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Written by Christine Lever
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Monday, 26 February 2007 |
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Page 1 of 3
Do you have a parent whose home is so full
of old newpapers that there are only narrow paths left through which to
navigate? Do you worry that it is a fire trap?
Does your mother own forty-seven cats and counting? Can’t bear to part
with a single one of them? These are examples of hoarding. Although not
exclusively a problem of the elderly, this is often when the problem finally
has to be dealt with. In fact most hoarders start early in life. It takes a
long time to gather all that stuff.
What is
it?
Definition: an extreme need to collect and
hold onto items that can interfere with day-to-day living.
Why do
people do it?
Hoarding can be seen as a symptom of an
illness affecting both men and women. It is often associated with
Obsessive-Compulsive disorder, anxiety and depression. Hoarding can become a fire, health and safety
hazard.
People hoard for a variety of reasons. Below are just some of the causes that can
trigger a person to hoard:
- Fear that they cannot replace an item
- Fear of loss
- Fear of memory loss (the items represent a
significant period in their life)
- Belief that items can be repaired
- Belief that items are valuable
- Fear of making a mistake
- Fear that their personal information can be
obtained by throwing something out in the garbage
- Compulsive-obsessive need to keep everything
- Fear of poverty **many seniors grew up
during the Depression and lived their lives worried that extreme poverty
could happen to them again**
- Items represent financial security and
independence, i.e. hoarding tools.
- Items may represent feelings of love and
security that they do not get from family or social contacts
- The senior may be too frail or ill to
physically sort through the clutter
- Inability to look after themselves
- Something stressful has happened to them
causing them to begin hoarding
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