Given the attention to hoarding that is coming about from this show (it is evidently breaking records for viewers), I want to make a few points about this and offer some help for those who might be looking and have found us here.
First, I want to say that I am most definitely NOT a hoarding expert, and the majority of my Professional Organizer colleagues in NAPO are not either. People often assume that as organizers, we all know how to treat or handle clients with hoarding disorders, and we simply don't. The best analogy I can give you is that it would be like every weight loss expert or personal trainer being assumed to be an expert in handling clients with eating disorders. It's just an entirely different situation with very delicate and special concerns. As organizers, we do have some colleagues who have special training and certification in hoarding and chronic disorganization, and currently this is administered by the NSGCD, the National Study Group for Chronic Disorganization, at www.nsgcd.org.
How do people know whether they or a loved one could be classified as having a hoarding disorder? The most succinct definition is by Cristina M. Sorrentino, PhD, MSW, from the Compulsive Hoarding website of the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation (OCF):
Compulsive hoarding has been defined as the acquisition of and failure to discard items that appear to be useless or of little value. It is manifested in excessive possessions in the home interfering with the normal use of living space and furniture, and is accompanied by significant interference or distress.
As with most things, chronic disorganization and hoarding exist on a continuum– there are various places one could be on this scale. Researchers at Boston University and Smith College created a photographic image scale which can be used as a primary form of self-assessment. You can view the photos here in a gallery from a Boston Globe article. A more comprehensive collection of the photo scale is found here (PDF). Comparing one's own living space with the photos and choosing #4 or above means a person may be a candidate for treatment. The NSGCD site also offers an assessment scale in written form, and the OCF site offers another scale based on 23 questions.
Where can someone get help? The OCF and NSGCD sites are probably the best for direct referrals to local providers, and this site from MassHousing (Massachusetts) is one of the best lists I have seen of links, information, and resources, some unique to their state but most applicable to any area. The most important factor, regardless of the level of severity of the problem, is WHETHER A PERSON WANTS HELP AND IS READY TO CHANGE. Remember that help may not always be wanted.
People often ask us if our Clutter Diet membership program is appropriate for those who have hoarding disorders. While our team member Geralin is qualified to help hoarders in person, our online program does require that people are able to implement our suggestions and advice independently. Those with hoarding disorders need to be working in conjunction with mental health professionals primarily, who can then be the ones to decide whether a program like ours could be helpful for their clients as they improve. Again, it's like weight loss… someone who needs to lose 20-50 pounds is in a really different situation than someone suffering from severe obesity or an eating disorder.
Have you watched the A&E Hoarders shows? What do you think? Was there anything that stuck with you or made an impression? Share with us in the comments.
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I have watched the show a few times. I was already working my way through your book with a friend before I became aware of that program. However, I appreciate that these types of shows (Clean Sweep, Clean House, Hoarders, etc.) are being aired. I have been a packrat my entire life. These types of shows along with a few other factors have made me change my ways. I’ve been fighting this for about 8 years now – one step at a time. I can easily see where my previous tendencies combined with any life crisis might have made me one of the people on any one of these shows. I continue to watch them because they help to motivate me to provide my family with a peaceful home that is a welcome place for them and their friends. I usually gather a nugget that helps my views of clutter shift more and more from “I might need it someday” to “let it go forth to someone else or the dump.” Some might see it as taking advantage of the underdog. I see these shows as “that could have easily been me given the same circumstances. And I don’t want that to be me.”
That show is astounding. You just can’t believe that someone would let their life get so bad. I do have the “I might find a sue for this someday” syndrom, but not that bad! And thanks to this blog, I’ve been letting go of more. I have to have a clean house, and too much ‘stuff’ makes that impossible – so I have to balance my illnesses.
What I found shocking was the low rate of recovery, something like less than 4% people are able to overcome this disorder? Wow.
Because of this fact, Hoarders is not very inspiring except from a “fear of becoming” perspective, since there is no happy ending like there is on Clean Sweep, or Neat etc.
Although I am drawn to the Hoarder’s show, (like a car accident observer) I prefer the positive, upbeat shows where everyone’s houses turn out perfectly in 30 minutes.
That being said, I would LOVE to see some follow up series based on these shows, where they go back and film all of these people five years later to see how they made out or if they were able to sustain their pared down digs.
It also seems like “How clean is your house” is actually going in and cleaning out hoarders houses, as opposed to bad housekeepers. So, it seems even more probable that this approach, is not going to be as sustainable as you doing it yourself.
I love these shows, just for the fact that they are brigning these issues to the general population. So many people that I know & I work with (I am a Professional Organizer & also a Mom), have varying levels of “hoadering”. These shows are helping to uncover the issues & problems, so that it does not have to remain a “secret”. I am inspired by helping people out from under their stuff.
