Hoarding is defined as the acquisition and failure to discard a vast amount of items that appear to have little or no value. It is a serious disorder that can have a severe impact on one’s everyday life. The clutter associated with hoarding provides a lack of functional living space, and even can lead to unsafe, unsanitary living conditions. Hoarding is often associated with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) with 20-30% of individuals with OCD showing hoarding symptoms. However, hoarding can also be seen in obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPD), depression, dementia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and eating disorders.

While many individuals may acquire multiple items or collect things, individuals with hoarding have difficulty in regulating the amount of items that are acquired, discarding items, and /or organizing the items. Many individuals with hoarding provide rationales for hanging on to their objects. This reasoning includes emotional comfort, a reminder of an important memory, a perceived value of the item, or a sense of responsibility that one must not be wasteful, and control over their possessions among others. Individuals that hoard items can have an intense perceived connection to the items acquired, thus discarding the item can provoke severe anxiety.

The repercussions of hoarding are severe and dangerous. Individuals that hoard have poor quality of life. Their living space is often unhealthy and unsafe. The incredible amount of clutter and disorganization can lead to health issues including headaches, insomnia, and allergies. Often there can be structural damage to homes such as water leaks due to the weight of the possessions, as well as fire hazards with the multitude of items blocking the exits. Additionally, hoarding may to lead to social isolation. The clutter environment does not provide opportunities for others to visit. Hoarding greatly affects family members as well as the patients. Hoarding can lead to strain in familial relationships. There may be financial problems or resentment from a spouse, child, or sibling, ending in divorce, separation, or children moving out of the home. Family members have to make accommodations and adjustments to their everyday life, for example, children and spouses cannot have friends over due to the living conditions.

Family members have the right to live without clutter too. Since hoarders may be resistant to treatment and reluctant to recognize their problem, often family members seek treatment first. Family members can meet with a professional to education themselves on hoarding, learn how to communicate in a loving, validating tone, learn about the intervention technique, and mentally prepare themselves prior to the intervention. During the intervention, family members and friends meet with the hoarder and explain how the clutter is impacting everyone’s life. Individually each member talks about how the hoarding has affected them. The concerns should always be brought out in a supportive tone. The hoarder will then decide whether or not to enter treatment. An intervention technique may be helpful to both the hoarder and the family members.

If the hoarder refuses treatment, there is still help and hope for the family members. The family can continue to receive their own treatment and expresses the importance of this problem to the hoarders. The family may decide to re-address the issue at a later date such as two weeks to give the hoarder time to think it over. It is important that the family do not mention this until the agreed upon time. It may be useful o recommend that the hoarder seek treatment for another issue associated with the hoarding first, such as anxiety or depression. Finally, it can be very helpful to find a support group. Meeting with others in similar circumstances can be extremely helpful.

guest blogger Fugen Neziroglu, Ph.D. is the co-author of Overcoming Compulsive Hoarding: Why You Save and How You Can Stop.