What Is Hoarding?

Hoarders are known by many names.

Here are just a few: Clutterers, Compulsive Collectors, Pack Rats, Messies, OCD’s (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), ADD’S (Attention Deficit Disorder) ADHD’s (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), and the Depressed. I personally refer to hoarding as “Chronic Clutter” because my clutter has become a chronic, toxic, problem for me, my husband, and my children.

As bad as I hate to break the news to you,

hoarding is a form of mental illness. Now don’t get upset, knowing what the problem is, is half the battle. When I found out last year that my problem was a mental one, I rejoiced because this finally meant I wasn’t lazy, I wasn’t dirty, I wasn’t “bad.” I was finally able to say, “it has nothing to do with willpower, it has nothing to do with commitment, it has nothing to do with shame.” It was a relief to know that this huge obstacle in my life could possibly be treated. It was also a relief to know that others, before me, had also experienced this and possibly I could learn from them, but more importantly, I would not feel isolated and alone anymore. I started to feel I could talk about it to to others and not be ashamed.

Although hoarding can occur separately from mental illness, it is most often related to perfectionism and OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.) Now I know what you are thinking because I thought the same thing. I had heard of OCD and perfectionism but I thought that was people who were neat freaks and had to everything just so. How could that relate to me? I was a clutterbug and had no control over anything, nothing was perfect in my clutter world. My psychiatrist explained it to me last year and I am still thanking God for the news she gave me. She said, “Hoarding is a symptom of OCD and perfectionism because the individual is overwhelmed with anxiety and life in general, and they realize they can’t physically make everything perfect or neat so they just give up,” she went on to say, “then there are also others who have a fear of throwing things away because they may need that object”, “then there are those who are so frozen by decision making that they do nothing with their stuff because they can’t literally make a decision”, “then there are those who believe if they leave an object or item out and not put away it will always give them something to do because they fear not having something to keep them busy so they will not have to face very painful thoughts.” If only they know they always have something to clean or organize, they can relax because they know their minds will never be idle to face any pain.

Well, for me, this information was life changing and I wanted to share it with anyone with a hoarding problem. That is why I created this website, to get the information out there.