HOARDING BEHAVIOR: THE PROBLEM WITH TOO … Behavior-The... · HOARDING BEHAVIOR: THE PROBLEM WITH...
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HOARDING BEHAVIOR: THE
PROBLEM WITH TOO MUCH STUFF
Patrick Arbore, Ed.D., Founder & Director
Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention and
Grief Related Services
Institute on Aging
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Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention
& Grief Related Services (CESP)
CESP is a program of Institute on Aging, San
Francisco. It is an accredited crisis intervention
hotline/warm-line telephone program
CESP’s PRIMARY service is the 24-hour
Friendship Line, which began in 1973.
• (800) 971-0016 Nat’l Line – 24/hr Friendship Line for
people 60+ and younger disabled adults
• Grief Services for people of any age
• Director & Founder – [email protected] 415.750.4133
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Falls and the Elderly
• According to the CDC, falls in older adults
are the leading cause of injury death and
the most common cause of nonfatal injuries
• In 2010, 2.3 million older adults were
treated in emergency rooms for nonfatal fall
injuries – one quarter of this group required
hospitalization
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Self-Neglect
According to Atkinson and Nelson (1998):
• Self-neglect makes up the largest category of protective services investigations and substantiated cases
• Self-neglect is linked to issues of adaptation to loss and capacity for self-care..
• Self-neglect can be linked to depression and cognitive impairment in old age.
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Definitions
• HOARDERS – Can be referred to as
hunter/gatherers
• PACK RATS – Stockpile haphazardly and
seldom use the things that are stored
• CLUTTERERS – An out of control need to
accumulate things
• COLLECTORS – Orderly, systematic
organization of things…often on display
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Hoarding
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Hoarding Defined by the DSM-V (2013)
Hoarding disorder is defined according to 6 Diagnostic
Criteria:
A. – Persistent difficulty discarding or parting with
possessions, regardless of their actual value
B. – This difficulty is due to a perceived need to save the
items and due to distress associated with discarding them
C. -- The difficulty discarding possessions results in the
accumulation of possessions that congest and clutter active
living areas and substantially compromises their intended
use
D. – The hoarding causes clinically significant distress or
impairment in social, occupational and other areas of life
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Hoarding Defined Continued
E. – The hoarding is not attributable to another medical
condition (e.g. brain injury, cerebrovascular disease)
F. – The hoarding is not better explained by the symptoms
of another mental disorder (e.g. obsessions in obsessive-
compulsive disorder, decreased energy in major depressive
disorder, delusions in schizophrenia or another psychotic
disorder, cognitive deficits in major neurocognitive disorder,
restricted interests in autism spectrum disorder)
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Specifiers
• Approximately 80-90% of individuals with
hoarding disorder display excessive
acquisition
• The most frequent form of acquisition is
excessive buying followed by acquisition of
free items – stealing is less common
• Individuals who hoard typically experience
distress if they are unable to or are
prevented from acquiring items
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Compulsive Hoarding
“The acquisition of and failure to discard possessions that
appear to be useless or of limited value, accompanied by
living spaces sufficiently cluttered so as to preclude
activities for which those spaces were designed and
significant distress or impairment in functioning caused by
the hoarding.” – Frost & Gross (1993)
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Animal Hoarding
“The accumulation of such a large number of animals that
the person is unable to provide minimal standards of
nutrition, sanitation,and veterinary care for them all.” ---
Patronek, G.J. (1999).
• Hoarders of animals are often unaware that they are
harming them
• Research on animal hoarding is limited
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Animal Hoarding
• Animal hoarders range in age, and can be
men or women of any race or ethnic group.
Elderly people may be more at risk, due to
their own deteriorating health and isolation
from community and social groups. One
commonality between all hoarders is a
failure to grasp the severity of their
situation.
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A Closer Look At Those Who Clutter
• Hiding may be what people who clutter are pursuing
• Shame may be what motivates their desire to hide
• Fear, anger, sadness are additional emotional obstacles
• Most compulsive behavior involves a kind of desperate
longing to fill the holes in the soul (Moore, The Inner
Loneliness)
• Inner Loneliness cannot be eased through clutter,
people, possessions, games, achievement, work,
television viewing, the internet, excessive exercise, etc.
