese artist Song Dong
SRI Medication Effective In Treating Compulsive Hoarding Patients
published on-line in advance of publication in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, Sanjaya Saxena, M.D., Director of the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders (OCD) Program at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, reports the surprising finding that the serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI) medication, paroxetine, is effective in treating patients with compulsive hoarding syndrome.
The Collyer Brothers of Harlem
Description of the Collyer brothers
Collyer Brothers Park
The brothers spent their retirement secluded in the brownstone they owned amidst junk at West 128th Street and Fifth Avenue, now the site of this park.
What gomi problem?
There is a growing concern in Japan about gomi yashiki, or trash houses, created by people who hoard useless stuff. Eventually, their collections start overflowing from their houses onto the streets. Such people often have more feline friends than human. I never realized that cats shared this same predilection for junk.
Cops Find No Corpse, Only Trash in Stinky Apartment
Police were expecting the worst when they broke down an apartment door in Queens because of the putrid stench emanating from inside. They didn't end up finding a decomposing body, but what they did discover made a bunch of them sick.
Hoardhouse
Multimedia exploration of hoarding and cluttering in NYC through the experiences of hoarders, psychologists, cleanup professionals, and social workers.
Delta Burke and Andy Warhol were Plyushkins?
The term Plyushkin syndrome is from a literary character who was a miser, a compulsive hoarder and lived in squalor.
Lindsay Lohan: Celebrity Hoarder or Just a Young, Rich Celebrity?
Lindsay Lohan's latest interview with The Insider has been circulating the Web claiming that she's a "secret celebrity hoarder." Cameras pan through her home revealing her piles (and piles) of designer fashion, shoes and probably every free item she's ever been handed.

Animal Hoarding

Animal hoarding can start with the best of intentions. Some people might want to give an animal or two a home. They convince themselves that they are saving the animals from bad people who will harm them. They think they want to start a business breeding dogs or even starting an animal rescue home. It gets out of hand when there are too many to take care of. They don't take them to the vet and they don't have them spayed or neutered. The animals become sick and die in a place that was supposed to be safe. The hoarder seems oblivious to the obvious. Some animal hoarders will actually pick up animals known to belong to neighbors with ID tags. They feel the real owner is neglectful for letting ther animal roam loose. They have an alternate sense of reality and even though the animals are living in deplorable conditions, they think it's better than if they were someplace else. These people live also in squalor, with filth and feces surrounding them. The animals often sick with disease carrying fleas and ticks are forced to live in these unnatural situations. Real animal rescue people have to come in and save the animals.

Links on Animal Hoarding

The story of Miriam Sakewitz and her rabbits
Ongoing story of a rabbit hoarder in Oregon
Behind Closed Doors: The Horrors of Animal Hoarding
For most people, the term "animal hoarding" conjures up images of an eccentric "cat lady." Despite the stereotype that collecting animals is simply a quirky behavior, recent research has pointed to a direct correlation between psychological problems and the tendency to hoard.
Woman With 180 Dogs Watched By Officials
Once Married To Actor Gregory Peck's Son, Ex-Screenwriter Hoards Pets
Jail crowding prompts release of bunny hoarder
HILLSBORO - Miriam E. Sakewitz - Oregon's notorious "bunny lady" - was released from the Washington County Jail Wednesday night, a day after she was arrested with more than a dozen rabbits in her Tigard hotel room.

Squalor syndrome

A Mixed Bag

Compulsive hoarding also occurs in concert with squalor syndrome which is also called Diogenes syndrome, Plushkin syndrome, Havisham syndrome or messy house syndrome. One can start as a hoarder and go into squalor or one can start with squalor syndrome and start hoarding. Diogenes or squalor syndrome means their life is self imposed squalor and neglect. They hoard their money not spending it sometimes hiding it around their residence being distrustful of banks.. They might live with meager belongings without much creature comforts or they might hoard mounds of clutter. They isolate themselves from people, live in filth, do not seek medical or any other type of help and look the part. Maybe about 10% of individuals have both. The often mentioned Collyer brothers had both. They collected mass amounts of items that cluttered their Manhattan mansion with tons of garbage. They were self abusive as they did not seek medical care and lived in a self imposed isolation of fear. They were afraid someone would steal their "treasures"

The fictional character Plushkin in Nikolai Golgol's novel "Dead Souls" lived in squalor and brought junk in from the streets to his home. Dicken's Miss Havisham from "Great Expectation" was noted for also living in squalor as somewhat of a recluse. Many people are familiar with the behaviors from these book characters.

