What is Hoarding Disorder?
It is estimated that up to 5% of the population has hoarding problems. Hoarding behaviors can begin as early as the teenage years, although the average age of a person seeking treatment for hoarding is about 50. Hoarding disorder is characterized by:
Commonly Held Beliefs of People Who Hoard
Commonly held beliefs for the difficulty in discarding items include the belief that inanimate objects have human-like qualities, that discarding objects would cause grief, that objects offer comfort and safety, that objects should not be wasted, that objects may be useful some day, that objects can be used as memory aids, or that objects are aesthetically pleasing.
What is Animal Hoarding?
A subtype of hoarding is animal hoarding. It is characterized by:
Consequences of Animal Hoarding
As a consequence, zoonotic diseases can spread from animal to human, poor air quality can arise from accumulation of ammonia and bioaerosol from decaying animals and their waste, animals suffer neglect from lack of water, food, veterinary care, and sanitation, and severe overcrowding of animals can cause behavioral problems.
How We Can Help
It is not uncommon for individuals with hoarding disorder to have poor recognition or acknowledgment of the severity of their symptoms. It may be necessary for family members to contact their local housing authority or adult protective services to report the consequences of the hoarding problem. This may serve to increase the individual's motivation to seek treatment for their hoarding symptoms.
Once in treatment, our therapists may begin with helping the individual build insight into his/her problem by assessing for motivation, identifying and building acceptance of distress, and reframing his/her beliefs about the need for change.
Once the individual is motivated for treatment, our therapists will use cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) to help the individual learn distress tolerance skills and effective self-talk for reducing clutter. For children with BDD, our therapists will guide parents to effectively implement an incentive plan and decrease accommodating behaviors in order to motivate their child to use their coping skills. More specifically, our therapists will help the individual first learn how to decrease the number of incoming items before learning to effectively discard and organize items in the house.
Exposure therapy and other interventions are used to help the individual gradually practice confronting triggering situations (e.g., purchasing or discarding) without avoidance, compulsive purchasing, or feeling the need to save. Exposure practices of not bringing in items or discarding serve to help the individual change his/her beliefs about the perceived emotional comfort, fear of opportunity or information loss, making mistakes, value, sense of identity, responsibility for not wasting, fear of forgetting, perceived control, and perfectionism. Furthermore, our therapists encourage the practice of mindfulness and acceptance strategies, allowing individuals to learn to label their emotions without judging them. The goal is to pursue meaningful activities that do not encourage hoarding, thus promoting better overall functioning.
It is estimated that up to 5% of the population has hoarding problems. Hoarding behaviors can begin as early as the teenage years, although the average age of a person seeking treatment for hoarding is about 50. Hoarding disorder is characterized by:
- Acquisition of too many items that appear to have little to no value
- Difficulty getting rid of items when they are no longer useful or needed
- Perceived need to keep the items and extreme distress with discarding them
- Problems with organization, attention, memory, and decision making
- The resulting clutter limits use of living spaces (e.g., cannot sleep in own bed), poses safety hazards (e.g., falling, fire risk, structural damage), poses health risks (e.g., disease and infestation), or results in significant day-to-day impairment (e.g., inaccessibility of plumbing, electricity or heat).
Commonly Held Beliefs of People Who Hoard
Commonly held beliefs for the difficulty in discarding items include the belief that inanimate objects have human-like qualities, that discarding objects would cause grief, that objects offer comfort and safety, that objects should not be wasted, that objects may be useful some day, that objects can be used as memory aids, or that objects are aesthetically pleasing.
What is Animal Hoarding?
A subtype of hoarding is animal hoarding. It is characterized by:
- Attempts to accumulate or maintain a collection of animals in the face of progressively deteriorating conditions
- Failure to provide minimal standards of sanitation, space, nutrition, and veterinary care for animals
- Inability to recognize the effects of this failure on the welfare of the animals, human members of the household, and the environment
- Denial or minimization of problems and living conditions for people and animals
Consequences of Animal Hoarding
As a consequence, zoonotic diseases can spread from animal to human, poor air quality can arise from accumulation of ammonia and bioaerosol from decaying animals and their waste, animals suffer neglect from lack of water, food, veterinary care, and sanitation, and severe overcrowding of animals can cause behavioral problems.
How We Can Help
It is not uncommon for individuals with hoarding disorder to have poor recognition or acknowledgment of the severity of their symptoms. It may be necessary for family members to contact their local housing authority or adult protective services to report the consequences of the hoarding problem. This may serve to increase the individual's motivation to seek treatment for their hoarding symptoms.
Once in treatment, our therapists may begin with helping the individual build insight into his/her problem by assessing for motivation, identifying and building acceptance of distress, and reframing his/her beliefs about the need for change.
Once the individual is motivated for treatment, our therapists will use cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) to help the individual learn distress tolerance skills and effective self-talk for reducing clutter. For children with BDD, our therapists will guide parents to effectively implement an incentive plan and decrease accommodating behaviors in order to motivate their child to use their coping skills. More specifically, our therapists will help the individual first learn how to decrease the number of incoming items before learning to effectively discard and organize items in the house.
Exposure therapy and other interventions are used to help the individual gradually practice confronting triggering situations (e.g., purchasing or discarding) without avoidance, compulsive purchasing, or feeling the need to save. Exposure practices of not bringing in items or discarding serve to help the individual change his/her beliefs about the perceived emotional comfort, fear of opportunity or information loss, making mistakes, value, sense of identity, responsibility for not wasting, fear of forgetting, perceived control, and perfectionism. Furthermore, our therapists encourage the practice of mindfulness and acceptance strategies, allowing individuals to learn to label their emotions without judging them. The goal is to pursue meaningful activities that do not encourage hoarding, thus promoting better overall functioning.
P H O N E 219.228.7630
F A X 219.228.1083
E M A I L info@anxietybehavioralhealth.com
A D D R E S S 900 Ridge Road, Suite F, Munster, Indiana 46321
F A X 219.228.1083
E M A I L info@anxietybehavioralhealth.com
A D D R E S S 900 Ridge Road, Suite F, Munster, Indiana 46321