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Primary Characteristics of Hoarding
Three main types of problems:
1. Compulsive acquisition– junk mail, plastic
containers, newspapers, food, animals etc.
2. Saving behavior or difficulty discarding
possessions
3. Disorganization in many areas of life, but that
mainly manifests in extensive clutter
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According to the Self-Storage Association --
2012
• One in ten US Households (10.8 million) rent a
self-storage unit – a 65% increase since 1995
when only 6% rented one
• It can be a lucrative business. Self-storage
companies generated $24 billion in revenue
(2013), according to the SSA, an amount that
gets divvied up among a handful of large
companies—such as CubeSmart and Sovran Self
Storage, which operates a chain called Uncle
Bob’s—and 30,000 single-facility entrepreneurs.
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Storage Units
• To put it in perspective, the industry has 48,500
locations across the country, more than triple
the number of McDonald's (14,350) restaurants,
and generates $24 billion in revenue every year.
That means that the warehouses, garages and
pods holding your ski equipment and holiday
decorations take up so much space they
generate $3.25 billion in state and local
property taxes each year.
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Too Much Stuff
• Studies show that compulsive hoarding
affects up to 6 percent of the population, or
19 million Americans, and it has been found
to run in families.
• We have a problem when – we can’t easily
find what we are looking for; awaken at
night and think about our possessions;
have so much stuff that we can’t remember
what it is that we have;
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Clutter
• Cluttered conditions may result from a variety of causes
including physical fraility, dementia or hoarding behavior.
• Clutter becomes problematic when areas of the home
cannot be used for their intended purpose.
• Possessions pose a safety hazard or endanger a person’s
living situation.
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Digital Clutter
• If we cannot find what we need,
accumulating too many files on our
computers, smartphones, tablets, and other
becomes digital clutter
------Avadian & Riddle (2014)
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Digital Clutter Continued
• So many people today are afraid to make
choices. We keep stuff because we’re
scared to say, “No, this really isn’t
important.” We keep emails for the same
reason. Deleting them seems so… final. So
decisive. So certain.
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Digital Clutter Continued
We use the same excuses in the digital world that we
do in the “physical stuff” realm.
• “I might need that someday!”
• “I could use that again if I started doing such-and-such.”
• “It’s worth so much money, I can’t just get rid of it.”
• “But so-and-so gave that to me, and I don’t want to hurt
their feelings.”
• “That’s what I have to remember so-and-so by!”
• “I like it, I just don’t have a place to put it yet. But when
I move…”
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What You Can Do with Digital Clutter
• If you find documents with the same name
followed by numbers in parenthesis, like
XYZ.doc(1) and XYZ.doc(2), they’re likely to be
the same document that you’ve downloaded
several times. Use Duplicate Cleaner, Easy
Duplicate Finder, Double Killer, or Tidy Up (for
Mac) to remove multiple copies of the same files.
• Schedule purging sessions at regular intervals
(once/month, once/quarter) to remove your
duplicates.
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The Person Who Hoards/Clutters
• Because hoarding is a long-term behavior, it is seen particularly in the older adult. However, the hoarding behavior started decades earlier.
• Hoarders exhibit socially eccentric behavior.
• Is the behavior gender specific? Often seen in older women…(women generally outlive their male partners). No empirical data on gender.
• Hoarders are (generally) mentally competent.
• Hoarders exhibit an indifferent attitude toward their behaviors
• Hoarders don’t understand why anyone should be concerned about their behavior.
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The Person Who Hoards/Clutters
Continued• Usually lacks self-care skills (but may appear well
groomed in public).
• Perceives themselves to be socially isolated.
• The hoarder can see no difference between “treasure and
trash.”
• Appears to be no socio-economic differences.
• Most do not meet the diagnosis for
Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder but may have features.
• Hoarding behavior is increased in older people with
dementia.
