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The classification of Hoarding has been changed to be a distinct disorder. Do you think that the increase in people with this disorder is because as a society people have become more isolated from their family and neighbors so it is easier for them to become hoarders without anyone noticing? Do you or anyone you know have a problem with hoarding? don't think it's an increase in people, I think it's an increase in awareness. Let's face it, tv shows (like the one on my network, and others) have brought attention to it in a big way. We get a lot of viewer comments about how people feel like they can finally talk about it now that they know there are others with family members going through it. It was a silent thing for a long time, people didn't get the connection to mental illness and presumed it was just about being "messy".
Interesting. . .
I think it is partially that. It is easier to isolate oneself and still get everything we 'need'. But I think it is also due to a consumer culture. So many things are super-sized. Shopping on Black Friday is an adrenaline filled "sport.' Objects and belongings are fetishized in our culture.
I am not an expert about psychology though. And I do wonder what the benefit is in making it a designation. I imagine that a lot of things, like depression and lack of impulse control contribute.
I speak only as someone who has had to watch the show quite a bit. . .the people on it are not materialistic, they are mentally ill. They save crazy things. . .expired food, old toys nobody wants, broken equipment. It's definitely a disorder and not really about the "stuff". One guy saved his mother's empty prescription bottles because he was still traumatized by losing her. Some people are ordering things via shopping networks & web, but lots of them are saving garbage. People who collect, even obsessively, often put a lot more care into the things they collect.
I definitely think it's a disorder and these people need treatment as well as a clean-up.
I know two people that are hoarders. They are brother and sister and are in their 60's. Each of them grew up so very poor that once they got to be adults with their own money the bought anything and everything they possibly could get their hands on. Even if it does not make sense to keep. I believe it was a lasting consequence of the trauma of not having enough basics as a child. (by basics I mean food and clothing. The sister did not have pads, shampoo, or soap)
I don't think isolation causes hoarding. I think its easier for you to avoid someone interfering with your hoarding if you are isolated, but the mental disorder causing you to be prone to hoarding is still there.
And the isolation I think is kind of a symptom, not a cause. I would imagine those who are prone to hoarding are more likely to guide their lives towards isolation, out of embarrassment or incompatibility. I don't think you become isolated for whatever reason, and then start hoarding.
But thats just my gut feeling. I suppose hoarding could be done in order to fill a void in ones life that would normally be filled by companionship. And if that void didn't exist...that mental behavior would never be 'triggered' I still think you would have to have that mental disorder to begin with though...i don't think isolation can 'create' it.
To me, in my totally unprofessional opinion, the whole thing seems to be one of those spectrum type things. Desire to collect or store stuff, sentimental emotions...those things are naturally occurring traits....most humans feel those urges to some degree or another. These people seem to be on the extreme end with an inability to control those urges.
I have to admit that sometimes I hoard things on a smaller scale. Mostly just boxes of stuff in the garage that when we moved things just kind of get thrown together. I don't have time to go through them and just hate the thought that something important might have gotten tossed in there with everything else so don't want to toss the whole box. I know that I would probably never know if that stuff disappeared I wouldn't ever miss it, but it still would make me a little nervous just getting rid of it. So I can understand a little of what these people feel when people come into their house and just start carting out stuff.
Like, I have piles of old clothes to give away, and if someone offered to just take them and donate them, I'd be thrilled and willing to risk the chance that there might be something I'd want to keep if I went through it.
Boxes I haven't looked at are a different story.
I once saw a special on hoarding a long time ago (mind you from a crappy tv 'magazine' show) and the woman described it as a fear that she would lose a part of herself....that each little thing she has collected over the year becomes deeply associated with her identity.
I think that just sounds like whatever causes us to be sentimental or nostaligic is on overdrive. Same with our instincts to collect or store...in reality, thats a survival instinct isn't it? Privisioning of sorts? I think we are built with a natural instinct to do those things, but again its on overdrive for these people.
Thats why i feel its very spectrum like. I think those are all urges we experience or sound pretty natural. Its just that the typical brain knows how to control them to a practical degree.
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