Compulsive hoarding
The term compulsive hoarding ( measured by English, German, disorder ', the correct English term is Compulsive Hoarding, dt, compulsive hoarding ' ) refers to serious deficits in the ability to own apartment to keep tidy and organize the everyday tasks; it may be serious mental disorders. Colloquially, people are referred to here with this syndrome hoarders.
" Compulsive hoarding " is sponsored by the media, colloquial term that is increasingly used in the psychotherapeutic experts.
- 6.1 Literature
- 6.2 Self-help literature
Definition
The compulsive hoarding syndrome, also referred to as Desorganisationsproblematik, is a mental Wertbeimessungsstörung, that is concerned appreciate the value and benefits of different things different to that of the average population. This can refer to a wide variety of things: newspapers, (technical) literature, food, tools, packaging materials, toys, spare parts, clothing ... The objects in question are either procured, if an opportunity arises, or simply keep instead of throwing them. Some hoarders collect only a certain kind of thing, at the other extreme everything is collected and thrown away anything, " because you may need it again yes ."
Some of this behavior leads to neglect, littering, to difficulties in social interaction, or other problems, but none of them is characteristic of compulsive hoarding. Many hoarders lead out a perfectly normal middle-class life.
History
The term " hoarding " is a neologism itself affected the U.S. special education teacher Sandra Felton. In order to free themselves from their situation, they developed a Management Concept and published guidebooks. In this way, the general public learned of the problem. In the 1980s, Felton founded the support group Hoarders Anonymous. The self-help literature and press reports made the term is also known in German-speaking countries. Published in 2006, the novelist Evelyn Grill a successful novel about a " hoarding " and its environment. The term has entered into common language awareness where it describes a wide range of still tolerable to pathological behaviors.
Symptoms, Causes and Treatment
Symptoms
Sufferers who are also referred to as " hoarders " (or itself so call it), suffer from a deficit, planned their actions and align targeted at coping with their everyday tasks. This can manifest itself in:
- Untidiness up to odors and hygiene problems
- Compulsive collecting worthless things or spent
- Chronic problems with time management and punctuality
- " Paralysis " of the act in important situations
- Miss or Not Kill ( delay ) of normal social obligations. (It may happen, for example, that the entire post - whether advertising, important letters or reminders - are still unopened. )
- Limited social intercourse, to, inter alia, an often extremely messy apartment with causes
- Helplessness under the pressure of chaos.
Hoarders tend to collect or hoarding of things that were considered and discarded as worthless without interference. Sufferers are often unable to assess the real value of these items and to distinguish between important and unimportant, useful and useless. Often they see the irrationality of a hoarding, but are not in a position of insight to act accordingly. In extreme cases, the disorder leads to larger areas of the apartment are no longer accessible to man. Sometimes only remain narrow " paths " between big pile, boxes and bags. Finally, it may even come to their loss to the apartment uninhabitable and in the case of a resulting task of the parties concerned or termination or eviction by the landlord.
In addition, hoarders often have difficulties to set priorities, to do necessary and to control their actions according to its own objectives effectively. In particular, the implementation of planned actions that are not currently satisfactory, is difficult for them as a task-specific timing. Similar to a attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD ), ie the so-called executive functions are disturbed.
Also hoarders often have the problem that they throw themselves full of energy in new tasks, organize a lot and in the end only to discover that they are not up to the task. So many started projects remain lying and contribute to increase the disorder in life.
Many hoarders are ashamed of their disorder and suffer. Also, due to social isolation, many sufferers do not consider it possible that others suffer from the same difficulties. This makes them often to recognize their problem and to seek help. Outwardly, hoarders are usually normal. They often appear as an open, optimistic, versatile, and creative people. Sometimes they have - seemingly paradoxically - a tendency to perfectionism.
Even people whose apartment may be neat, but have a subjective feeling an excessive demand with respect to the order in her apartment are sometimes referred to as hoarders. As a characteristic applies the blockade of action in their own home.
Causes
Causes of compulsive hoarding are many, which are enumerated in the following only a few of many possible (joint) causes.
As a differential diagnosis and diagnosis of exclusion are other diseases that are also associated with fatigue, exhaustion, weakness, even poor eyesight or Gehschwäche, note how (retirement) diabetes (or modified other, earlier, diabetes ) or ( einschleichender ) cancer; as is a chronic or another chronifiziertes Fatigue Syndrome ( CFS), possibly caused by aging in loneliness etc..
The causes can lie in the "Exit becoming" of enjoyable things. Someone who stacks up a bit, purchases or is gifted by someone with the acquired property combines a not to be underestimated pleasant memory. For the compulsive hoarding, which was seldom or never in his life affection or confirmation, this reminder of the pleasant purchased property is the only thing he can cling to. A memory that he did not want to lose again. So the hoarding hoarding them. He collects everything the pleasant memory triggered. In any case, he wants to dispose of one of these memories with the trash, out of fear, the only pleasant in his life would leave him.
The compulsive hoarding syndrome may also be a result of trauma, ie a psychic injury or fate shock, which threw the person off track. Psychologists refer to this connection gone wrong mourning or adjustment disorder.
Another cause of this passion for collecting may be avarice. The person may be separate from anything or have to pick up everything, because he assumes that he could use again, even if he already has no more track of his hoarded things.
Relationships with other mental disorders
Psychotherapist based in the diagnosis of mental disorders generally to the common classification systems ICD -10 or DSM IV, which do not contain the term compulsive hoarding.
The syndrome may be different mental disorders based. It may be a disorder of self-regulation and the executive functions in the context of obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, personality disorders or other mental disorders.
Some experts believe that the compulsive hoarding syndrome (in cases where no psychosis, severe depression or senility is present ) has a similar basis as ADHD or a variant of this disorder. The investigation of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder should therefore be part of a specialist medical or psychological diagnosis with a compulsive hoarding.
Help and treatment
A domestic help feel hoarders often than not useful, since they often feel particular shame regarding their privacy and also usually have a strong desire to retain control and visibility over their hoarded items.
For affected families, there are also public counseling services; as Caritas offers a budget - organizational training, as part of its offer of family care.
Many experts consider coaching for an appropriate means to support hoarders. A coach does not intervene personally, but advises only. The preparation of work plans and support for compliance help those affected often to structure their daily tasks better. Helpful can also be a so-called peer that makes the hoarding clean up society, encourages him and supports him in sorting, storing and filing, giving him useful information or just keep him happy. Since hoarders anyway suffer shame and guilt, admonitions are not helpful in most cases. Instead, little progress should already be appreciated.
Within the wide range from milder forms of untidiness and self-regulation weakness and severe, the autonomy and empowerment of those affected significantly affects disorders, there has been no clear criteria as to what degree it is present from a disease requiring treatment.
After a thorough professional check-up and diagnosis may be appropriate supportive medical treatment, depending on the underlying mental disorder, such as with antidepressants ( for depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder ) or with stimulants in the presence of ADHD.
Description of symptoms in the English speaking
In the English -speaking world, the term " compulsive hoarding " little used. The psychopathology described here is media and sometimes colloquially referred to in English as Compulsive Hoarding, also known as Hoard and Clutter Syndrome or Pack Rat Syndrome.
When collecting and hoarding is in the foreground, the symptomatology is associated with compulsive spectrum disorders ( obsessive -compulsive disorders, OCD Abbr ) in the English-speaking world. If an action failure in terms of deficits in self-regulation and the executive function in the foreground, you can see the problem there mostly as a form of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder on.