The Hoarding Syndrome is characterized as the "excessive collecting and saving behaviors that result in a cluttered living space and significant distress or impairment" (Frost and Hart, 1996). Hoarding symptoms often begin between the ages of 10-13 (Mackin, Arean, Delucchi, & Matthews, 2011) but does not "discriminate in terms of age, gender, educational levels, or socioeconomic status" (Singh & Jones, 2013). However, researchers have found a very strong association between having a family member who has a compulsive hoarder and coming a hoarder yourself (Mayo Clinic, 2014). Stressful life events, a history of alcohol abuse, and social isolation are also risk factors associated with the hoarding syndrome (Mayo Clinic, 2014).
"Hoarding effects emotions, thoughts, behaviors, and symptoms may include: the inability to discard items, moving one items from one pile to another, cluttered living spaces, etc" (Mayo Clinic, 2014). It's important to be aware that hoarding is different from collecting items. According to the Mayo Clinic, "people who collect deliberately search out specific items for their collections. Collectors often categorize their items and carefully display them. Hoarders save random items they encounter in their daily life and store them haphazardly in their homes or surrounding areas" (Mayo Clinic, 2014).
The hoarding syndrome exists along a "continuum from normal collecting to a psychological condition" that interferes with the safety and quality of life of the individual, their family members, and others closely associated with them (Wilbran et al 2008, Gilliam and Tolin 2010). The items that are collected by these individual may be seen as "useless or of limited value" by others and "prevent the individuals ...
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...vere. Sticking to you treatment plan, keeping up on personal hygiene, proper nutrition, reaching out to others, looking out for yourself, focusing on your goals, and taking small steps can reduce or prevent obtaining any compulsive hoarding conditions.
Works Cited
1) Singh, Satwant, & Jones, Colin (2013, December). Compulsive Hoarding Syndrome: Engaging Patients in Treatment. Mental Health Practice, 17(4), p. 16-20
2) Mackin, R. Scott, Arean, Patricia A., Deluccho, Kevin L., Mathews, Carol A. (2001, May). Cognitive functioning in individuals with sever compulsive hoarding behaviors and late life depression. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 26(3), p. 314-321
3) Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (1998-2014). Hoarding Basics. Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hoarding/basics/definition/con-20031337
Reading the story “On dumpster diving” by Lars Eighner it made me feel grateful for my materialistic things, because I would not want to experience dumpster diving to survive. Eighner has led me to question where I place my value. He has made me curious about what treasures could be found in dumpsters. Most of these items have lost their intrinsic value; however, they could hold great personal value. A can of food could mean a meal for someone in need. It has also made me wonder about what I throw away, and if someone has ever discovered what I’ve thrown away and used
...bsessive-compulsive disorder: An examination of outcome and mediators of change. Journal Of Consulting And Clinical Psychology, 81(3), 415-428. doi:10.1037/a0031865
I agree with his assessment about society’s throw away mentality due to the fact that I have seen it myself first hand. Recently I helped my sister move out of her dorm room at NAU and I was horrified to see all the things and edible food she was just dumping and what was worse, she wasn’t the only one. All of the kids were getting rid of perfectly good items in the dumpster, so it’s no wonder that dumpsters near college campuses are one of Eighner’s favorite places to scavenge. In his article on page 3, Eighner elaborates on student’s wasteful habits, “but in the case of discards from student apartments, the answer may be that the item was discarded through carelessness, ignorance or wastefulness.” I believe agree with Eighner that some people have a pack rat mentality while others just throw it away. My parents are a good example of this and I think it has something to do with the way that they were raised. My mom is a pack rat, holding on to everything as long as possible and giving away to charity what she doesn’t want anymore. She squeezes every last drop out of a toothpaste tube or a shampoo bottle, while my dad will throw it away half empty. My mom was raised in a single parent household, where money was tight and you used what you had… my dad however, was raised in a more affluent home and money flowed more freely. In fact, my mom does her own dumpster diving fairly regularly in our garbage can by rescuing stuff out of the garbage that my dad has thrown away, including belts, pants, shirts and hardly worn tennis shoes. She doesn’t keep the goods, but instead gives it to Goodwill or the church clothing drive. My dad is her antithesis and is definitely part of the throw-away society. My dad has little sentiment attached to stuff and like Eichner mentioned on page 6, “knows there is plenty more where what we came from.” After reflecting on
1. The main idea is not only that owning stuff is not the key to happiness, it’s also that consumers today own more than they need to thrive which directly impacts the environment. Hill illustrates the environmental impact by showing statistics of global warming today versus the past century, and how consumerism is leading to a hotter climate. Hill debunks claims of buying happiness by discussing a study where stress hormones spike to their highest when people are managing their personal belongings. Hill’s most prominent example that consumerism is not the answer is himself, as he discusses some of the most stressful times of his life being right after coming into a large sum of money and buying whatever he fancied. When Hill concludes his article, he states that “I have less—and enjoy more. My space is small. My life is big” (213).
