Obsessive Compulsive Hoarding Disorder
When people think about the problem of hoarding, it is often seen as a different situation. People often don’t realize that hoarding is not a choice that an individual makes, but it’s a compulsion to hoard items. Hoarding is something that is obsessive and is often not something that is done out of willingness. However we need to look at the definitions of compulsion and hoarding in order to further explain it.
When you look at the definition of compulsion it is defined “as a strong, usually irresistible impulse to perform an act, especially one that is irrational or contrary to one’s will. “ This is exactly what happens in the case of a hoarder. They have a compulsion to gather items together that is not necessarily a part of their own personality. These items often consist of items that are not used in daily circumstances or items that deteriorate over time. The items are not chosen out of usefulness, but a need or want to gather these items for future usage. Often the definition of compulsion is associated with the aspects of hoarding.
Hoarding defined is a compulsive desire to gather items that are not against the will of the individual but caused by the mental condition of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Also, this is an irrational desire to keep the items, causes them to build up over time hence why the issue is known as hoarding. Not only is the individual compulsively gathering items, but they also do not want to remove the items that are passed their useful life. Examples of this might include outdated electronics, broken furniture, or old clothing. Hoarding and compulsion seem to go hand in hand together along their definition lines.
Compulsion and hoarding are both issues that are similar in regards to an individual person. People often become compulsive when it comes wanting particular items and then it can spiral out of control. Hoarding is often brought on by the compulsion and it mixes the irrational parts of compulsion with the obsessiveness of OCD. The resulting situation creates a gathering of items which ties in to hoarding. However, with the proper compulsion to hoard can be solved and the hoarding cleanup process can begin.
Hoarding cleanup can often help an individual resolve their compulsion desire to hoard, because it allows the opportunity to realize that these are just items. So when a decision is made to remove the items, we as a professional hoarding cleanup company can help the individual cope with, what they might see as a loss. However this allows them to grasp their situation and help them recover in a more thorough and better way.