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Age of Hoarding Onset
• In a study by Grisham, Frost, et al (2005),
the mean age of any significant hoarding
symptoms is 13.4 years
• It is not clear whether onset age might differ
depending on the source of the sample
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Age of Onset
• Hoarding symptoms may emerge around ages
11—15 years – this can start to interfere with the
individual’s everyday functioning by the mid-20s –
can cause clinically significant impairment by the
mid-30s
• The severity of hoarding increases with each
decade of life
• Once symptoms begin the course of hoarding is
often chronic
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Resistance and the Hoarder
• People with problematic hoarding behavior often refuse
help.
• Researchers have found that it may be effective to help
the clutterer sort through possessions rather than discuss
discarding all the redundant material.
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Underdiagnosed and Untreated
• Unlike some other mental-health disorders,
many people with hoarding do not seek
treatment,” says Michael Tompkins, a
psychologist, the author of Digging Out:
Helping Your Loved One Manage Clutter,
Hoarding and Compulsive Acquiring. “They
don’t recognize the consequences of their
condition or the fact that it affects other
people in their apartment building and
community.”
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Barriers to Mental Health Treatment
Treatment of older adult hoarders is subject
to similar barriers and challenges that older
adults with mental health needs in general
face -- including
• Difficulties in Medicare and Medicaid
reimbursement for mental health treatment
• Lack of accessibility
• Older adult’s stigma with mental health
needs
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Barriers Continued
• Lack of Education
• Older people hold the attitude that seeking
mental health services is a sign of personal
weakness
• Associate mental disorders with personal
and spiritual failure
• Limited understanding of the causes of
mental health disorders
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Hoarding and Life Events
In their study, Tolin et al (2010) reported:
• The incidence of stressful or traumatic life
events was quite high
• 76% of the present sample endorsed a
history of interpersonal violence compared
to 32% of women in the general population
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Of the 751 subjects (primarily white and
female) in Tolin Study
• Loss of or change in relationships --
Frequency 703 (94.2%)
• Loss of or damage to possessions –
Frequency 457 (61.3%)
• Interpersonal Violence – Frequency 567
(76.0%)
• Employment or financial problems –
Frequency 523 (70.1%)
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Shame: An Impotence-Making
Experience
• To the person who hoards/clutters, it feels
as though there is no way to relieve the
inner pain – except to hide within the
clutter.
• One has simply failed as a human being.
• There is nothing they can think of to do to
make up for this dreadful feeling.
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Shame/Rage
• The greater the individual’s shame, the more savagely and frequently they rage.
• Rage increases the experience of shame.
• Shame, however, cannot be eliminated by raging.
• This shame/rage spirals into misery.
• This misery continues feeding the conflict that one feels
with the world/family/caregivers.• Until the pattern of shame/rage can be broken, the person
may: (1) be emotionally/physically abusive; (2) dependent on alcohol and other substances; and (3) experience suicidal thoughts.
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Inquiring about Clutter
Be non-judgmental when you ask these questions:
• Are you reluctant to have people come over because of clutter in your living space?
• Are you able to use your kitchen appliances?
• Is there a place to sit down and eat?
• Do you have to move things off the furniture to sit?
• Are you able to sleep in your bed?
• Are there clear pathways to the bedroom and bathroom?
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Questions Continued
• Can you easily use your toilet, tub and
shower?
• Do you have trouble finding things because
of too much “stuff” in your home?
• Have you fallen over the clutter in your
home?
• Are you behind in paying your bills because
you cannot find your mail?
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Helpful Things to Say
According to Zasio (2011):
“I know this is hard for you.”
“Let me know how I can help.”
“You don’t have to fix this problem overnight.”
“Let’s find ways to simplify the process.”
“Don’t look at the bigger picture. Take baby steps.”
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Tips – The Do’s
• Establish a positive relationship
• Maintain respect
• See their point of view (use empathy)
• Name the problem and define the standards (e.g.
at this facility there are safety codes that we have
to meet for the protection of all residents, etc.)
