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Running head: EFFECTS AND TREATMENT OF HOARDING
Effects and Treatment of Hoarding
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EFFECTS AND TREATMENT OF HOARDING
Abstract
Hoarding is the obsessive and excessive collection of various items and objects that bring
the individual comfort in owning, and is also a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Research
has shown that many of the people who suffer from compulsive hoarding had a traumatic event
occur in their lives that have caused them to be this way. Hoarding can range from anything
from items, objects, even animals. Mild cases can be more manageable while more severe cases
can drastically affect their lives and the lives of their friends and loved ones. It is even rare for
individuals to develop related disorders, though it is not uncommon to have pre-existing
disorders in association with compulsive hoarding. Treatments can vary between psychological
therapies and anti-depressants; this only scratches the surface however. Social treatments such as
interventions and support groups are also an option. A proper treatment must include the severity
of the condition and how willing the individual is to undergo therapy. A good prognosis for this
kind of disorder will most likely be treated on a life-long scale, though it is rare for individuals
suffering from this condition to fully recover and some even do not respond to treatments. It is
essential that support for these individuals remain positive and encouraging. Hoarding is often
an over-looked condition and is often not recognized as a disorder among some in the field of
mental health.
Keywords: hoarding, causes, treatment, prognosis
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EFFECTS AND TREATMENT OF HOARDING
Effects and Treatment of Hoarding
Hoarding has been an issue for many people around the world for ages, and has been
brought more to light in the recent year’s via media and social recognition. Most hoarders do not
even realize their state of being; this is why their condition is hard for others around them to deal
with. Hoarding can be a danger to their lives and the lives of others, clutter can be so bad to
where it may become unstable and literally collapse on top of them and bury with alive. There is
almost a sense of irony in that hoarding can consume them until the very end; some live by it and
die by it. In a LiveScience article authored by Remy Melina, two examples of this were shown.
One case was Marie Rose, a sixty-two-year-old woman found dead in her Washington home after
a six-foot high pile of clutter collapsed onto, suffocating her. Another case revolved around an
