Helping a Hoarder: When Your Loved One is a Compulsive Collector

When I was growing up, my family referred to my grandmother as a "packrat." She saved magazines in huge stacks in her basement. When the discount store had a sale on toilet paper, she would buy two shopping carts full of the stuff and pile it in the basement with the magazines. Her cupboards were full of canned goods that had expired years before. Now, I recognize that she was really a hoarder.

The Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut reports that about two million Americans are compulsive hoarders. Compulsive hoarding is an anxiety disorder in which people accumulate items that they do not need and refuse to get rid of them even if they are useless, unsafe or unsanitary. It may not sound like a big problem but it can become one. For instance, elderly people may trip over clutter in their homes and break hips. If they do break a bone, emergency medical personnel may have difficulty reaching them due to cluttered conditions. They may suffer food poisoning from eating old food. They may get sick from unsanitary living conditions if they hoard pets or suffer from rodent infestations. Hoarders feel very attached to their possessions, though, and resist getting rid of them. They usually do not realize they have a problem.

According to the International OCD Foundation, hoarding typically begins early in life and gets worse as a hoarder grows older. It's rare for hoarding to begin after age 40. Still, it may appear worse in elderly people than in younger people. If you have an elderly loved one that compulsively hoards things, you may be concerned for his or her safety. You may also find it difficult to help care for a hoarder; if you clean the house, it just becomes cluttered again. You can't find things you need. You can hardly move around the kitchen or bedroom.

Causes of Compulsive Hoarding Among the Elderly

Many elderly people lived through the Great Depression when times were tight and some people suspect that is why some of them hoard things today. My family thought that was why my grandmother was so reluctant to throw out food even after it had spoiled; she remembered days when she was young when she did not have enough to eat. However, the International OCD Foundation says that research does not support this theory.

Stress and anxiety may contribute to the desire to hoard things and research has shown that hoarding behavior often gets worse after a serious loss, like the death of a spouse. Many elderly people have experienced such losses. My grandmother's hoarding behavior worsened considerably after she was diagnosed with cancer.

Studies show differences in the brains of people that hoard things when compared to people that do not hoard things. Compulsive hoarders may also suffer from other psychological disorders like schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder. Compulsive hoarding is fairly common among people with Alzheimer's disease, as well, which affects some elderly people.

Helping a Hoarder

It's important to understand that compulsive hoarding is a psychological disorder. If your loved one is a hoarder, there are things you can do to help but you can't cure the disorder anymore than you could cure them of schizophrenia.

Elaine Turek, a professional organizer that specializes in helping senior citizens in Wallingford, Connecticut, offers several tips for those that want to help a loved one that hoards things:

Start with an area of the house that is less emotionally difficult than others. For instance, if your mother has kept all your father's clothes since he died ten years ago, don't ask her to start out by giving away the clothing. Instead, ask her to start by throwing out the old newspapers on the back porch. Take baby steps.

Work at dad's pace. Realize that he's no longer a young man so he may not be able to work as quickly as you can. Also, he probably has a great deal of emotional attachment to things he's hoarded so it will take him time to let go.

Let mom have as much control over the process as possible. Instead of telling her what to do, ask questions to help her decide what to keep and what to give away or throw out.

Help dad identify benefits of clearing out some clutter. The house will be safer, he can save a lot of money if he no longer has to rent a storage unit, it will be easier to find things when they are needed, etc.

If you find yourself fighting a lot with mom about the need to throw out things, consider calling in a professional organizer. Sometimes an objective third party can help get the job done and mom may find it easier to listen to an outsider about the need to clean out the house.

In addition, you should encourage dad to seek professional mental health treatment if he seems especially anxious or depressed or is unable to let go of hazardous or unsanitary items or allow you to help him make the home safe and livable.

Treatment for Compulsive Hoarding

Both group and individual psychotherapy helps people that hoard things. A particular type of psychotherapy, called cognitive behavioral therapy, has been found to be the most effective type of therapy. If your loved one agrees to try psychotherapy, look for a therapist that has training and experience working with compulsive hoarders.

Medication for depression or anxiety also helps if a hoarder suffers from those conditions. There are some medications that doctors prescribe to treat obsessive compulsive disorder but research shows those are of limited effectiveness for compulsive hoarding. A psychiatrist can evaluate your loved one to determine if medication might help.

It's important to understand that just cleaning your loved one's house and getting rid of all the clutter won't cure compulsive hoarding. Hoarders that don't receive treatment usually just accumulate more items in short order. Losing a lot of possessions, even useless or unsanitary items, may cause a great deal of stress unless your loved one receives treatment, too.

For more information, contact:

International OCD Foundation
P.O. Box 961029
Boston, MA 02196
617-973-5801
www.ocfoundation.org

Sources:

Hartford Hospital. http://www.harthosp.org/instituteofliving/anxietydisorderscenter/compulsivehoarding/default.aspx . Anxiety Disorders: Compulsive Hoarding.

International OCD Foundation. http://www.ocfoundation.org/hoarding/overview.aspx . Overview of Hoarding.