Is your wardrobe this crammed? If so, it could be a sign you’ve got a new medical disorder 

Is your wardrobe this crammed? If so, it could be a sign you’ve got a new medical disorder

• Hoarding disorder is defined as having excessive items you struggle to part with
• The World Health Organisation recently recognised it as a psychiatric disorder
• It can be linked to other mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety

Many of us struggle to part with treasured belongings, but for years Stephanie Evans felt compelled to hang on to just about everything she’d ever bought.

As a result her hallway and living room were crammed with towering stacks of books and magazines. Her bedroom, meanwhile, was so full of piles of clothes that, until recently, she had to sleep on the sofa in the living room.

‘I hated the way the clutter made me feel but I just couldn’t throw anything away —even if something broke I couldn’t part with it,’ says Stephanie, 51, a teaching assistant from Birmingham.

Do you have it? Hoarding disorder is defined as having excessive items you can’t part with

‘I just told myself I needed more shelves and storage space and that one day I would sort it all out. Family would sometimes help me clear it, but I would fill the space again and this left me feeling even more of a failure.’

Stephanie, who is divorced, has a daughter aged 28, and only close family and friends had any idea of her problem as she ensured she always looked immaculate when she left for work.

‘When I stepped outside the front door, no one would have guessed that I was living in such chaos,’ she says. ‘It was like I was leading a double life. But I dreaded having to go back to the flat at the end of the day.’

• 
  The people who drink URINE to lose weight and cure acne:…

  
  Ten vital things every woman needs to know about breast…

  
  Looking on the upside really DOES cut the risk of heart…

  
  How to be a super-ager: Experts reveal tips for staying…

Share this article

Stephanie suffers from hoarding disorder, thought to affect an estimated 3.4 million people in the UK to some degree.

But, like many, she didn’t think it was something doctors would treat, so she didn’t seek help.

In fact, hoarding is a recognised medical disorder — previously classed as a type of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), where people repeat certain behaviours or thoughts. But last month hoarding was recognised as a psychiatric disorder in its own right by the World Health Organisation.

Fact: It can be linked to other mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety

Hoarding disorder is defined as having an excessive number of items, having persistent difficulty throwing possessions away and storing them in a chaotic manner, to such an extent that this interferes with everyday living and causes significant distress or affects quality of life.

Those affected will collect anything, such as clothes, newspapers, photos, even printouts of emails, till receipts and grass cuttings, says Dr Stuart Whomsley, an NHS clinical psychologist who practises in Corby, Northamptonshire.

While some hang on to pretty much everything they have, others collect specific items. ‘Hoarders fear making the wrong decision about what to keep and what to throw out, so they keep everything,’ says Dr Whomsley, who was one of the authors of the British Psychological Society guidelines on hoarding compiled in 2013.

‘It is a psychological condition and not a lifestyle choice,’ he adds. ‘It can be associated with other mental health conditions such as depression and social anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or OCD.’

Hoarders may also have perfectionist tendencies, be prone to procrastination and have problems planning and organising.

‘Many of those affected will have had hoarding tendencies since childhood but living with their parents or a partner meant that it wasn’t allowed to get out of hand,’ says Dr Whomsley.

‘The most common time for it to come to a head is when people are middle-aged or older and living alone.’ The condition is often triggered by a traumatic event such as a bereavement or divorce.

‘One theory is that having experienced loss in the past, a person is primed to resist any further losses, hence their reluctance to part with things,’ adds Dr Whomsley. Hoarding can have far-reaching effects on a person’s life. Heather Matuozzo, who runs the Clouds End hoarders support group in Solihull, West Midlands, says people can lose their children and their homes due to hoarding.

‘It can be very serious and yet people with this condition don’t get much sympathy as it is seen as self-inflicted rather than an illness. Hopefully, that will now change.’

Stephanie believes her hoarding is rooted in the depression she experienced after the traumatic birth of her daughter, who has cerebral palsy as a result of oxygen deprivation during childbirth.

‘I developed severe postnatal depression after she was born and was hospitalised for several months,’ she says.

‘My marriage broke down five years later and we moved to this flat where my hoarding began.

‘When my daughter was living at home I just managed to keep on top of things. But when she moved away for college 11 years ago, I lost control as I had no one to keep the house tidy for.

‘Buying new things I could ill-afford made me feel good for a fleeting few moments, and with the benefit of hindsight, I see it somehow masked the pain I was feeling after my divorce and my daughter’s difficult birth. But by the time I got home with my new purchases, I’d feel sick and angry at myself and the way I was living. I had so many clothes — around 40 pairs of trousers, some of them identical. Others still had price labels on and were never worn.

‘I was ashamed of my hoarding but unable to stop. I became very isolated as I felt I couldn’t accept invitations as I wouldn’t invite anyone round,’ she adds.

Stephanie only discovered she had a recognised condition in August 2011 when she watched a documentary made by TV presenter Jasmine Harman about her mother Vasoulla’s hoarding.

‘Some people might say we are medicalising eccentricity if we consider hoarding as a distinct form of recognisable mental illness,’ says Dr Cosmo Hallstrom, a consultant psychiatrist and fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

‘But if hoarding has an official diagnosis that means it should be easier for people to get help,’ he says. ‘If hoarding goes untreated the person affected is unhappy and has to cope with this constant burden, their home becomes a danger to others because it is a fire or health hazard and they could face eviction in some cases.’

Treatment options include a mix of phased decluttering and psychological therapies, including individual and group cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), a talking therapy to encourage people to think about their reactions to everyday events differently. Research published in the journal Clinical Psychological Psychotherapy last year, by researchers at Deakin University in Australia, found a third of hoarders who attended a 12-week CBT programme developed to reduce hoarding, experienced an improvement in symptoms.

Clearing out someone’s cluttered house is rarely effective on its own, says Dr Whomsley.

‘That won’t solve the problem because they will just fill it up again, and there’s nearly always an underlying psychological cause that needs addressing,’ he says.

Indeed, Jasmine Harman’s mother gradually filled her house again after it was cleared for the TV documentary.

‘My house was cleared for the documentary, but my head wasn’t and gradually my house began filling up with clutter again,’ Vasoulla told Good Health.

‘My sitting room and dining room are currently unusable again, but I am attending group CBT therapy and seeing an addiction specialist and looking forward to living in a clutter-free home with lots of space in the future.’

Two years ago, Stephanie’s daughter became so worried about her mother’s problem, she found a local support group for hoarders and persuaded her to go. ‘The first time I went there I broke down in tears,’ says Stephanie.

‘They all spoke of feeling ashamed and overwhelmed by the clutter in their homes and I knew how they felt. No one judged me.

‘What the group has taught me is to forgive myself. Most of us have suffered some type of loss in the past, a bereavement or a trauma.

‘One of the best pieces of advice I was given was that I should set a timer for 20 minutes once a day and attempt one tidying task. This stopped me feeling overwhelmed.’

Stephanie still attends monthly support group meetings and not only has she managed to declutter her home, she has also stopped acquiring things she doesn’t need.

‘It’s so nice to be able to invite my mum and sister round for a meal now, something I could never have done in the past,’ she says. ‘I hope that if more people talk about hoarding the stigma will go and more will come forward for help.’

helpforhoarders.co.uk

 

Source: Read Full Article