Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Support

Several of my relatives are hoarders. They say it from the depression (1929-1936?) era. My research says its a OCD/mental disorder..I am a thrifty person and find it difficult to part with things that I might need in the future..but I do not collect things nor have garages full of junk. Help me understand why others do this...thanks

I wouldn't consider myself a hoarder but I do keep a lot of things that I don't actually use heh. Not to the point of rooms full of stuff.

I did some googling on Compulsive Hoarding and came across this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Pack_Rat

It actually talks about a study done on the brains of many "Hoarders". Hope this information is helpful as I don't know very much about it.

Alot of hoarding is apart of people not wanting to let go of things. sometimes its hard to let things that someone may not want to part with. I remember seeing in the newspaper ad this older man who had alot of stuff in his yard and it was alot of stuff he kept around that he didnt throw away. The city got onto him and said if they had to move his stuff for him they would put a lean on his property to pay for it because they had to move his stuff once before and he didnt pay them for it. It is sad to have this happen to anyone who may hoard stuff. I think also alot of hoarding maybe stuff that gets so built up that sometimes we cant find room to put things.

My mom is a hoarder. 300 garbage bags, 9 trips to the dump. I believe it is OCD. I also have done research and it has to do with personal loss. My mom has had problematic relationships with people and before they could be corrected, those folks die. The show on A&E believes that the "THINGS" won't leave like ppl do. My sister, brother and I spent 12 days cleaning out her mobile home. Did I mention it came at a cost of $11,500. Finding items there that will be in my mind until I die. Being thrifty is one thing, holding on to things for JUST IN CASE, could be the beginning of a life long battle. Good Luck and JUST THROW IT AWAY!!!

Post edited by: deltapug, at: 11/27/2010 11:44 AM

My Dad is a hoarder. From what I can tell it's a combination of not wanting to let go of what the item represents. Sometimes this is people or memories - such as a shirt we found that is 18 years old and still has the tag on it. He never wore it once but it was very hard to get him to let go. Other times - and I think this for him is the kicker - I think hoarding gives him a feeling of control. He has lots of books he's never read and will never read. He has piles of mail and magazines most of it junk. But he won't get rid of any of it until he's ready. I almost gave him a panic attack because I wanted to throw away a pile of junk mail before he'd gone through it - the pile was more than a month old and I had already gone through it.

I don't hord nearly as badly as he does and I hope to never get to that point. I can really empathize with him though. I have some items that really still have a lot of emotion and meaning in them. Even though I hardly use them or look at them the thought of throwing them away is too hard.

One way around it that works for me is donating. I am more than happy to give away most things if they're going to be used. I just hate throwing things away. Still I make myself get rid of things. Atleast once a year I try to have a spring cleaning with that goal in mind - cleaning, organizing, and clearing out.

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I'd be interested in reading the study above. I notice that in my life I hoard too. I keep friendships, relationships, memberships even if I'm not longer actually gaining from or using them. To me it feels the same behavior I'll be curious to read if the doctors looked at it. Maybe it's all just OCD fear of change.

Our mom also had mail, boxes and boxes of it. Some of the mail was from other people in her mobile home park. Some of it was from 1973. Books, magazines and "Money Makers' crap. We were able to convince her to let us put it in "STORAGE", some was truly trash, like the dead bird, jar of hair and the mummified kitty we found in her home. Since Mom suffers from COPD and early stages of Demensia, we were able to convince her that the Board of Health had come in while she was in the hotel and there were cetain things the "HEALTH INSPECTOR" insisted we do, or she would need to go into a nursing home. I do feel bad for lying to my mom, but she was not able to live in those conditions. The smell alone was beyond anything I have ever experienced.

MOM UPDATE - Mom continues to hoard although our brother is keeping tabs on her. She is sleeping alot - may be depression. Since her things are gone, she may be feeling lost. She is keeping wrappers from her cough dropsand pizza in a family trunk full of blankets; not wrapped, just sitting on the blankets......

Hi deltapug, Thank you for the update on your mom. If many or most of the things she was hoarding have been taken away, then she probably is feeling depressed, and may be even grieving over the items she was so attatched to, but it can and does at times get to the point where in can actually be a health hazard, so it can make for a very difficult situation.

Hopefully she will beging to "let go" of those items that are gone now, and her feelings of depresion or loss will lessen with time. Please continue to let us know how she's doing.

Robbie

Mom seems to be be doing better. God Bless my brother, he said everyday is like an Easter Egg Hunt. He never knows what she will find. He did get her a small dog - RUSTY. He sleeps with her and hardly leaves her side. Her memory continues to get worse with each passing day. I am not even sure she remembers her STUFF. She has never asked to go to the storage unit.