As the popularity of reality television shows grow so does our education of little known illnesses. Recently, the popular reality series about hoarding has opened our eyes to another secret addiction that I bet most of us never realized could actually be an illness. What was once thought of as laziness and a willingness to dwell in cluttered and unsanitary living conditions now turns out to be an addiction and illness that requires psychological treatment.
The people who suffer from this disease have an overwhelming need to keep everything. It doesn’t matter if the item is usable, broken, or brand new; hoarders see everything with the same value. Throwing away an old .25 cent newspaper is just as hard as giving away a brand new $500 purse. For most hoarders waste is unacceptable and they feel as if all objects deserve a loving home.
While most hoarders dislike the waste of objects they certainly have no objection to the wasting of money. It seems that an addiction to shopping goes hand in hand with the addiction of hoarding. Any type of sale is an excuse to bring home yet another item to add to the already overwhelming mountain of stuff. Many times things brought home never even have their price tags removed. They are just haphazardly dumped on the ever growing
pile.
It seems that, for these folks, having “things” is the equivalent of safety. When faced with the prospect of having to get rid of these things a feeling of panic sets in. Perhaps this is due to an abusive childhood or a series of traumatic events, making the hoarder feel as if they must hang on to possessions or risk losing a piece of themselves. Psychologists are still trying to understand the emotions involved in hoarding.
While some people are able to overcome their fear and get their homes in order; others live out their lives literally being buried alive. Their relationships with family, friends and even potential mates is negatively affected as most healthy people have a hard time understanding this compulsive behavior and dealing with the mess that results from it. Hoarders will often fill multiple storage units and hoarders who rent are often evicted as their landlords have no tolerance for their collection. They find themselves moving from place to place as they run out of space.
It is often hard to spot a hoarder outside of their home environment. A person with a hoarding illness may be neat as a pin on outward appearances but live a secret life inside the doors of their home. Without treatment hoarders will continue to add to their collections of stuff. They will spend extravagant amounts of money on things they do not need. Their relationships will continue to suffer. Although treatment is emotionally taxing on the hoarder it can become easier with the help of a therapists and organizers and eventually the illness can be maintained.
