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Cassandra's comments:
on Hoarders
My mother uses being raised during the Depression as an excuse for keeping things, but my father was also raised during the Depression and he's a neat freak.
I think a Depression-era upbringing might be a contributing factor to hoarding, but there have to be other triggers, whether biological or psychological. Otherwise, every person between the ages of 69 and 120 would be a hoarder, as would every person who was raised by them.
posted 3 years, 10 months ago
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on Hoarders
Katie, the book is ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life. It's a great book in general about ADD. It will help if you have executive functioning and descision-making problems. It even addresses the issue of OOSOOM--"Out of Sight, Out of Mind". I need a visual cue to remind me to do things sometimes, and apparently this is an issue with hoarders as well.
Unfortunately this book will not help full-blown OCD hoarders, but I do see some overlap between ADD symptoms and hoarding symptoms. If a person were to deal with the sentimental attachment, control issues, feeling of lack, etc. that go with hoarding, that is, the why of keeping stuff, this would be a good companion book on how to go about getting rid of stuff.
posted 3 years, 10 months ago
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on Hoarders
My mother feels that the City is being unfair to her too, for condeming her house, but it was unsafe, unsanitary and a fire hazard. There was no heat, no hot water, limited use of the plumbing, few of the appliances worked, and she was unable to secure her home against intruders. She has had many warnings in the form of years worth of complaints from the City, so this shouldn't have been a surprise to her. She is deeply in denial about the severity of the problem. We are really glad she is out of there and safe.
posted 3 years, 10 months ago
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on Hoarders
One suggestion I've seen is that the hoarder photograph the item so that they can remember it, and then discard the item.
posted 3 years, 10 months ago
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on Hoarders
A lot of hoarders won't act until there is an emergency. My mom would only act when someone called in complaints to the city.
It's great your friend recognizes there is a problem, but that is only half the battle. A lot of people think that if they just clean up the mess that that will cure the problem, but the underlying issues are still there, and the clutter usually comes back worse than ever.
posted 3 years, 10 months ago
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on Hoarders
There is an online support group here:
http://www.childrenofhoarders.com/bindex.php
There is both a message board on the site and a related Yahoo Group.
posted 3 years, 10 months ago
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on Hoarders
What many of us COH have found is that our hoarding parents refuse all help, so if you're at all worried about becoming a hoarder, you're probably OK.
Having been diagnosed with attention-deficit disorder, I've found that with certain items, I have trouble deciding what to discard--especially papers and notes and things that contain ideas for future projects, especially because I can't remember these things without the reminder.
I have a great book on organizing yourself if you have ADD, and it actually recommends having a "clutter coach" to help you decide what to throw away.
posted 3 years, 10 months ago
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on Hoarders
This topic is timely because my mother had her house condemned by a city in Oregon a couple of weeks ago because of her hoarding after years of family members trying to help her with this issue.
I belong to the Children of Hoarders Yahoo group that is linked from the COH site above and I highly recommend it, whether you were raised in such an environment or if your parent's hoarding didn't get bad until they got older.
Many of us COHs are frustrated because this disorder is so resistant to change. Part of the problem is that it is such a hidden disorder. Unlike alcoholism, which the general population understands somewhat and is somewhat mainstream, hoarding is still kind of a "freakshow" for people, especially animal hoarding. I hope in a few years there are more resources put into studying this disease. If not for our parents, but for us children who were raised unable to friends over, had to go to school smelly and unkempt, etc.
In terms of my fear of becoming a hoarder, I probably throw more things out than I should. I'm also a bit obsessive about being able to see the floor. I like vacuuming.
posted 3 years, 10 months ago
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