• Help them maintain some sense of control over
the setting
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The Do’s Continued
• Help in setting goals
• Establish boundaries, time frames for getting this started
• Work collaboratively
• Offer physical help/emotional support
• Be persistent
• Use a soft, gentle approach; let the person tell their story
• Respect the meaning and attachment to possession by
the person – may be as intense as human attachment
• Be calm factual, caring and supportive
• Praise effort often and sincerely
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The Do’s Continued
• Offer referrals to professional organizers if
needed
• Gently suggest the importance of professional
help such as – grief counseling, individual
therapy, 12-step program, physician, psychiatrist
• Family intervention
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Fear of Letting Go
Ralph Waldo Emerson – “You must let go of a thing for a new one to come to you.”
• Clutterers fear letting go of things because it involves taking a risk.
• Despite many offers for help over the years clutterers hold on to their overwhelming possessions and resentments – they move farther and farther away from help.
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Vision
According to William Penn Mott Jr., California State Park
Director:
“A vision is a powerful thing. It is a dream based on clear
perceptions of the future combined with a commitment to
take the necessary steps to make it happen.”
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The Role of Spirituality
Mel Ash, The Zen of Recovery, has said:
“In surrendering to one’s own original sense of order and harmony, one’s compulsion is abated.”
• Recovery from clutter is more than removing “stuff” from our living space.
• It is removing old ways of thinking and believing from our minds in order to free our souls.
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A Clutterer’s Approach to Fixing
Things• In one word – MORE – more of everything physical
• Clutterers put their faith in broken chairs, unusable cabinets, more money, different relationships, stacks of newspapers, engines from cars, and so on.
• They clutter their souls with resentments, fears, shame, and grudges because they believe that no one can help them.
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Treatment
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – Positive results;
70% of patients respond to talk therapy based
skills training and motivational interviewing
• Antidepressant Medication – Mixed results; Don’t
know the neurological source for hoarding
• Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) –
Poor results; Hoarders forced to discard their stuff
responded poorly to this approach and resisted
further treatment
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Treatment – A New CBT Approach – Drs.
Frost & Steketee
Components include:
• Education
• Motivational Interviewing
• Treatment for organizational problems
• Training in decision-making
• Exposure to non-acquiring & discarding
• Cognitive restructuring to change patterns
of faulty thinking
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THE REALITIES OF CHANGE
• It is important to give people opportunities to talk
about their process.
• Most change does not occur overnight.
• Change is best viewed as a gradual process with
occasional setbacks.
• Difficulties and setbacks can be reframed as
learning experiences rather than as failures.
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People and Change
•Most people use their best problem-
solving strategies to get their needs
met, even if these strategies are
dysfunctional
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Changing A Difficult/Resistant Person
• To change a difficult person, you must first
change yourself – your way of thinking
about the person and your way of
responding to the familiar provocations
• Ask yourself, “What does difficult mean?”
• Re-examine our expectations of others
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Motivational Interviewing: What Is It?
• A method for helping people recognize
problems or potential problems
• Intended to help resolve ambivalence and
to get a person moving along the path to
change
• Persuasive and supportive rather than
argumentative and confrontational
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Miller & Rollnick
• “Motivation is a state of readiness to
change, which may fluctuate from one time
or situation to another. This state is one
that can be influenced.”
