Hoarding occupies a somewhat liminal place in the popular mindset, hovering somewhere between a perceived eccentricity and a dangerous, unhygienic habit – bringing to mind ceiling-high stacks of browning newspapers or rooms packed full of useless paraphernalia. Once preconceptions have been dispelled, what remains is this: hoarding is a mental disorder that can be brought about by many things, and which tends to be characterised by a desire for control or an inability to let go of unimportant possessions (which, of course, are perceived as important by the hoarder). The condition is still slightly tricky to define, and there remains a considerable stigma around it; if you think you know someone who might be hoarding, it’s important to tread carefully and to be sensitive in how you broach the subject. But there are ways to help people who have developed the problem.
Distinguishing between hoarding and collecting can be one of the first problems, says Stephen Buckley, Head of Information at Mind. “Those of us who hoard might call what we do ‘collecting’,” he explains, “and the line between hoarding and collecting can be blurry.
“Collecting normally involves saving certain types of items, such as vinyl records or stamps. You’d carefully choose them and normally order them in some way, such as in display cases or folders. Hoarding is not normally as selective. It doesn’t involve organisation in a way that makes the items easy to access or use.”
Signs of people who hoard can include not wanting people in their home, Stephen adds, or having trouble throwing anything away – always having a reason to hand as to why they should hold onto something. “It might be hard to spot these signs at first, as all hoarding starts small. It might be hard to notice that someone close to you is hoarding until the things they have are taking up a lot of space where they live.”
There’s no single reason why someone might start hoarding, nor are there established links between hoarding and particular past experiences. Sometimes, hoarding might be a coping method for someone managing difficult feelings, Stephen says. “For others, we might hoard because we have anxious thoughts that make it hard to make decisions about getting rid of objects. Some of us might be able to connect our hoarding to a traumatic event that has happened in our lives, but there is no one type of traumatic event that is more common in people that hoard.” Occasionally, it can be caused by other mental health problems, in which case these cases might require different treatment and management, or it might be caused by a physical health problem like dementia.
One mental health link previously linked to hoarding was obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), of which hoarding was thought to be a type, but this is no longer the case. “Hoarding is now considered to be its own type of mental health problem. You can experience both OCD and hoarding at the same time, but having a hoarding disorder does not mean you have OCD.”
You might expect hoarding to be characterised by the accumulation of low-value objects, but it’s important to note that the cost of an item is different to its perceived value to a hoarder. Most people have a few items that might not be very valuable in monetary terms but hold significant emotional weight and sentimental value; someone who is hoarding is likely to attach that value to everything they own, or most things. “This means it is hard to say that hoarding is linked to lower-value objects,” Stephen explains.
“Those of us who hoard will place a high amount of emotional or practical value on almost everything we have. This makes it very hard to get rid of anything. We might have a lot of memories associated with the objects, or we might see them as things we can use in the future, for example for DIY or craft.
“So it’s important to not always think about the cost of items someone owns when looking for signs of hoarding.”
So – how best to approach someone you think might have a problem with hoarding? First and foremost, Stephen suggests, consider the stigma that is attached to hoarding, and be sensitive. “Keep in mind that not everyone who hoards knows that they are doing it,” he says. “Even if you see someone’s home as very cluttered and dangerous, they might not see any problem with it.
“This means it is important to approach someone from a place of understanding. As said before, those of us who hoard place a lot of emotional or practical value on the items we have. If you want to talk to someone about their hoarding, you need to understand that too. Don’t call their items ‘junk’ or ‘useless’, because that shows less respect and understanding. Instead, try and listen to what that person wants and work within their needs, not your own.”
Perhaps the single most important thing to remember is not to try to force them to clean up, nor to throw their things away without them and their permission. This is likely to harm the trust between you without addressing the underlying reason for their hoarding. If you have concerns about the person’s immediate wellbeing, Stephen points to Mind’s information on how to approach safety issues.
In terms of treatment, there is no single way to approach hoarding, because there’s no single cause. The reasons why people hoard are individual and it’s important to work out what they are before beginning treatment – which commonly involves therapy. “Different types of therapy will work for different people,” says Stephen. “Some of us find group therapy useful. Some of us like one-to-one therapy that might happen in our home.
“Treatments for hoarding focus on the reasons why we might be connected to our items and help us slowly change behaviours when we feel ready. Therapy for hoarding may need to take place over a long time and building trust with our therapist is really important.”
Finally, there’s another form of hoarding that is worth looking out for. “Digital hoarding is when you make and keep a large number of digital files,” says Stephen. “We might keep these files, such as photos or emails, for the same reasons we keep physical objects. The idea of deleting them can cause the same kind of distress as well. It might involve buying multiple hard drives, USBs or cloud storage to keep all these files.
“You might experience digital hoarding on its own, or along with hoarding physical objects. You might keep a digital record of things you hoard physically. For example, by typing up an index.” Digital hoarding can begin as a way to reduce physical hoarding – perhaps by taking a photo of physical objects instead of buying them, say – but it is harmful as well, and can cause similar problems to physical hoarding. It’s a good illustration of how hoarding is not about physical objects themselves so much as our perceived attachment to an object, be it tangible or ephemeral.
Be prepared for it to take time to help the person who has started hoarding: the disorder only becomes noticeable when clutter builds up, meaning that person has probably had underlying issues for a long time, almost by definition. “We only notice it once there is a lot of clutter, but all clutter starts small at one point and the clutter starts for a reason,” says Stephen. “So overcoming hoarding can take time, and that is okay. That is part of why forced clean ups don’t work.
“There is a reason why we hoard, and trying to understand that reason rather than being judgemental about how someone’s home looks is really important in building trust. Try and see past the clutter and see the person.”
