Be careful if your house or your room, looks crowded with heaps of goods that are irregular and rarely used. More than just bad habits, hoarding too much stuff can be a sign of serious psychiatric disorder or disorder you know!
The stockpiled items can range from newspapers, books, food, memories, clothing, shopping receipts, household items, plastic bags, plants and animals, to used goods that are dirty and damaged. So many, piles of these items can no longer be arranged in an orderly manner. Hoarders generally consider these objects to be historic, have sentimental value, will be useful later on, or too dear to throw away.
Watch for Symptoms
Hoarders of goods, different from the collector of goods that are able to properly care and organize the collection of goods, which generally do have value or usefulness. While goods that are hoarded by a hoarder are often not maintained and can create limited space, even causing health problems.
Heap of goods at home can endanger the inhabitants. Not only for the hoarder himself, but also other family members who live in the same house with him. In addition, stockpiling can also cause conflicts in the family, divorce, disrupt the child's development, to the loss of custody of the child.
This stockpiling behavior can be recognized when someone shows symptoms such as:
- It's hard to throw away things that he doesn't really need.
- Feeling restless when disposing of goods, even feel angry / offended when his pile of goods is cleaned or thrown away.
- Suspicious if someone else touches his belongings.
- Continue to add or buy goods and store used goods that he does not need, even though there is no more space left in the house.
- Tend to be perfectionist, difficult to decide on something, difficulty in organizing and planning things, often avoid, and procrastinate.
Why Do People Hoard Goods?
The cause of actual hoarding behavior is not yet known with certainty. But there are certain types of people who are more at risk of becoming hoarders, including people who have experienced a traumatic event such as being left behind by a loved one or experiencing an accident, also people who have family members who are hoarders.
This disorder can also be associated with self-neglect, namely in people with certain conditions such as not married and or living alone, a bleak childhood, or even raised in a messy house. Hoarding goods seems to be the only way for sufferers to feel safe and calm.
There are times when hoarding behavior is also associated with other bad behaviors such as shopping addiction. Impaired brain function and genetic disorders can also be a cause.
In addition, stockpiling of goods is often related to conditions such as:
- Dementia,
- Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD),
- Depression,
- Concentration disorders and hyperactivity, or attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
- Psychosis.
How to Help Overcome the Behavior of Stockpiling
Hoarding behavior is classified as a disorder known as hoarding disorder. This disorder usually begins in adolescents or young adults and will be increasingly difficult to treat after the hoarder reaches middle age. Although disturbing, not a few people who do not realize it as a disorder. There are also those who are aware but do not want to seek the help of a doctor or psychiatrist, either because of shame or feeling guilty.
Handling can be difficult especially if the hoarder feels no need for help. Though this behavior is actually very torturous for sufferers, because they are not able to separate themselves from these items.
Although it may not be able to cure, but the treatment given can help relieve stress and reduce the urge of sufferers to hoard. Handling can also help hoarders to learn to organize and sort out the items needed and those that are not. This treatment can be done with psychotherapy, in the form of cognitive behavioral therapy. In certain cases, antidepressant drugs can also be given.
Cognitive behavioral therapy involves a therapist who can help sufferers to:
- Learn to sort things and make decisions.
- Realizing and understanding what makes them hoard things that are not useful. The therapist will not dispose of the heap, but encourage the sufferer to do it himself.
- Learn to resist the urge to hoard more stuff.
The most important thing, therapy certainly requires the support of family members to accompany and motivate patients to change.
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