other people’s possessions. Many times they will do anything to get a hold of what it is they want from
Hoarding is an addiction that is both socially debilitating and alarmingly enigmatic. While compulsive hoarding is classified as it’s own respective disorder, it is also a rather extreme form of addiction. Often kept under wraps and undiagnosed, attention is seldom brought to the secret lives of hoarders.
Paranoia, depression, and delusional thinking are just some of the many mental illnesses that have been linked to animal hoarding
Animal hoarding is an issue in every division of society around the world (Donaghey 2011). Whether rich or poor, there may still be an animal hoarder living right next door (Donaghey 2011). In some situations there may be obvious signs that a person is a hoarder; however, others live seemingly regular lives to the public eye and the problem is growing. Animal hoarding is a growing problem because of the lack of understanding of the issue and lack of action.
Thompson, D. G. (2009 ). Treating Late Life Depression: A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Approach . Oxford University Press .
Levenkron, S. (1991). Treating & Understanding Crippling Habits. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders. New York, NY: Warner Books.
Habits are choices that one continues to do repeatedly without actually thinking about them. Habits start with a decision, but they eventually become automatic. One can probably think about things we do every day that we wish we did less of, perhaps like binging Netflix, constantly checking social media, or snacking when not being hungry. If one can understand how habits are triggered, one can learn how to overcome them. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and “Rat Park” by Lauren Slater will reveal the main strategies to recognize and overcome habits. Angie Bachman, a women who developed a gambling habit due was well aware of her habits, but she continued to drag herself into debt, resulting in losing all that she owned and getting sued by
Obsessive-compulsive disorder has been classified as a type of anxiety disorder under DSM-5, in which there is a presence of obsessions, compulsions or both. Obsessions are defined as “intrusive and mostly nonsensical thoughts, images, or urges that the individual tries to resist or eliminate,” while compulsion are the thought or actions that accompany these obsessions to try to suppress and provide relief. (TEXTBOOK) The obsessions are categorized into four major types, and each is linked with a certain pattern of compulsive behaviors.
Compulsive hoarding has been universally defined by researchers as a chronic behavioral syndrome that is categorized by three unique qualities: the extreme retention and failure to dispose of an abundant quantity of useless objects, living environments so condensed with clutter that it compromises day-to-day living for its occupants, and finally a significant provocation of anxiety or distress caused by the hoarding (Franks et al. 79). Although the definition of compulsive hoarding is universally accepted, the cau...
This happens through minimising everything in one’s life, including their households as well as other belongings. However, over time people will realise that those things they currently own are not requisite, therefore throwing them away is not an awful thing at all. In fact, when a person removes all their possessions at home, other things will open (Gardner, 2018). When getting rid of all their expensive belongings, people will realize that those things are not a necessity, therefore can be discarded, and they will end up saving a lot of money. Subsequently, people will save plenty of time due to the several amounts of work load they have removed. Moreover, plenty of money can be saved easily through applying a minimalistic lifestyle. The simple thing needed to make their life much easier is very easy to carry out. People will realise some day that when they need less money, they do not have to work as much (Gardner, 2018), and this is what minimalization does, it makes life simplistic. Therefore, having a minimalistic lifestyle helps a person become more relaxed since they will have more time to complete less things, which is what everyone hopes to achieve in their life, joy, and
...wo influences: “scarcity and socialization hypotheses”. The scarcity theory explains how "an individual's priorities reflect one's socioeconomic environment: one places the greatest subjective value on those things that are in relatively short supply" (1990, p.68). Thus, people who are less economically advanced focus a greater importance on material acquisition then the more affluent people. The socialization hypothesis explains that "one's basic values reflect the conditions that prevailed during one's pre adult years" (1990, p.68), and these values are persistently stable over a long period of time. Consequently, the people whom experienced a lack of possessions in previous years are more likely to develop an obsessive desire for material goods, while people who originated from wealthy families may focus on personal fulfillment at the expense of higher incomes.