I come from a family of hoarders. My grandmother is one and my mother is one. I have worked my whole adult life to fight this. My house is never “company ready” and I still have too much clutter, but I can honestly say that my home is MUCH better than that of my mom or grandmother.
This show is valuable for me to see because it reminds me that it REALLY is a sickness and while I just want to force them to clean up and throw stuff away, you can’t treat it like that.
However, while it paints a sad picture, it is also realistic. It’s a bad problem. My grandmother lived through the Depression so she was TAUGHT to save everything. I am betting that is one reason why this is now such a problem in our country- we have so much excess and we are a consuming population. My g-ma can’t just walk past the dollar spot at Target- it’s ONLY A DOLLAR so she has to get something.
When I see those shows, it reminds me of my resolve. I walk PAST that dollar spot. I think about “where will I put this if I buy it?” when in a store.
It doesn’t always work, but it’s a start.
I had a boss that was and I’m sure still is a hoarder both at work and in his home. Very sad and difficult to work with.
Genny
http://www.connectionsforwomen.com
I have been watching the HOARDER series, I am a Hoarder. And I believe that it is all based on some kind of internal fear, and that fear can be different for every hoarder. I am also glad that people that aren’t hoarders can see that their relative or friend that is a hoarder is not the only one on the planet. You may know a hoarder and don’t know that they are hoarders, they are the people that always have whatever you are looking for at the office. I am in the process of purging my home of 49 years. It is a very slow process, only my mother is helping me. It is very cathartic. Kind of like starting my life over again!!
I am a professional organizer who works with people with hoarding issues. I find the A&E show distressing because it was created for the television audience for drama and entertainment and does not represent the real life, slow and steady, decluttering process that is necessary to help with this issue. One of my hoarding clients told me that she watched Oprah’s shows on hoarders and that gave her the impetus to call me and start working on the issue, so I suppose that is a good benefit of these kinds of programs. However, going in when a person is about to be evicted or lose their children to CPS is not an optimum situation to deal with hoarding behaviors. In addition, as one of the organizers on the show said, “These folks will just go back to the way they were in a few months.” That is so true, because an emergency intervention like the ones portrayed on “Hoarders” does not address the underlying trauma or grief or unresolved issues that triggered the hoarding behavior. We often work for many years with hoarders and have good success with them. But clients have to be the ones that want to be helped and to understand that they may become frightened and upset as the
clutter is removed. The clutter was collected for a reason and that reason needs to be addressed by an experienced organizer in conjunction with the client.
I am a hoarder, not the worst, but very bothersome and not company ready at all. I am also a nurse working full time. I have reciently seen a family dealing with their 99 y/o mother/grandmother/aunt that has always been a hoarder. They are in the process of cleaning her home enough that the state will let her live there again. I vow not to do this to myself or my family. I am giving away meaningful things now and watching my children and grandchildren enjoy them and ridding my house and life of junk.
The only reason why my mother and father are not hoarders is because I encourage them to give me anything they don’t know what to do with. I then quietly donate it, dispose of it or sometimes sell it and give them the money to help with their expenses. I think that with me as an intermediary, they feel less panic about giving away stuff that is “still good” or “could be useful it…”. It is a burden to me and my husband, but ultimately I want them to live an a functioning home. And selfishly, I’ll ultimately end up having to deal with the stuff anyway when they pass away. When I watch the show Hoarders, I think about how challenging it is to get people to understand that releasing the items do not erase the memories. Or even that the lamp they “rescued” would benefit someone else even more. Sometimes I can get Mom to donate good “stuff” to our local women’s shelter, because the sees that they have a real need. I consider this a victory! (Strangely, although I am a bit untidy – an unmade bed, a small stack of paper on the table – I do not hoard nor seem to have any real inclination to do so.)
I find this show very interesting but after watching a few episodes I have to agree with some of Carole’s comments, it is becoming quite discouraging and I am beginning to feel like a voyeur. Jo Myatt’s comments are right on track – this is a symptom of an illness. As an RN I have seen morbidly obese people who have weight-loss surgery continue with their same patterns & habits of eating. The surgery may have saved their life in providing a temporary rapid weight loss but the real issues, the psychological/emotional issues, have not been addressed. I have found the show helpful to me personally in some ways as there are definite tendencies in my family toward clutter and inability to get rid of things.
Thank you for your thoughtful and sensitive addressing of hoarding problems and the lives it touches. My sister recently and unexpectedly died several months ago and her daughter and I stepped into her very sad condominium. We saw, firsthand, our mother/sister’s depression, sadness, and loss of control of her own life. Could we have helped or changed her behavior to prevent her hoarding? Probably not, but hoarding is a very real and complex problem that requires professional behavioral help. I couldn’t bear to watch shows on the issue as I have seen it firsthand. However, if it helps others to seek help, then I’m all for them. (I joined Clutter Diet several months after sorting through my sister’s possessions and, though I am not a hoarder, it does give me a real measure of consolation and a feeling of control over my material life.
