A Q&A with Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee, Authors of Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things

Q: What is hoarding, and how does it differ from collecting?

A: Two behaviors characterize hoarding: acquiring too many possessions and difficulty in getting rid of them when they are no longer useful or needed. When these behaviors lead to the kind of clutter and disorganization that disrupts or threatens a person's health or safety, or they lead to significant distress, then hoarding becomes a disorder. Simply collecting or owning lots of things does not qualify as hoarding.

A major feature of hoarding is the large amount of disorganized clutter that creates chaos in the home. Rooms can no longer be used as they were intended, moving around the house is difficult, exits are blocked, and life inside the home becomes dysfunctional. Collectors typically keep their possessions well organized, and each item differs from other items to form an interesting and often valuable collection. Further, an important purpose of collecting is to display the special items so that others can appreciate them. People who hoard are seldom able to accomplish such goals.

Q: What kinds of things do hoarders typically save?

A: While it may appear that people who hoard save only trash or things of no real value, in fact most people who hoard save almost everything. Often this includes things that were purchased but never removed from their original wrappers. The most frequent items saved are clothes and newspapers. Other commonly hoarded items include containers, junk mail, books, and craft items.

Q: What factors contribute to the development of hoarding?

A: People who hoard often have deficits in the way they process information. For example, they are often highly distractible and show symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. These symptoms make is difficult for them to concentrate on a task without being diverted by other things..." More (scroll towards the bottom of the Amazon order page for the balance of this interview)

Stuff won’t make you happy, experiences will

Reposted from: Unclutterer

By: Erin Doland

A new study conducted at Cornell University and reported in the January 2010 issue of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that experiences bring greater happiness and satisfaction than buying and owning possessions. From “The Relative Relativity of Material and Experiential Purchases“:

No matter which wristwatch one buys, even if it is entirely satisfactory, it can still be compared to one in a store display — encouraging counterfactual thoughts about what it would be like with their positions reversed. After returning from vacation, in contrast, it is not so easy to compare a hypothetical Vail ski run with the waves actually ridden in Fiji.

The study revealed that people often feel buyer’s remorse, stress, and a sense that they may not have purchased the best or right product after shopping. In contrast, after a vacation, hike, bike ride, or game of softball in the park, there are rarely negative feelings or associations with these experiences.

… knowing about the features available on other cell phones is likely to influence one’s satisfaction with one’s own phone more than knowing about the bungalows available on other tropical beaches is likely to influence one’s satisfaction with one’s own tropical bungalow.

One of the points that interested me most in the study was the conclusion that:

… satisfaction with material purchases tends to decrease over time, whereas satisfaction with experiential purchases tends to increase.

Over one’s lifetime, it is his or her experiences that are more valuable than any product ever owned or purchased.

If you’re worried that getting rid of clutter will have a negative impact on your life, this study shows that it’s not likely to happen. Clearing the clutter will make room for you to have more experiences, which will ultimately make you happier.

From many angles, the pursuit of experiences over possessions seems to be the firmer path to happiness.

The full study is available for free from the APA.

The Genetics of Compulsive Hoarding

By Jane Collingwood
People who compulsively acquire and hoard clutter to the extent that it impairs their daily activities are labeled “compulsive hoarders.” The condition is classed as a subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), present in 30 to 40 percent of individuals affected with OCD. It may damage relationships, cut the individual off from society, and even endanger lives.

Compulsive hoarding is distinct from bad planning and disorganization because it is believed to be a pathological brain disorder. It is often a symptom of other disorders, such as impulse control disorder or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Bereavement or another significant life event can trigger excessive hoarding behavior.

Hoarding often runs in families, but it is uncertain whether DNA is involved. “People with this problem tend to have a first-degree relative who also does,” says Randy O. Frost, Ph.D., a psychologist at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts. “So it might be genetic, or it might be a modeling effect.”

Gene research suggests that a region on chromosome 14 may be linked with compulsive hoarding in families with OCD. The study, carried out by a team from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in March 2007, analyzed samples from 999 OCD patients in 219 families. Families with two or more hoarding relatives showed a unique pattern on chromosome 14, whereas the other families’ OCD was linked to chromosome 3.

