Working With a Hoarder: First-Timer Lessons

Reposted from Metropolitan Organizing

by Geralin :: 27 July '10

Today’s post is written by Susan Gilbert, a Professional Organizer in Apex, NC; her business is Horizons Organizing.

For more information about Susan, visit http://metropolitanorganizing.com/bio/susan

Susan recently assisted me on a hoarding (team) job, for an upcoming episode of Hoarders on A & E TV. I asked her to write about her experience; here is what she had to say.

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Most of us who work as organizers find our way to this profession because we enjoy helping people. At some point you realize that you’ve been gifted with (1) the ability to see things as they could/should be, and (2) the focus to make it happen. When you leave a client happier and more relieved than when you found him/her, what’s NOT to love about the job? (And is it really a “job” or more of a mission?) You’re educated, enthusiastic, and adeptly tackle any organizational challenge that comes your way.

Then you walk into the home of a hoarder. And everything you thought you knew goes right out the window. This is clutter on a whole new level. This is more “stuff” than you’ve ever seen before. Your mind starts to spin as you wonder where to start.

“Tell me you’ve seen worse,” the hoarder says – half kidding, half serious. (Actually, this is a comment I hear from just about every client, hoarder or not.) You smile and say something positive to ease the embarrassment the hoarder feels…" More

'Hoarding is a compulsive, anxiety disorder

Dr Randy Frost said the disorder involved "compulsive shopping'''' as well as the "collecting of free objects''''.

"A new understanding of hoarding is desperately needed,'''' News.com.au quoted Frost, one of the world''s leading authorities on hoarding, as saying.

"While the disorder is often associated with collecting rubbish, up to 80 per cent of compulsive hoarders also suffer shopping disorders where they constantly acquire new items," he added..." More

Hoarding is a Compulsive Disorder and Valid Mental Health Problem

By Mary King

No one knows what's piled up behind closed doors and most hoarders prefer to keep it that way. Compulsive hoarding is collecting items in excess combined with the inability to throw anything away. Hoarders may collect things that are new, but in most cases the items have little or no value. Some hoarders even collect multiples of the same items, especially clothing. A hoarder doesn't discard anything – even trash or garbage – if there is the slightest chance it could be used at a later time.

Active and Passive Hoarders

There are two approaches to hoarding: Active and passive. In both cases, mountains of items fill nearly every available space in the house. A hoarder may have piles of junk outdoors in the yard. What is the difference between an active hoarder and a passive hoarder?

Active hoarders salvage items from trash cans, flea markets, yard sales and every place else imaginable. An active hoarder may go shopping at the mall and will buy items that he or she really doesn't need. Active hoarders go online to buy things or make mail order purchases for items that will probably never be used.

Passive hoarders accumulate things contributed by other people. The passive hoarder accepts clothing, furniture, collectibles, old appliances, electronics or anything else that a neighbor, friend, coworker or family member outside the home no longer wants. Like the active hoarder, the passive hoarder believes his "treasures" are worth keeping..." More

Sandy Springs Case Raises Question: Why Do People Hoard?

By Danielle Knox

A 38-year-old Sandy Springs woman had to be rescued from her home after being trapped by years worth of trash.

She is what experts call a hoarder -- someone who accumulates years worth of shoes, clothing and newspapers or other useless material and refuses to throw anything away.

CBS Atlanta spoke with a psychiatrist who said hoarding is not that uncommon.

"I've seen hundreds of cases in my career," said Atlanta-based Dr. Dave Davis.

Davis said hoarding is a disease that can start as early as childhood.

"It can be a combination of factors from genetic to environmental," said Davis. "My worst case was a patient who had waste piled to the ceiling of her home. To get from the kitchen to the bathroom, she had to walk around the outside of her house because all the halls were packed floor to ceiling with waste..." More & video

Cape hoarders dig out from under an obsession

By Cynthia Mccormick

It wasn't flames or smoke that trapped Dean Melanson of the Hyannis Fire Department in a local basement, but piles and piles of clutter.

Responding to a routine call about an oil burner malfunction, the deputy fire chief found himself navigating a narrow path walled with boxes.

"The basement was filled from the floor to the ceiling," he recalled. His presence upset the precarious balance of containers filled with clothing and auto parts, which toppled over onto him.

"There was no way I could get out from underneath it," Melanson said. Fellow firefighters had to help free him.

As unpleasant as his experience was, Melanson's entrapment was brief.

People who suffer from tendencies to collect and hoard things often face a life sentence of discomfort, shame and even possible danger, mental health and housing experts say.

Hoarding, the subject of several reality TV shows, is the focus of a task force being formed to help Mid-Cape residents free themselves from the disorder.

During Wednesday's meeting, task force organizers Maria Chesky of the Barnstable Housing Authority and Geri Moore of the nonprofit Housing Assistance Corp. hope to draw together people from police, fire, disaster relief, elder care and housing agencies to deal with a baffling problem that seems to be growing worse..." More

Hoarding: Why forced cleanouts are unsuccessful

The A&E channel ran a Memorial Day marathon of the first season of its television show Hoarders. After showing all of the original broadcasts, A&E aired a new episode that showed the progress — or, rather lack of progress — of a handful of the show’s participants. Four of the five of the people featured in the new “Where are they one year later?” episode had fully returned to their hoarding ways.

I didn’t watch the new episode and actually heard about it through a blog post on Entertainment Weekly’s website. Learning about it this way was a solid reminder that the show is created for entertainment, and not necessarily to help the participants on the show or teach the audience about the mental disorder. I know from people who have worked with the show that behind the scenes they do try to help the participants, but so much of that isn’t transmitted to the audience. The scary music and the shock and awe storytelling dehumanize the participants, in my opinion.

In the book Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by hoarding specialists Randy Frost and Gail Steketee, the authors say that this recidivist behavior is the norm and should have been expected by the Hoarders production staff. From pages 96 and 97 of the book:

One of the worst experiences for someone with a hoarding problem occurs when another person or crew arrives to clear out the home, usually at the order of the public health department or a frustrated family member … These scenarios almost always leave the hoarder feeling as if his or her most valued possessions have been taken away, which in fact may be the case. Beyond this, most hoarders have a sense of where things are amid the clutter. When someone else moves or discards even a portion of it, this sense of “order” is destroyed. We know of several cases in which hoarders have committed suicide following a forced cleanout..." More