You can find a list and short description of famous people with hoarding disorder and squalor syndrome here .

Is There Recovery From Compulsive Hoarding Disorder?

Since the disorder is poorly understood it makes it harder to treat. Considered by some to be a part of obsessive compulsive disorder, but maybe 30 to 40% of them don't present with OCD. Also there is believed to be a difference in the brain activity of these individuals. Some are not even considered to have a mental disorder. There are those that do have dementia, depression, psychosis and attention deficit disorder. This of course makes it harder to treat. Take for instance dementia, where there is damage to the brain which makes the person act irrational and just gets worse as time goes on.

It would be easier to treat someone who is in the early stages and probably can be reasoned with. They would be better able to monitor their own hoarding behavior. Also if illness is a factor or isolation, then help with activities of daily living and companionship might make the situation some what better. They may never win the good housekeeping seal of approval but the point is to keep some control of the situation.

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) can be of some benefit. The first part of treatment is to have them admit that there is a problem. Some do not think they have a problem. And then to try to understand why they cannot throw things out and help them make the appropriate decisions about their lifestyle. The hoarder might not want an intervention and therefor can't be made to change unless an emergency happens like they fall and get hurt or otherwise are a danger to themselves.

It seems to be a disorder that they are always recovering and not recovered because of the temptation to hoard. Some have been able to change their behavior with constant self assessment and help from professionals, friends and family. Others seem unable to. It seems to depend on how long they have been afflicted or how serious it is. If there is a mental illness component or another similar syndrome like squalor syndrome involved then it becomes more complicated.

There is no medication that can stop the behavior. The serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRI's) are beneficial for OCD behaviors, but have mixed results when it comes to compulsive hoarding. Some studies found them helpful others found they did not alter the behavior. It is stated that mixtures of different medications work on an individual basis.

The belief at this time that a combination of both medication and CBT have the best chance of working to some degree. More research and studies are being done to improve the outcome in the future.

All About Hoarders

Animal hoarder, baby death among top stories this week
Animal Control officers seized 21 dogs from a Bellingham home Wednesday, May 16, in what has been described as a tragic case of animal hoarding. Animal Control, Bellingham Police Department and Bellingham Fire Department hazardous materials crews ...
How do controversial revisions in psychiatry's guidebook make you feel?
It looked at five diagnoses, including three new ones: hoarding disorder, binge-eating disorder, and mixed depression and anxiety. In what is surely biting criticism in the mental-health world, David N. Elkins, a psychology professor emeritus at ...
DSM-5 Field Trials Generate Mixed Results
Hoarding had a Kappa score of .59, and binge eating had a Kappa score of .56, but with both disorders, the CIs were very wide (.17 - .83 and .32 - .78, respectively). Borderline personality disorder, which was newly formulated in the DSM-5 and has been ...
Clutterers Anonymous: Help for Hoarders
Hoarding is a televised curiosity for many?but a very real, damaging addiction to members of Clutterers Anonymous. By Bryan Le You've probably seen them on Hoarders?people who clutter their home with so many things that it gets out of control.
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“infirmity can be a reason for hoarding.”

Videos On Compulsive Hoarding

The Horrors of Hoarding
by hsus | video info

60 ratings | 59,472 views
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Books on Disposophobia

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What's Your Opinion Of Compulsive Hoarding Disorder?

  • kmcvay Apr 11, 2012 @ 11:56 am | delete
    I have a close friend who is a compulsive hoarder, and have found it increasingly difficult to deal with. Thanks for an informative lens! Blessed.
  • Tipi Mar 30, 2012 @ 5:50 pm | delete
    On the national news one time, a story about a couple who died in there home was aired. They were hoarders and the mountains of garbage fall on top of them one day. Their adult kids were horrified to find out to see the conditions after the fact.
  • PamelaU Mar 12, 2012 @ 1:15 pm | delete
    Wow! I guess this syndrome just stems from fear and insecurity. I love a good old-fashioned clear out! I have a few treasures I'll never part with, but if something can't justify its presence in my home, it has to go!
    Sad condition these poor people have.
  • YayasHome Oct 19, 2011 @ 11:11 pm | delete
    My greatest difficulty is in my office, which is very small. Everyone seems to wanna' gather in here whilst I work an' I love it, but it does get a little chaotic, at times.

    Great page!
  • hessa_johnson Jun 17, 2011 @ 2:51 pm | delete
    This is something I wanted to learn more about. Thank you!
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