I think that they MIGHT be able to be.... but they need a lot of help to do so.
They need to have someone come and check in on them randomly and unannounced, go with them when they go shopping, someone to help with their organizing.... It seems to me that many are just left out to hang there without any kind of help or after care. They also need to see about how good they are with self care, executive functioning skills, head trauma, emption and psychological trauma, eating disorders, intellectual issues (including things like ADHD, Learning Disabilities, memory issues), anxiety, and depression; all of which have shown to add to issues with things like being organized, and yes, those things need to be taken into consideration, and have each issue address with the help of experts who know about particular issue for that person (physical, psychological, emotional, and intellectual disabilities, head trauma, etc). How mature are they? Are they 70, but sound like a whiny five year old when they're asked to do something?
There needs to be a diagnosis besides "Hoarding", which the experts aren't sure exactly what it is, they used to think that was a form of OCD, but all of the medications and treatments that they used for OCD don't seem to work for Hoarders. They need to learn how to be neat, organized, and they need not to be coddled, they need to be told that if they keep something broken and stained, that they could lose their house, go to jail, their families.. They need to learn how to make a decision on what to keep and what to get rid of and if they're not able to, one will be made for them.
They need to be told no. They need to have their behavior pointed out to them. They also need to know that because they're not like some of the extreme people that have it, that doesn't mean that they aren't. They also need to know that they can't whine and use their diagnosis as an excuse for not keeping up with trying to get their homes back in order. Whatever the diagnosis are, they need to be addressed and treated again. They need to be told of consequences and reminded of them. They need to be told if they have or if they have not done a good job. The need some hardness and not to be praised and coddled If they actually do something and make progress (which is not up to them, but to the departments and experts that are working with them), then they should be praised.
But it's not just the Hoarder. It's the family of the Hoarder. How has it affected them? Did it cause a divorce? Has it caused estrangement with children and siblings? They need help as well, especially if there children involved. How were they supposed to learn how to be neat, organized, clean, and keep up with things if they weren't taught how to do any thing? Their sadness, anger, frustrations, need to be honored and addressed as well, they shouldn't be patronized, condescended, or made to feel like their experiences, that their feelings and memories don't matter.
If they're not able to make progress and are unwilling to abide by the rules and help that is offered to them, then you can say that they're hopeless, let the County, the State, and the proper authorities to handle the Hoarder.
I don't have a lot of hope for Hoarders. In most cases, they're beyond hopeless and you just need to give up on them.
My Mother is one.... I know from experience.
reply
share
kiboshz
10 years ago
Well said.
I think a lot of it is a combination of stubbornness and laziness. A lot of people out there simply take the easiest route through life and like to be contrary to the mainstream. And a lot use junk as a way to keep people away from them.
reply
share
howtragic
10 years ago
This is an issue I have always had with the doctors who go on this show; they diagnose every hoarder as having OCD. To me, the only hoarders with OCD are the ones with neatly stacked collections of things that are not trash. The rest are just mega slobs. The doctors who study this stuff are simply not good at their jobs. They looked at this from one preconceived angle only and then just took it from there, without ever really stepping back to analyze it. I mean surely having a "compulsion" indicates some sort of action on the sufferer's part. The people who pile up trash are simply incapable of taking reasonable actions to keep their lives in order. They are action-free (and thus compulsion-free) people. My relatives who are like this would be infinitely better off if they had any obsessions or compulsions. I'll say that my relatives who live like this are lazy, childish, stubborn, in denial, and completely out of touch with the reality of the person they really are. That is not OCD. I have no idea where that woman with the frosted hair and the 80's makeup got this from. Also, her approach is completely asinine. You cannot talk hoarders into throwing stuff away very easily. Well, maybe you could but it would be a day-in, day-out process which would take years and the house would never really get better because for everything you talked them into throwing away, another piece of trash would be added to the pile. I have noticed that Dr. Z will talk them into throwing out like two or three things, and then progress is finally made when relatives just throw crap into the dumpster. We did this with my aunt a while back. She was getting sicker and sicker living in her house full of animal poop and trash and we went over there to clean it and she actually threatened suicide and then checked herself into the psych ward over the whole thing. Gee she sounds a lot like the people on this show. Well, we cleaned her crap out anyway and then she came back and naturally did not kill herself. She can hate us all she wants but at least she can properly breathe now. Had we taken some shrink's approach, she would still be unable to properly breathe and her house would still be a pile of trash.
reply
share
GraceFromSoCal
10 years ago
She can hate us all she wants but at least she can properly breathe now. Had we taken some shrink's approach, she would still be unable to properly breathe and her house would still be a pile of trash.
But--if your aunt's house has remained clean and clutter-free--she's the exception to the rule. Normally, when a hoarder's mess is just tossed out, especially without their blessing and without being present, it's a recipe for disaster. The recidivism rate is very high in cases like that--the hoarder comes back to an empty, clean, cleared out house and almost immediately starts hoarding again.
This is an issue I have always had with the doctors who go on this show; they diagnose every hoarder as having OCD. To me, the only hoarders with OCD are the ones with neatly stacked collections of things that are not trash. The rest are just mega slobs. The doctors who study this stuff are simply not good at their jobs. They looked at this from one preconceived angle only and then just took it from there, without ever really stepping back to analyze it.
I don't know enough about OCD to really be able to speak about it intelligently, in an in-depth manner. But my guess is that a person can indeed have OCD even if they're expressing it in a mega-slob manner! In other words, they're obsessed with the idea of acquiring stuff, and they're compulsive about keeping stuff--even garbage and excrement. I don't think the picture of a 'typical' OCD person, who's ultra-neat and organized, is the ONLY picture of an OCD person, you know? I imagine they come in all varieties--including slobs.
--
http://www.CaliforniaDreamsPhotography.com
reply
share
GirlwonderReturns
10 years ago
To me, the only hoarders with OCD are the ones with neatly stacked collections of things that are not trash. The rest are just mega slobs.
Wrong. My guess is that you think that "OCD"and "neat freak" are synonymous. Don't get your information on the disorder from movies, please. OCD manifests itself in many, many different ways, and hoarding is most definitely an OCD spectrum disorder - all hoarding, whether it's the "collectors" or the "slobs". Not every OCD sufferer is a germophobe or a neat freak. I have OCD, and while I'm not a hoarder, I am not meticulously organized either, beyond having to have my movies in alphabetical order and my books in size order on the shelves.
They are action-free (and thus compulsion-free) people.
Wrong again. Compulsion and action are not synonyms, and I'm not sure where you got the idea that they are. The hoarder's compulsion is to keep the stuff, even when he or she knows that it is either worthless or not needed.
My suggestion is that you don't quit your day job, because you don't know nearly as much about OCD as you seem to think you do. One of the hardest things about the disorder is that those of us who have it are fully aware that our obsessive thoughts are not rational, but we are not able to keep from having them. Rationally, I know the door is locked and the oven is off. But my brain will keep telling me that maybe they aren't. In the same way, the hoarder knows on a rational level that they have too much stuff - be it collectibles or trash - but if you don't know the constant battle between the OCD mind and the rational mind, and the mental exhaustion it can cause, you should probably stop talking like you're an expert.
The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.
reply
share