If you wish to help someone with a hoarding disorder (HD), one of the first things you must do is acknowledge that they have a mental health condition; they're not just lazy.
With proper understanding, you can approach them with empathy and patience. Both are particularly crucial when encouraging them to undergo hoarding recovery and therapy.
Once they agree to get professional support (such as cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT), accompany them to their sessions. Equally crucial is to always ask for their permission before organizing their stuff, even if it's just little by little.
What you should never do is throw anything out without telling them first, as this can break their trust and worsen mental conditions. As the International OCD Foundation points out, about 75% of people with HD have a co-occurring mental illness, such as anxiety or major depressive disorder.
Is Compulsive Hoarding a Mental Illness?
Yes. Hoarding disorder (extreme hoarding) is a mental health condition. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) recognizes and classifies it under obsessive-compulsive and related disorders.
According to the American Psychiatric Association, HD has an overall prevalence rate of approximately 2.6%. The rates, however, are higher in the older adult population (60 years and older).
What Is the Root Cause of Hoarding?
There's no single root cause behind hoarding behaviors and disorders. Scientists and medical professionals also have yet to discover the specific causes of HD.
The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) explains, however, that the possible causes of hoarding disorder are complex and may be a combination of the following:
- Family history or genetic factors (the tendency to hoard can sometimes "run in the family")
- Stressful or traumatic experiences (e.g., significant life stressors, trauma, or loss, which can worsen or trigger hoarding)
- Brain-based differences (the areas of the brain responsible for or involved in attention, emotional processing, and decision-making show differences in people with HD)
- Co-occurring mental health conditions (e.g., anxiety, depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder)
What Can You Do to Help Someone With Hoarding Behaviors or Disorder?
Recognizing and acknowledging that hoarding disorder is a mental health condition and not just mere laziness or a lack of willpower is the first step to help a loved one with HD. Show empathy and patience while encouraging them to get professional support for hoarding disorder and behaviors, including CBT and specialized home cleanup.
Accompanying your loved one to their therapy sessions is equally crucial, and so is always asking them for permission when handling their stuff.
Acknowledging HD as a Mental Health Disorder
When you recognize HD as a mental illness, it can help reframe your perceptions about your loved one's hoarding behaviors from laziness or lifestyle choice to a legitimate, treatable condition. It empowers you to become more empathetic and supportive, rather than:
- Irritated
- Frustrated
- Hopeless that they'll never change
Approaching With Empathy and Patience
There's a lot of stigma surrounding hoarding disorder, such as assumptions from others that the possessions of people with HD are "rubbish" or that they're "irrational."
Due to these perceptions, individuals with HD feel ashamed of their hoarding behaviors, as pointed out by a study published in ScienceDirect. Such feelings make them avoid letting anyone into their homes, further increasing their risk for:
- Suicide
- Social isolation
- Loneliness
- Lower quality of life
All that is enough reason to show more empathy and patience toward your loved one with HD, such as through active listening. Engage them fully without interrupting them, use eye contact, and provide verbal affirmation (e.g., "I'm here for you," or "We'll handle this together.")
Encouraging Seeking Professional Support
Continued display of genuine empathy and patience toward your loved one's hoarding disorder will help you build trust, something you need to foster before suggesting professional help.
When you encourage them to seek professional assistance and support, do it gently and highlight the benefits of doing so. You can, for instance, tell them a CBT specialist can help them develop new decision-making skills they can use to feel more in control or manage distress.
You should also emphasize that professional, supportive services are about harm reduction. Have them know that, even if it's just little by little, expert cleaners can minimize the risk of some safety threats, such as mold buildup and accidental fires, as noted by https://biooneinc.com/hoarding-cleanup/.
Asking for Permission Before Handling Their Possessions
One of the fastest ways to make a person with a hoarding disorder distrust you is to touch, move, or worse, throw their things without asking their permission first. Remember: People with HD view all of their possessions as valuable, even if others don't.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Are the Early Symptoms of Hoarding Disorder?
The symptoms of hoarding disorder can vary from one person to another.
Some shared ones, however, include collecting or keeping so many things that it affects their life and the lives of the people they care about. Another is being unable to manage these items, and despite this inability, people with HD still find it difficult to get rid of them.
Extreme attachment to things collected and having this urge to get more stuff are other common symptoms of hoarding disorder.
How Do You Build Trust and Show Genuine Support to a Loved One With HD?
Building and fostering trust with a loved one who's experiencing and coping with hoarding also requires taking actions, however small, that prove your statements "I'm here for you" or "We'll handle this together."
An example is offering to accompany them to their CBT or psychotherapy sessions. You can also tell them that you'll be happy to take them out for lunch so you can catch up on the day they've scheduled a hoarding cleanup service.
Help Your Loved One Manage Hoarding Disorder
From acknowledging that hoarding disorder is an illness, not laziness, to approaching with empathy and patience and showing encouragement, these are all ways to help a loved one with HD. Just as crucial is never to forget asking for their permission before you handle or organize their things.
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