• Motivation is best viewed as a probability of
a certain behavior
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Building Motivation for Change
• Express Empathy – Shows acceptance and
increases the chance of developing a
rapport
• Develop discrepancy – Enables the client
to see that the present situation does not fit
into their values and what they would like in
the future
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Building Motivation
• Avoid Argumentation – Encourage a
conversation rather than a confrontation
• Roll with Resistance – Prevents a
breakdown in communication and allows
the client to express his/her views
• Support Self-Efficacy – If a client believes
that he/she has the ability to change, the
likelihood of change to occur is increased
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Spanish Proverb
“An oak is not felled at one blow”
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Recommendations
• Develop an assessment and/or crisis team
• Increase access to treatment
• Expand support groups
• Create a service roadmap and establish a single
point of entry
• Develop evaluation guidelines for landlords &
tenants
• Provide long-term case management services
• Offer training
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The Team Approach
• Many programs use a team approach that
may include a landlord, a home-health
nurse, a code enforcement officer,
firefighters, a family member, a neighbor
and a social worker.•
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Successful Hoarding Team Work
Dependent on several key components:
• How well team members work together to
address multiple issues such as role conflict, their
knowledge of hoarding, and team roles and lack
of agency representation
• Agency policies that define the scope or extent of
a team members’ involvement in a hoarding case
• External support for the hoarding team
• Team members capacities to develop trust with
older adults as hoarders
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Older Adult’s Right to Refuse Mental Health
Services
• Critical Barrier to addressing hoarding behavior –
the older adults’ right to refuse mental health
service
• Team members cannot force older adults’ use of
mental health services when they are considered
mentally competent to make their own decisions
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Summary According to Koenig (2013)
• Hoarding is a complex behavior that represents a
coping mechanism that we do not fully
understand
• Its complexity requires responses that involve
collaboration among many different professionals
and systems that do not normally work in close
proximity
• We need to continue to pursue careful exploration
of these teams’ experiences to produce more
reliable approaches to address problems facing
communities with hoarding behaviors
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Reading List
• Buried in treasures: Help for compulsive
acquiring, saving and hoarding by Tolin, Frost,
and Steketee (2207).
• Compulsive hoarding and acquiring:
Therapist guide and workbook by Steketee and
Frost (2007).
• National study group on chronic
disorganization Clutter Hoarding Scale (2003)
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Reading List
• Beyond Overwhelmed: The impact of compulsive
hoarding and cluttering in San Francisco A report of
the San Francisco Task Force on Compulsive Hoarding
(2009).
• Clutter Busting: Letting Go of What’s Holding You
Back. (2009). Brooks Palmer
• Clutter Busting Your Life: Clearing Physical and
Emotional Clutter to Reconnect with Yourself and
Others. (2012). Brooks Palmer
• The Hoarder in You: How to Live a Happier, Healthier,
Uncluttered Life. (2011). Robin Zasio.
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Reading List
• Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of
Things. (2010). Randy Frost and Gail Steketee
• Digging Out: Helping Your Loved One Manage Clutter,
Hoarding & Compulsive Acquiring. (2010). Michael
Tompkins and Tamara Hartl
• Stuffology 101: Get Your Mind Out Of The Clutter.
(2014). Brenda Avadian & Eric Riddle.
• Cluttering: Current views on its nature, diagnosis and
treatment. (2015). Yvonne Van Zaalen.
• The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese
Art of Decluttering and Organizing. (2014). Marie
Kondo.
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References
• Ayers, C., Wetherell, J. et al. (2013). Executive
functioning in older adults with hoarding disorder.
Int J Geriatr Psychiatry, 28(11), 1175-1181.
• Bartels, S., Coakley, E., et al. (2004). Improving
access to geriatric mental health services. Am J
Psychiatry, 161, 1455-1462.
• DiMauro, J., Tolin, D., Frost, R., et al. (2013). Do
people with hoarding disorder under-report their
symptoms? J Obsessive Compuls Relat Disord,
2(2), 130-136.
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References
• Grisham, J., Frost, R., et al. (2006). Age of onset
of compulsive hoarding. Anxiety Disorders, 20,
675-686.
• Hall, B., Tolin, D., Frost, R., & Steketee, G.
(2013). An exploration of comorbid symptoms and
clinical correlates of clinically significant hoarding
symptoms. Depress Anxiety, 30(1), 67-76.
• Koenig, T., Leiste, M., et al. (2013).
Multidisciplinary team perspectives on older adult
hoarding and mental illness. Jnl of Elder Abuse &
Neglect, 25, 1-20.
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References
• Robb, C., Haley, W., et al. (2003). Attitudes
towards mental health care in younger and older
adults: similarities and differences. Aging &
Mental Health, 7(2), 142-152.
• Tolin, D., Meunier, S., Frost, R., & Steketee, G.
Course of compulsive hoarding and its
relationship to life events. Depression and
Anxiety, 27, 829-838.
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