Helping Yourself and Others

Hoarding is a complex issue. One that most people don’t understand. One that is rarely talked about by the people that have hoarding issues. For many reasons. Shame, guilt, embarrassment, denial, and isolation. Hoarding affects more than just the person with hoarding disorder. It affects their family and friends who might not want to visit the person due to the hoarded condition of the home and the fear for their safety. Or they might not be allowed in the person’s home because the person with hoarding disorder doesn’t want anyone to know they hoard for fear that they might be evicted.

Unlike what most people think – it’s not about the stuff. Hoarding is a mental health illness.

Hoarding Defined

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – 5th Edition (DSM-5, American Psychiatric Association, 2013) defines Hoarding Disorder (HD).

1. Persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions, regardless of their actual value. 
2. This difficulty is due to a perceived need to save the items and the distress associated with discarding them. 
3. The difficulty of discarding possessions results in the accumulation of possessions that congest and clutter active living areas and substantially compromise their intended use. If living areas are uncluttered, it is only because of the interventions of third parties (e.g., family members, cleaners, authorities). 
4. The hoarding causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning (including maintaining a safe environment for self and others). 
5. The hoarding is not attributable to another medical condition (e.g., brain injury, cerebrovascular disease, Prader-Willi Syndrome). 
6. The hoarding symptoms are not better accounted for by the symptoms of another DSM-5 disorder (e.g., obsessions in obsessive-compulsive disorder, decreased energy in major depressive disorder, delusions in schizophrenia or another psychotic disorder, cognitive deficits in major neurocognitive disorder, restricted interests in autism spectrum disorder). 

Living with a Hoarding Disorder

As a Professional Organizer and Advanced Hoarding Specialist (through the Institute for Challenging Disorganization), I have worked with people with hoarding disorder for almost 14 years. Most of my clients are wonderful, talented people who are not defined by their hoarding. They are executives, teachers, nurses, therapists, business owners, artists, firemen, accountants, engineers, parents, students, actors, and receptionists. They also live with hoarding disorder.

The people with hoarding disorder that I have worked with also have a number of other issues that they are dealing with. Anxiety, depression, ADHD, OCD, and bipolar disorder are just a few of the issues. Due to the hoarded conditions of their home, they tend to isolate themselves. For some of my clients, I am one of the only people that they allow into their homes. Gaining access into their life is a slow process of developing trust. 

Some people with hoarding disorder have low insight as to the real danger that hoarding can cause. Many homes that I have been in had stacks of books and other clutter from the floor to the ceiling. When you walked past them the stacks would come tumbling down. This could cause serious injury, or you could be trapped underneath piles of stuff. 

With walk paths inaccessible and piles of stuff everywhere, it makes it difficult for emergency personnel to get into the home if there were a medical emergency. There have also been many documented cases where fires broke out in homes that were hoarded causing severe damage and loss of life.

Clients with hoarding disorder also tend to be less active, causing health issues such as poor nutrition and sleep issues, with many clients sleeping in chairs instead of their bed because it was inaccessible due to all of the stuff piled high on their bed.

Being overwhelmed by the chaos paralyzes some clients so that they don’t even know where to begin to clear their clutter. So they don’t even try. 

Emotional attachments are an obstacle for most people with hoarding issues. It doesn’t matter that they haven’t used the item in years. Or that the item is broken. Or that the item doesn’t fit anymore. It’s about the memories. Discarding the item would be throwing away their memories.

Clients with hoarding disorder collect many different types of items. Books, magazines, receipts, tools, clothes – in every size and color, food, and anything and everything. If you can have one of the items, you can have two or three, or a hundred of the item. You never know when you might need it. Or one of the items might break, so you will already have an extra one to take its place.

Discarding items is wasteful. If they do decide to get rid of some items, then the items have to go to the “right place”. And sometimes that’s a stumbling block in itself. Sometimes it gets as far as their car but never makes it to the donation center.

With more things coming in than going out the cycle can’t be broken. Yet, something has to change if they want to live a life that is not full of anxiety and stress. When people are ready to start making changes, they reach out to find that there is little help available. There are not a lot of therapists that will even take on a client with hoarding issues. 

Buried In Treasures Workshop

One of the options is finding a Professional Organizer with Advanced Hoarding Certification who can come in and work with the client hands-on. The Institute for Challenging Disorganization has a list of Professional Organizers that you can reach out to for help.

Another option is finding a “Buried in Treasures” workshop for people with hoarding issues. The 16-week class is based on the book by Drs. Tolin, Frost and Steketee. The class teaches you how to stop acquiring, start purging, and start organizing – and it helps you get your life back. 

I have been running the “Buried in Treasures” groups for the last five years, both in-person and virtually. It has now become an international group with people from London, Scotland, Australia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, British Columbia, Toronto, and all over the USA participating in the class.

The best part about the workshop is the non-judgmental support that the participants receive from each other. The BIT class helps the participants start making changes in their lives and in their homes. 

The real issue is not the “stuff” – but what’s underneath. The class teaches you how to let go, how to declutter & organize and so much more. There are a lot of exercises and “experiments” that really help bring everything to life.

The goal is not to get rid of everything, but to make your living space comfortable, safe and functional. Just by being present, you are showing a willingness to learn, change and succeed.

There is also a monthly Advanced Clutter Hoarding Coaching group that is offered after the class ends, for people that want the continued support that a group setting offers.

To learn more, visit Clutter Support & Coaching Groups.