Hoarding is the ongoing difficulty in separating or letting go of a possession due to a need or desire to keep it(DSM-V, 2014). It affects about two to six percent of Americans and a bit of Europeans as well(DSM-V, 2014). Parting with anything the holder owns will be a difficult task as even a tiny thought of letting go will leave that person with a feeling of sorrow as the hoarder has either a sentimental value or a feeling they will use it in the future, they may also feel safer when near their hoarded items. Thus leading to an unnecessary accumulation of possessions no matter what the actual value it may hold. For example, a toy or item from dollar tree where the cost is a mere $1, to something as priceless as a rock from the beach. This
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Once the inside of the house has been filled to the rim, items may find their way moving into garages, yards, and the person’s vehicle(Mayo Clinic Staff, 2014). Difficulty discarding things resulting in clutter are usually the first signs of a hoarder. The person has severe anxiety when they try to discard items, has difficulty organizing, sorting, or categorizing their items of any sort, are indecisive when it comes to the placement of items, distressed due to their vast amounts of items, and suspicions of others touching their stuff(Neziroglu). Hoarders also typically have obsessive actions and thoughts like checking trash cans to make sure they did not throw something away on accident or the fear of running out of an item as well as functional impairments such as a lack of living space, financial problems, health hazards, and marital or family discord(Neziroglu). Adding along to the list of dangers, fire hazards may also occur due to the amount of clutter in the hoarder’s house(DSM-IV, 2000). The symptoms usually appear early in teenage years but as time progresses, more things will be acquired that will not have a use or the person will have no more space for it. In middle age, around 40 to 60 years old, the symptoms may be harder to …show more content…
The treatment for Hoarding Disorder is challenging due to the fact that the hoarder them self do not feel the negative impact hoarding has on them resulting in said hoarder to not believe they need the treatment(Mayo Clinic Staff, 2014). What makes this feeling stronger is if the items they are hoarding somehow offers a feeling of comfort for them thus further increasing the difficulty in treating the person. Hoarding Disorder itself has two main treatment types: medications and psychotherapy. Due to medications being the secondary war of intervening or treating a hoarder, more research is currently being done to see which ways are the most effective in treating this disorder. But currently the most commonly used medication a hoarder would take is a type of antidepressant called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs for short(Mayo Clinic Staff, 2014). SSRIs are usually given to patients with Depression and OCD as they affect nerve cells in the brain that controls emotions and usually stop the symptoms in OCD(WebMD). Since Hoarding can be obtained due to OCD the antidepressant will most likely have the same effect on someone who has Hoarding. The primary form of treatment is psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is also known as talk therapy because the hoarder is communicating with a therapist preferably with previous experiences treating other hoarders. To narrow down the psychotherapy to even
Once the inside of the house has been filled to the rim, items may find their way moving into garages, yards, and the person’s vehicle(Mayo Clinic Staff, 2014). Difficulty discarding things resulting in clutter are usually the first signs of a hoarder. The person has severe anxiety when they try to discard items, has difficulty organizing, sorting, or categorizing their items of any sort, are indecisive when it comes to the placement of items, distressed due to their vast amounts of items, and suspicions of others touching their stuff(Neziroglu). Hoarders also typically have obsessive actions and thoughts like checking trash cans to make sure they did not throw something away on accident or the fear of running out of an item as well as functional impairments such as a lack of living space, financial problems, health hazards, and marital or family discord(Neziroglu). Adding along to the list of dangers, fire hazards may also occur due to the amount of clutter in the hoarder’s house(DSM-IV, 2000). The symptoms usually appear early in teenage years but as time progresses, more things will be acquired that will not have a use or the person will have no more space for it. In middle age, around 40 to 60 years old, the symptoms may be harder to …show more content…
The treatment for Hoarding Disorder is challenging due to the fact that the hoarder them self do not feel the negative impact hoarding has on them resulting in said hoarder to not believe they need the treatment(Mayo Clinic Staff, 2014). What makes this feeling stronger is if the items they are hoarding somehow offers a feeling of comfort for them thus further increasing the difficulty in treating the person. Hoarding Disorder itself has two main treatment types: medications and psychotherapy. Due to medications being the secondary war of intervening or treating a hoarder, more research is currently being done to see which ways are the most effective in treating this disorder. But currently the most commonly used medication a hoarder would take is a type of antidepressant called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs for short(Mayo Clinic Staff, 2014). SSRIs are usually given to patients with Depression and OCD as they affect nerve cells in the brain that controls emotions and usually stop the symptoms in OCD(WebMD). Since Hoarding can be obtained due to OCD the antidepressant will most likely have the same effect on someone who has Hoarding. The primary form of treatment is psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is also known as talk therapy because the hoarder is communicating with a therapist preferably with previous experiences treating other hoarders. To narrow down the psychotherapy to even