There are two main behaviors that characterize hoarding. The most common is acquiring too many possessions (objects, clothes, etc.) and after is to have some difficulty discarding or getting rid of them when they are no longer convenient or necessary. A good point to remember is that when these behaviors lead to disturb or threaten a person’s health or safety, or they lead to significant suffering, then hoarding becomes a “disorder." Only collecting or owning lots of things does not qualify as hoarding (International OCD Foundation, 2013).
Different of hoarders, collectors normally keep their items well-organized, and each of them differs from other items to form a fascinating and often respected collection. Besides that, an important purpose
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Neither medicine nor psychological therapies that work well for OCD seem to be as effective for hoarding. A special form of cognitive behavior therapy has been developed to treat hoarding. This method combines: elements of motivational interviewing, several features of cognitive therapy and behavioral practice for OCD, and skills training. The treatment focuses on three hoarding behaviors: excessive acquisition¸ difficulty discarding and disorganization and clutter that impairs functioning.
• BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder):
Many people are unhappy with the way they look, however, with BBD this is on a continuum view. When thinking about the body part becomes incapacitating and interferes with the person’s quality of life and functioning, then the person is diagnosed with BDD. This stress can appear in many ways, but often through anxiety and depression.
In general, people with BDD and OCD both do repetitive checking. The difference is that people with BDD have checking behaviors and obsessions that only center on their body or the way they look. They are very likely to look for cosmetic surgery. People with OCD do not typically have thoughts or behaviors that focus on the way they
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In their desperation to achieve “perfect” bodies, people with MD exercise excessively, spending many hours at the gym, often risking injuries (Olivardia, Blashill & Hoffman, 2012).
• Hair pulling or Trichotillomania (TTM):
This disorder causes people to pull out the hair from their scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows, pubic area, underarms, beard, chest, legs or other parts of the body, resulting in noticeable bald patches. Hair pulling varies greatly in its severity, location on the body, and response to treatment.
The cause of TTM is not known. Research into the causes and treatments is still in the early stages. Preliminary evidence indicates that it’s a neuro-biological disorder and that genetics may play a role in its development (Trichotillomania Learning Center, 2009).
Research into treatments for trichotillomania has grown progressively over the past decade. Although no one treatment has been found to be effective for everyone, a number of treatment options have shown promise for some people with TTM. The most common treatments are: Cognitive Behavior Therapy, medications, support groups and alternative
The oxford dictionary defines hoarding as “someone who tends to hoard, gather or accumulate things”. Many people living in England today are not fully aware that some types of excessive hoarding can be categorised as a mental health disorder.
Hoarding may appear in a variety of forms, including Clinical Compulsive Hoarding, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or ‘perfectionist’ hoarding, and Animal Hoarding. Clinical Compulsive Hoarding proves to be the most common type (Defining Compulsive Hoarding). Similar to many other addictions, a compulsive hoarder’s addiction exists both figuratively and literally behind closed doors. Merriam-Webster defines a hoard as “a supply or fund stored up and often hidden away”, or alternatively, “a secret store of valuables or money” (“Hoard”). OCD hoarding is a term that is applicable to most forms of hoarding in the sense that the act itself is one out of both obsession and compulsion. The afflicted person may have either a variant of Obses...
There is no specific reason as to why people do it, but there are factors that may lead to a person becoming an animal hoarder. If someone, for instance, has gone through a very traumatic event in their life they may find a way to cope by being with an animal or two. As time goes on that animal or two becomes twenty, twenty-five, and even more in some cases. If a person has an attachment disorder of some kind and is not treated properly it can lead to a case of animal hoarding. They will become overly attached and will believe that they need more around them at all times. Paranoia, depression, and delusional thinking are just some of the many mental illnesses that have been linked to animal hoarding
OCD is broken down into two components the obsession and the compulsion. The first component; obsession is when an individual is consistently having these reoccurring thoughts or images about a certain problem or issue in their life. For example; an individual that has OCD can have a constant thought or image about getting sick or dying from the various germs or diseases that people contract every day. So this individual goes to the extreme to make sure that they do not contract any of these germs or diseases. That is when the compulsive component begins. This is when the individual takes these extreme actions to protect themselves from whatever they have these high anxiety feelings about. So continuing using the same example; this individual will consistently clean their homes every day for several hours at a time. They tend to clean their hands several times when out in public and are very tedious about where they go and what they touch while in public. They are also very caution about how they interact with other people. They just take extra steps to protect themsel...
