Hoarding – An Often Undiagnosed Mental Illness

Hoarding - An Often Undiagnosed Mental Illness
By Catherine Walker

 

Collecting and hoarding are very different. Collecting is a practice where people gather collections of objects which are in some way considered interesting or valuable. Hoarding is characterised by the following:

• Excessive clutter that precludes activities for which the living space was designed
• The acquisition of and failure to discard a large number of possessions
• Significant distress or impairment in functioning caused by the hoarding

There was a very interesting article on ‘hoarding’ in the Psychiatric Times last week which brought this condition into the spotlight. It says that hoarding has broad-reaching implications, including a substantial public health burden linked to occupational impairment, poor physical health and demand or social services.

 

The effects of hoarding not only have implications of burden to the community but also strains family dynamics. Considerable distress, hostility, rejection and frustration area not uncommon.

  

The implications for people who hoard may include work impairment, eviction or threat of eviction and can lead to having a child or elder taken from their home. In general people who hoard do not seek treatment until after the age of 40 even though hoarding commonly begins in early teenage years. Those who hoard tend to live alone and may have a family member with the problem.

Fore more information, please visit http://www.mentalhealthy.co.uk/news/775-hoarding-%E2%80%93-an-often-undiagnosed-mental-illness.html