Awareness of hoarding disorder has grown as media attention has shone a spotlight on what it’s like to suffer from the disorder, as well as the impact it can have on families.
While some may equate hoarding with excessive shopping or collecting certain objects, there is a significant difference between hoarding and collecting items. True collectors usually organize and enjoy their belongings, and their collections do not interfere with their quality of life.
In contrast, hoarding entails chronic disarray, chaos and items haphazardly stored or stockpiled. It’s a serious mental health condition characterized by an inability to discard items and an unhealthy accumulation of objects.
What is Hoarding Disorder?
According to the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, true hoarding disorder displays three hallmarks:
- Gathering and keeping a lot of items, even those of useless or little value;
- Allowing items to clutter living spaces and prevent rooms from being used for their intended purpose; and
- Accumulating items to an extent that causes distress or problems in day-to-day activities.
This mental disorder affects an estimated 2% to 6% of the adult population, and researchers believe that it’s a trait that may run in families. The first symptoms of a hoarding problem often appear during a person’s teen years and worsen as the person ages.
Symptoms of Hoarding Disorder
Common hoarding disorder symptoms and behaviors include:
- Extreme excess when it comes to buying necessities. Someone may stockpile food, for example, to the point of buying far too much or holding onto expired food.
- Running out of space and keeping things that are never used for fear of being wasteful.
- Social isolation, including staying home more, not having friends and family inside the home, and avoiding having repair workers or service providers coming into the house.
- Disorganized piles or stacks that may cause truly important items to be obscured or lost.
Signs of impairment can also appear, such as:
- Extreme sentimentality and emotional attachment to things that represent happier times or younger versions of themselves.
- Emotional distress over the thought of parting with things. Hoarders often believe that their possessions have unique value.
- Ongoing difficulty making decisions, staying focused, planning and organizing.
- Feeling safe and comforted when surrounded by lots of things.
Impact of Hoarding on Older Adults & Their Family Members
Hoarding can strain relationships and cause stress and anger for family members due to their loved one’s home environment.
The family member may struggle with hygiene, both for themselves and the home itself. A buildup of trash or expired food may lead to infestations of bugs or rodents. If the person hasn’t been able to fix a plumbing problem or has had utilities cut off because of unpaid bills, he or she may not be bathing regularly. Clutter can create a fire hazard, increase the risk of falls or cause illness from breathing unsanitary air.
Because rooms in the home cannot be used for their intended purposes, family members may feel uncomfortable visiting because there’s nowhere to sit or eat a meal together. Hoarding can also create tension and concern among loved ones, especially when they recognize signs that the older adult may need additional support or home care but feel unable to help them address the behaviors or living conditions safely.
Hoarding Tendencies and Dementia
According to dementia expert Teepa Snow, the act of hoarding can be associated with brain changes like dementia. Hoarding behavior can signal that the person is trying to maintain control of their lives at a time when he or she is sensing a loss of control. When someone is experiencing brain change, such as a person with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, Snow says that four factors may be evident:
- Buying things becomes addictive. Purchasing things can produce a rush of brain chemicals that generate pleasure and excitement. When that initial chemical rush is over, stuff tends to become forgotten and lost.
- Keeping things is easier than dealing with the stuff. The most common reasons why someone may hold onto things include indecisiveness, attachment, sentimentality and avoidance.
- Indecisiveness is when a person has two items that are alike, but both must be kept.
- Attachment and sentimentality cause a person to hold onto things for their kids or to keep a memory alive.
- Avoidance happens when something is broken, but the person claims that they can eventually fix it.
- It’s harder to acknowledge a loss of value and the passage of time. As people start to experience dementia, it gets harder for them to process which things have value and which things don’t.
- There are feelings of paranoia and protectiveness. The person may no longer want to take their trash out because they’re scared that they’ve accidentally thrown something away, or they may accuse others of throwing things away that they shouldn’t have.
Communication Tips and Help with Senior Hoarding Issues
Well-meaning family members and friends may try to jump in and begin cleaning up the hoarder’s home. However, having outsiders suddenly come in can be stressful and frightening to a senior who has been hiding the extent of their hoarding.
Snow recommends keeping the following in mind when interacting with people with hoarding disorder:
- For a non-hoarder, it can be very difficult to view the situation from the hoarder’s perspective. Something with seemingly little value to most people may be very important to the hoarder due to the item’s history.
- The hoarder may become stressed, scared or emotional if they perceive that others view their belongings as trash. Exercise patience while navigating these differences in perspective.
- When faced with an overwhelming situation, pause and respond thoughtfully rather than react immediately. For example, Snow suggests that instead of expressing disgust, find a way to compliment the hoarder about some aspect of how they have managed their living situation.
- If possible, consider enlisting a mental health professional or support groups who understand how to handle the psychological distress that the hoarder is experiencing. Having a neutral party who isn’t related to the hoarder can help deflect anger or resentment.
Kadan Homecare’s highly trained and experienced caregivers can provide support to families seeking resources for their aging loved ones who may be struggling with hoarding behaviors and dementia. Adding caregiving support can help the senior continue to age in place at home with dignity. Kadan’s caregivers can assist with household tasks, such as keeping a clean and properly stocked kitchen, organizing mail and paperwork, completing chores and doing laundry and keeping a watchful eye for safety hazards.
By ‘caring for families like only family can,’ Kadan will stand by your family with kindness and supportive home care assistance as you help an older loved one navigate the challenges of aging. To learn more about Kadan’s award winning in-home care programs, please contact us for a complimentary in-home consultation by calling 770-396-8997 or emailing info@kadan.org.