Lehman, H, and P Witty. "The present status of the tendency to collect and hoard." Psychological Review. 31.1 (1927): 48-56. Print.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a disorder which causes people to develop an anxiety when certain obsessions or compulsions are not fulfilled. OCD can affect both children and adults with more than half of all adults with OCD stating that they experienced signs as a child. People living with OCD display many obvious signs such as opening and closing a door fifty times because they have to do it “just right”. Others exhibit extreme cleanliness and will wash their hands or take showers as often as they can because they constantly feel dirty. OCD devastates people’s social lives as they are fixated and obsessed with perfection that can take forever to achieve. However people living with OCD are often found to have an above average intelligence and typically excel at school due to their detail oriented mindset, cautious planning and patience. OCD can be caused by many different factors such as genetics or the ever changing world a...
...D is a clinical challenge” (Singh et al. 883). OCD is similar to ID because they are both difficult to treat. The article states that there are no chemical medications to treat OCD. Behavioral therapy is the way they try to treat it (Singh et al. 883). Behavioral therapy for OCD uses desensitization which is having the patient face their fears.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) can be defined as having repetitive, unwanted, urges and thoughts that raise the need for excessive amounts of time or energy spent on the unwanted urges. OCD typically involved ritualistic like tendencies that result in two types of characteristics, obsessions and compulsions. Obsession can be characterized by the actions and thoughts that intrude one’s mind. As well as the uncontrollable and irrational impulses one must face with OCD. Compulsions can be defined as the act of doing excessive things related to behaviors. People feel the need to act on these compulsions for the sole purposes of releasing the anxiety they feel by the compulsive and reoccurring thoughts. In essence,...
Unlike normal appearance concerns, however, BDD is marked by an intense preoccupation with an imagined defect in appearance. A severe and debilitating psychiatric disorder, BDD is characterized by an obsessive fixation on one or more parts of the body that a person perceives as disgusting and unnatural.
The DSM-5 (2013) lists six diagnostic criteria for hoarding. The first three are the following: hoarders have difficulty discarding items regardless of their actual value, need to save the items, and have a cluttered active living. Fourthly, items cluttering their space cause distress and impairment in social and occupational areas. Fifth, hoarding is not attributed ...
The excessive collection of items and an inability to discard them, is known as hoarding. When hoarding of food occurs, there is a serious risk of the living conditions becoming overwhelmed with contaminated foods. Children often engage in habits regarding food, but the habits will generally fade over time; however, when the child stockpiles or hoards food, it becomes more than a quirky habit.
OCD is an anxiety disorder that is described as someone with obsessive thoughts and/or compulsive behavior. People with OCD are caught up in repetitive behavior and thoughts that they cannot stop. Obsession is defined as unwanted, recurrent, and disturbing thoughts that a person cannot stop. These thoughts are unable to be suppressed and can result in severe anxiety. Compulsions are the result of the obsession. These are repetitive, ritualized behaviors that are done to alleviate the anxiety caused by the obsession. (2) The most common obsessions are fear of contamination, fear of causing harm to another, fear of making a mistake, fear of behaving in a socially unacceptable manner, need for symmetry or exactness, and excessive doubt. The most common compulsions are cleaning/washing, checking, arranging/organizing, collecting/hoarding, and counting/repeating. (3) Some people with OCD have rituals that help relieve the anxiety; however, that relief is only temporary. (4) Most patients (at least 80%) with OCD have both obs...
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...
Some notable symptoms of a hoarder may include excessive anxiety, inability to organize, inability to decide what to keep, accusing others of taking their belongings, health hazards, financial problems, loss of space to live in and obsession of purchasing items for the future. Severe hoarding not only affects the person hoarding, but it also affects those surrounding them. It causes strong feelings of displeasure towards loved ones with a hoarding disorder, shame, and has shown to affect social development of children that are raised in that type of environment (Neziroglu, n.d.). Hoarding does not discriminate on age or sex, but it is proven to affect women more than men. The only known treatments for hoarding is psychotherapy, or therapy talk that helps one develop better decision making and problem- solving skills. Although this may sound demeaning it is a reality that
“Hoarding is the excessive collection of items, along with the inability to discard them. Hoarding often creates such cramped living conditions that homes may be filled to capacity, with only narrow pathways winding through stacks of clutter. Some people also collect animals, keeping dozens or hundreds of pets often in unsanitary conditions” (Mayo Clinic). Hoarding seems to be a growing problem that affects millions of people in the United States today. It can affect anyone, ranging from a thirteen year- old child anywhere to an eighty year- old. Behind every problem, is a cause and consequences that go along with it. Unless you are a hoarder yourself, you may not fully understand what exactly causes someone to become a hoarder, the consequences that may arise from having your life affected by hoarding, or the possible solutions that are out there to help over come this compulsive disorder.