720-982-7856
Review Books About Hoarding to Better Understand the Disorder
Introduction
Hoarding disorder is considered to be in the mental health pathology of obsessive-compulsive disorder. It’s also tied to depression and anxiety. Many people who develop hoarding disorders start to struggle with it in their teens; they tend to hold onto things of little or no value and struggle to keep useful items organized.
11+ Years Experience dealing with Hoarding
u003cp class=u0022cta-info__headingu0022u003eNeed someone to talk to that understands hoarding?u003c/pu003ernGet a Free Hoarding Clean-up Estimate.rnOr call us today for immediate assistance.
Cultural Views of Hoarding
Sadly, hoarders are often seen as dirty or uncaring. In fact, many hoarders start out working very hard to control everything that comes into their life. The inability to discard or donate unnecessary items, paired with the drive to acquire without organizing, such as those featured in Buried Alive, leads to many problems over time.
Eventually, hoarders can become secretive. They’re embarrassed about their living conditions but terrified of the process of getting rid of anything in their space. When each piece of paper holds a tangible sense of security, getting rid of a stack of papers can be terrifying. Convincing a hoarder to clean out their space can be almost impossible, even for family members such as the daughter featured in Dirty Secret by Jessie Sholl.
Call now
720-982-7856
Get An Instant Quote
Get Your Quote
Legal Protections for Hoarders
Because hoarding is a mental illness, hoarders are due protection from legal action while they seek help for compulsive hoarding. Of the books about hoarding disorder, a very helpful volume, Overcoming Compulsive Hoarding can help people understand the fear that is associated with getting rid of possessions.
Part of getting hoarding help for a loved one, neighbor or tenant is understanding that hoarding is a method of control to reduce fear or anxiety. Hoarders don’t hold onto seemingly useless objects, such as junk mail or old newspapers, because they can’t be bothered to dispose of them. Hoarders hold onto such items because it offers a sense of completeness or calmness.
Books about hoarding can be extremely beneficial to those who own investment properties. Cleaning up after a hoarder when they are not ready to get rid of these items can lead to dangerous conditions for the hoarder. Severe anxiety, deep depression and even suicidal ideation can result. While there are books about hoarding that may help the hoarder release possessions, professional counseling is often necessary.
Call now
720-982-7856
Get An Instant Quote
Get Your Quote
Protecting Others in the Household
If there are animals or children suffering under the conditions created by hoarding, the authorities must be brought in. Because the homes of hoarders can often become infested with bugs or rodents, you may also need to bring in a hoarding cleaning service.
Unfortunately, the signs of hoarding can be hard to spot if you don’t enter the property. If you are a landlord or a neighbor, you may not see stacks of paper or towers of trash from outside the home of a hoarder. If you enter the property and find vulnerable children or pets at risk, you must reach out to local authorities to protect the vulnerable and help address the problem.
Call now
720-982-7856
Get An Instant Quote
Get Your Quote
Disorganization, Clutter and Collections
There are many people who live in rather messy conditions, but not all of them are hoarders. The frustration of disorganization is that you can’t find what you need when you need it. Disorganization and clutter can be overcome when people find and take the time to group like with like; even if items are just in a pile, they’re in a pile that makes sense.
Collections drift toward hoarding when
- items being collected serve no valuable purpose
- acquisition becomes more important than safe storage
- emotional connection to the collected items leads to anxiety
The book about hoarding Stuff digs into the obsessive reasons for hoarding, from saving items to acquiring more. A home full of art can be a joyful place to live, but if you buy so much art that you can’t walk from room to room or find a spot to sleep on your bed, the joy of acquisition and collecting is quickly overtaken by the need to control these objects.
Treatment for Hoarding
Those in the early stages of hoarding may be able to find self-help books about hoarding to create a more orderly, less anxious home. Hoarding Disorder Help is written by a minimalist and offers many different paths to a calmer living space. Because children of hoarders are often prone to hoarding themselves over time, these tips may be of great help to a young person moving into their first home or apartment.
Of course, hoarding is on the OCD spectrum of illness. For long-term hoarders who have suffered severe loss or trauma, self-help may simply not be enough. Professionals working to help hoarders break the chains of too much stuff can benefit from Recognizing and Treating Hoarding Disorder by Carol Mathews.
Protecting Yourself
If you are a landlord or property manager and find that a hoarder has taken over a property, you may be tempted to immediately take legal action. That hoarder may be creating a risk for other tenants or the property itself. It is critical that you understand the rights of hoarders, even if they’re living inside your property.
Take the time to study Understanding Hoarding by Jo Cooke. Yes, you have a responsibility to other tenants and to your own investments. However, evicting a hoarder and clearing out what you see as a mess can be extremely dangerous for the hoarder. Understanding their attachment to those items, even if you see the hoarded items as dangerous trash, is critical to helping you make the best decision for the good of all.
Working in Tandem
Hoarding cleanup will be much easier and more effective with the help of the hoarder. If a living space is not a hazard to those living in it, giving the hoarder time to seek counseling and develop a plan to tackle their home can literally save their life.
If you have a parent or a loved one who has been in a state of overwhelm and needs help to tackle a space full of hoarded items, consider scheduling a group consultation with the therapist. Children of hoarders may resent the hoarding parent and transfer this resentment to their possessions. As the hoarder learns to manage their anxiety, they can assist in the sorting and discarding of non-useful items.
Conclusion
In addition to support for the hoarder from mental health professionals, property owners will need help from a professional cleaning company. The experts at Clutter Trucker can help assess the current mindset of the owner of the clutter or hoarded materials. Are they rigidly “locked down” and fully owned by their possessions, or do they know they need help but don’t know where to start?
Professional cleaners can also help to assess what items need to be discarded first and the best way to fully sanitize the structure once everything has been cleaned out. Protections for nearby tenants or neighbors will also be easier to manage with the help of a professional cleaner.
Call now
720-982-7856
Get An Instant Quote
Get Your Quote
About Jennifer Hanzlick
Clutter Trucker is a Denver-based hoarding clean-out company founded by Jennifer Hanzlick. Jennifer leveraged 15 years of corporate experience in to start the company in 2008. Her mission is to help and educate individuals and their loved ones who have hoarding disorder. A featured speaker at Ted X Boulder, Jennifer works directly with community and non-profit organizations to boost public awareness about the condition. To that end, she founded the Colorado Hoarding Task Force in 2015.