This was the third study to find genetic markers specifically associated with compulsive hoarding, according to Sanjaya Saxena, M.D., director of the University of California, San Diego, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders Program.

In a letter to the editor of the American Journal of Psychiatry, she writes, “Other studies have confirmed that compulsive hoarding is strongly familial.” This research “adds to the mounting evidence indicating that compulsive hoarding is an etiologically discrete phenotype,” she believes.

What’s more, brain imaging studies suggest that compulsive hoarding involves a specific type of brain activity. Patients have a different pattern of glucose metabolism in the brain than either healthy people or non-hoarding OCD patients..." More

Animal hoarding often leads to heartbreak

By Leslie Kawamoto

Animal hoarding is horrible. A recent case on O'ahu is an example of how bad things can get.

In February, a landlord at the Waikalani Apartments in Mililani called the Hawaiian Humane Society for help. The tenants who were evicted left behind their 45 cats. The apartment was filthy and the cats were without food or water.

"When we arrived on scene we observed most of the cats to have upper respiratory infections, minor dehydration and were very hungry," said Keoni Vaughn, manager of Field Services at the Hawaiian Humane Society.

Since then, the veterinary team at the animal shelter has assessed the cats' medical conditions and treated their illnesses. The cats' ages range from 3 months old to 8 years old. Some of these cats are now available for adoption.

The tenants were not prosecuted in this case.

"Criminal prosecution of this type of cruelty can be very difficult and a lengthy process, which we felt for this instance as not being the most effective route," said HHS spokeswoman Jacque LeBlanc. "Negotiation is a huge part of what we do in working with pet owners to do the right thing. The owners were asked to give up the cats so they could be treated and given new homes. They were given 45 warning citations for animal cruelty."

According to the ASPCA, "What may begin as a refuge for a handful of homeless animals can over time become a highly unsanitary environment where animals live without food, water and veterinary care, including sterilization. These situations often come to light only when the situation has deteriorated to the point that the animals are suffering severe neglect or have died from untreated ailments or starvation."

Animal hoarding is a severe mental illness, which can include obsessive-compulsive disorder, dementia, delusional thinking and paranoia, according to the ASPCA. Hoarders feel the need to "collect" animals without thinking about their benefit or welfare..." More

Join our Yahoo Group

This group is dedicated helping people understand the hoarding problem - specifically those who hoard animals.

This is for informational purposes only, we are not experts or professionals, we are only providing a forum for those affected by hoarding to discuss their situations and offer support.

Posts should be kept helpful and positive, no names, locations or slander...any such posts will be deleted.

Join here: Animal Hoarding Group

Cross posting - Quotes needed for Animal Hoarding article

Children of Animal Hoarders--anyone out there want to provide some anonymous quotes about your experience to another COH-Animal hoarder who is a writer doing an article about COH who grew up in those animal hoarding environments?

If so, please contact:
info@childrenofhoarders.com

Website:
http://www.childrenofhoarders.org

Animal Hoarding

By Patrick Battuello

“Providing care is a pretext. The animals give them a sense of omnipotence, literally a power over life and death. This is not about caring for the animals… it’s about a human need [filled] through the animals.” (Dr. Gary Patronek, leading expert on animal hoarding)

In my last post, I referred to Virginia Robinson as a hoarder. A cursory reflection on that word implies benign or, at the very least, innocuous intentions. But like rampaging cancer cells that ravage a body, animal hoarding consumes the hoarder and, more importantly, destroys the hoarded. In a word, stockpiling animals like so many Precious Moments figurines creates a malignancy that should command more attention than a dismissive shake of the head at the crazy cat lady.

Animal hoarding is a growing problem that, until recently, was not given due study into its causes and ramifications. The Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium (HARC), based in Massachusetts, was an informal professional group active from 1997-2006. Each of the members drew on their substantial experience in their respective fields (psychiatry, psychology, social work, veterinary medicine, and animal protection) to delve deep into a complex social issue. They define AH thus:

-More than the typical number of companion animals

-Inability to provide even minimal standards of nutrition, sanitation, shelter, and veterinary care, …often resulting in starvation, illness, and death

-Denial of the inability to provide this minimum care and the impact of that failure on the animals, the household, and human occupants of the dwelling..." More