The headlines are sensational and often sound unbelievable.
Possessions block the windows of a compulsive hoarder's home.
“Woman suffocates and dies under collapsed piles of clothes.”
“Male trash hoarder dies in labyrinth of garbage tunnels.”
These stories seem extreme and isolated. But according to research from the University of Michigan Health System, hoarding presents a real danger, not only for those who do it but also for their neighbors — creating fire hazards, as well as unsanitary, unsafe conditions.
Most of us save things – memorabilia, collectibles, and items from our childhood or from our children. But for more than an estimated one million Americans, the saving may get out of hand and cross over to a psychiatric condition known as compulsive hoarding.
What follows is a story of hoarding and how the condition impacted the lives of the hoarder(s) and their children.
To Some, Hoarding Is A Way Of Life
Source: University of Michigan Health System (2009, March 10). Compulsive Hoarding Poses Safety And Psychological Risks. ScienceDaily.
The condition seriously impacts the quality of life the hoarder lives in a very negative way. Compulsive hoarding causes clutter and impairment to basic living activities that include the hoarders’ ability to move in their home, cook, clean, shower or even sleep.
For one adult child of hoarders, growing up in such an environment numbed her to the reality that her parents had a serious problem. Even though Elizabeth Nelson was raised in an upper-middle class suburb, she felt a deep sense of shame about her living conditions growing up. The spacious basement where she rode her Big Wheel at age 3 was filled to the brim by the time she was 8.
She was so used to piles, it took Nelson years to realize her mom’s compulsion to collect and save was a psychiatric condition. She recounts a visit to her parents’ home as an adult.
“My dad was using portable urinals in the living room because my mother had blocked his access to the bathroom,” Nelson says. “I got really concerned.”
People who engage in hoarding put themselves and neighbors in danger, say experts at the University of Michigan Health System. Their living conditions can present a fire hazard and are often unsanitary and unsafe. Hoarders face the real prospect of becoming buried under an avalanche of trash.
It is easy to see how such a condition could imperil the health and safety of senior citizens living alone. With the added impacts of limited mobility and dementia that often accompany old age, the opportunities for hoarding issues to arise are increased.
Family members are often challenged to keep up with the daily needs of their own lives, as well as those of an aging loved one.
Employing a trained Home Instead Caregiver can bring relief to a stressful, and potentially dangerous, situation by providing regular monitoring of the signs that a hoarding problem may be forming. By offering help with such simple tasks as sorting through mail and newspapers, organizing photos and keepsakes, and keeping food storage containers organized and clean, a Home Instead Caregiver is a simple preventative to a potentially dangerous and deadly problem.
For more information on the helpful companionship that Home Instead Senior Care of Richmond can provide to keep you or your loved ones living independently, give us a call at 804.527.1100. You can also view our digital brochure at http://hisc189.digbro.com.