It’s sad that hoarders do that not only to themselves, but also to their children. Not a thoughtful legacy to pass on to the next generation.
I have watched all the episodes of Hoarders. While I understand that this takes a slow, long term approach, these people are in crisis. None have had the financial resources to dig themselves out of the problem they find themselves in. Should they not accept the help of a television program willing to spend thousands of dollars to solve their immediate crisis and keep them from being homeless, going to jail or destroying a relationship because it might require a quick cleanup? I think the thing people fail to understand about this show is that the participants are offered funding for mental health therapy and additional cleanup services AFTER the show is over. So, thousands of more dollars are offered to help them deal with their problem in the way it ultimately needs to be dealt with, with long term care. I can’t understand why people criticize A&E for being willing to spend thousands of dollars to help avert a crisis and thousands more to help these people hopefully make permanent change? Sure A&E gets a provacative television show in the process, but was there anyone else stepping forward to help these people for free? Are there professional organizers out there who would donate their time free of charge? Are their psychologists and psychiatrists stepping forward to take care of their mental health issues free of charge? I don’t think so. So, before people criticize maybe they should consider that this is a chance of a lifetime for these people to hopefully change their lives.
I have been watching this show and find it valuable to understand why people collect so much stuff and why they find it difficult to let it go. It’s fear, it’s depression, it’s sentimentality, it’s lonliness, it’s mental illness, it’s many things. Many hoarders are not “slobs”, per se, they just can’t stop acquiring things and it gets out of control, and then they become prisoners in their house, and the cycle of depression begins all over again. The episode where a girl’s depression and hoarding had become so bad that she isolated herself (except for her boyfriend, who probably won’t stick around much longer) was the saddest story I’ve seen on this show. She is very much alone, she’s only 28, and she’s clearly not ready to face up to her fears in order to clean out her house. Every offer of help is met with a door slam to the face. Hoarding is very difficult to stop. You cannot help or change a hoarder unless they WANT to, they must take the first step and seek out the help. I have nothing but sympathy for these people and their families who do not understand the disease.
I am so grateful for this show. I just recently started the process of decluttering my home. I started to realize I had a real problem after my last move, when my poor friends made the mistake of offering to help me move. It is now time to move again, and I will NOT do that to people I care about ever again. I had started reading books on the issue, which helped a bit. I watched the first episode of Hoarders, and I wanted to throw up. I saw what I would become in 10 years if I didn’t make serious changes right now. It’s so sad to see people hold on to stuff. It’s just stuff! I listened to their reasoning behind saving each little item, and I’m disgusted, BUT I understand them. I have said the same things to myself a million times: “I may need this, I paid good money for this, it was expensive, it’s still good, there’s nothing wrong with it, it was on sale, I stocked up because it was on sale, it was a gift, i don’t like it but i’ll make myself use it”. As sad as these stories are on Hoarders, I understand each and every one of them on some level. It’s all just a matter of degrees. This show has provided me a huge wake up call. I finally had the motivation to get rid of more, and I donated all the items to charity. As the boxes piled up in the car port to be taken to charity, I looked at these THINGS, these OBJECTS that I had allowed to control my life. I have never been so disgusted with myself in my entire life. I felt nauseous, and I couldn’t breathe. I think that’s what I needed. After multiple trips to charity, I feel like I’ve lost 50 lbs. Each of those items was a piece of emotional baggage that was holding me back from LIFE. I spent my life tending to THINGS instead of myself. I still have a ways to go, but at least I can breathe when I walk into my home. I keep telling myself, “NEVER again”.
This is a must read about self storage in America: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/magazine/06self-storage-t.html
There’s also an Expedia.com for self storage: http://www.sparefoot.com
Oprah will have a new show about hoarders on Thursday Oct. 8.
I just read Misha’s comment on the homepage and really liked it; also liked the other comments. It feels so good to sort and give away!! Hoarders is one of my favorite shows. Fascinating! I may have a little too much stuff, but everything’s out of the way (shelf, drawer, etc.) no clutter out in the open, in the way. I know someone whose father passed in September ’08. He was a hoarder on very low income. Once a year, his son, also on low income, would rent a dumpster, fill it more than once and haul it. His dad never did understand the problem and would have been evicted if his son hadn’t been there.
just read Misha’s comment on the homepage and really liked it; also liked the other comments. It feels so good to sort and give away!! Hoarders is one of my favorite shows. Fascinating! I may have a little too much stuff, but everything’s out of the way (shelf, drawer, etc.) no clutter out in the open, in the way.