Research Paper On Hoarding
INTRODUCTION
Hoarding reality shows may make for good TV, but hoarding makes for miserable families. (Tolin, 2008, pp. 334-344) Aside from the notoriety very little research has been done to until the last 15-20 on what is now being officially called a disorder. Reflecting the new thinking produced by the more recent research Hoarding Disorder has been added to the newest diagnostic manual - the DSM-V. (Butcher-Hooley & Mineka, Butcher, J., 2014, p. 206) Often hoarders are presented as people who have just 'given up', or people who can't let go, or poor souls who can't buy 'just one' of anything. Hoarding takes on many forms, all resulting in the same outcome. There are junk hoarders -the ones who cannot NOT brake for garage sales, trash on …show more content…
NO, for hoarders there are no stacked boundary lines for where their 'collections' live and where the people live. Hoarders coexist with 'things and stuff' that has taken on a life of their own and taken over theirs. Maybe it lies in the difficulty of making decisions to keep or to discard, or in being able to even see the chaos, or the depression that sometimes comes from looking at such a monumental task. (Dozier & Ayers, 2014, pp. 220-227) Hoarding homes and hoarding lives are filled with more than 'stuff'. These are walls that have often become filled up with secrets and shame; anxiety hangs in the air and anger sits just under the trash. The dust and cobwebs hide guilty feelings over throwing out some useful item they may need someday. These emotions literally are the insulation and mortar that fill the little bits of spaces not filled with 'stuff'. Hoarders (and sometimes their family members) sit in small spaces filled with huge feelings of hopelessness - overwhelmed and over-run. (Tolin, Frost, Steketee, & Fitch, 2008, pp. 334-344) Their 'things' have taken them over; their families have left or stepped back and disengaged. It can be toxic – literally, but also relationally and emotionally. It can eat away at healthy social exchanges and engagements, gobble up emotions and health, devour finances and bar the door to family
Hoarding reality shows may make for good TV, but hoarding makes for miserable families. (Tolin, 2008, pp. 334-344) Aside from the notoriety very little research has been done to until the last 15-20 on what is now being officially called a disorder. Reflecting the new thinking produced by the more recent research Hoarding Disorder has been added to the newest diagnostic manual - the DSM-V. (Butcher-Hooley & Mineka, Butcher, J., 2014, p. 206) Often hoarders are presented as people who have just 'given up', or people who can't let go, or poor souls who can't buy 'just one' of anything. Hoarding takes on many forms, all resulting in the same outcome. There are junk hoarders -the ones who cannot NOT brake for garage sales, trash on …show more content…
NO, for hoarders there are no stacked boundary lines for where their 'collections' live and where the people live. Hoarders coexist with 'things and stuff' that has taken on a life of their own and taken over theirs. Maybe it lies in the difficulty of making decisions to keep or to discard, or in being able to even see the chaos, or the depression that sometimes comes from looking at such a monumental task. (Dozier & Ayers, 2014, pp. 220-227) Hoarding homes and hoarding lives are filled with more than 'stuff'. These are walls that have often become filled up with secrets and shame; anxiety hangs in the air and anger sits just under the trash. The dust and cobwebs hide guilty feelings over throwing out some useful item they may need someday. These emotions literally are the insulation and mortar that fill the little bits of spaces not filled with 'stuff'. Hoarders (and sometimes their family members) sit in small spaces filled with huge feelings of hopelessness - overwhelmed and over-run. (Tolin, Frost, Steketee, & Fitch, 2008, pp. 334-344) Their 'things' have taken them over; their families have left or stepped back and disengaged. It can be toxic – literally, but also relationally and emotionally. It can eat away at healthy social exchanges and engagements, gobble up emotions and health, devour finances and bar the door to family