Compulsive Hoarding: Causes, Symptoms, and Remedies

There are some truly embarrassing houses. Not for aesthetic reasons, everyone has their own tastes, but as a clear symptom of an illness, that of serial accumulatorsI'm talking about homes stuffed with objects, everywhere, that even those who live there have lost track of and the sense of their real usefulness. Thus, we enter the gray area of waste, which can be avoided if we start with the simplest gesture in the world: a survey of the area, that is, of the home and the objects we have inside.

Look carefully into your wardrobes, take a look into those drawers you rarely open, cast a glance, a sort of exploration, into the cellars and pantries. You'll see that you'll make a discovery: We live surrounded by useless things, which we no longer use and therefore are of no use.We are obsessed with a sort of collecting of objects.

Index of topics

Remedies

In an American magazine I read the story of a clinic where they treat hoarders, or those suffering from compulsive hoarding of objects. in United States It always happens this way; any pathology linked to unhealthy lifestyles becomes a business for the healthcare industry: this applies to the obese as well as to victims of compulsive shopping. But are we sure that serial hoarders necessarily need to end up on the therapist's couch or popping pills that lower serotonin levels? I have many doubts, and I suspect that one waste (of objects) is compounded by another (of money and health).

In fact, compulsive hoarding disorder, in English hoarding, we can treat it in a much simpler way, with natural remedies, starting with a survey of our habits. The first therapeutic move is preventive: the symptoms of the disease must be identified immediatelyFor example, the collection and preservation of useless or low-value items, endemic clutter in the home and living spaces, the repetitive purchase of objects under the guise of "getting a good deal." These are all warning signs. The serial hoarder has nothing in common with the collector: the latter displays his possessions in an orderly fashion and shows them to friends; the former, on the other hand, almost hides his obsession with conservation.

Serial accumulators

The serial accumulator is a person who waste time, money, and health. Time to keep things that are not needed. Money, as they buy things they already own, a pure waste of money. Health: compulsive hoarding disorder brings with it other problems. And not insignificant ones. The serial hoarder tends to get depressed, is irritable, and often Bad moodHe has trouble sleeping. He's anxious. And his quality of life is only going to get worse.

Symptoms

- hoarders they have no age, although the period most at risk is around the age of 50But the first signs can be seen already in adolescence, and this is where the education factor comes into play. As parents we have the duty to teaching our children the value of things, which isn't just economic. Forget pills and shrink beds: it can be enough to convince yourself that without too much stuff, you can live even better. And there's no need to have wardrobes full of clothes and garments that, a third of which, we never use. Finally, an excellent and free therapy is to rewatch a few episodes of an extraordinary television series, entitled Buried alive and broadcast by the channel Real Time, where the protagonists are precisely the hoarders. A fitting title, because by dint of accumulating objects We risk being overwhelmed by it. And ending up buried alive.

Remedies and cures

A person who suffers from compulsive hoarding (in scientific terms it is called hoarding fear), a pathology that leads to disorder, at home as well as in the mind, can be treated through two paths: medication and psychotherapy. Let's leave the first to the Americans, who have an entire economy and an entire development model, with a related lifestyle, based on consumption: it's worth two-thirds of their national wealth, and they can never stop, otherwise the nation stops. Therefore, Americans are compulsive As a matter of fact, and they've obviously built another healthcare industry on this pathology. Just like with drug addicts. We Italians, a more sober people, can avoid resorting to medications to combat the fever of compulsive hoarding, and perhaps even seek the help of a therapist. But even more so, some very simple remedies can be helpful. Let's discover the pleasure of to donate We'll be deeply gratified by the objects we no longer use. Let's question the meaning of an object and whether it can still have value, including that of affection. Let's try to distinguish, in our thoughts, the means—the object—from the end, that which it serves. And perhaps in this way, thanks only to our own minds, we'll discover that there are many things that can now transcend the confines of our lives. And our homes.

Hoarding phobia

Hoarding, or compulsive hoarding of objects, is considered a mental disorder in its own right, characterized by repeated, insistent, poorly controlled actions, such as pathological shoppingThere may even be a brain predisposition to hoarding, as demonstrated by a study from Yale University School of Medicine, published in Archives of General PsychiatryAccording to research findings, subjects with this pathology present some abnormalities in the frontal or orbitofrontal cortex of the brain. Another study, from the University of Florida, published in Journal of Psychiatric Research, states that hoarding is associated with depression, anxiety and panic disorders. In the United States, an estimated five million people suffer from hoarding.