Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Compulsive Hoarding Syndrome

What's really scary isn't that I have several of these sympoms. What's really scary is the sentence that says, "The condition worsens with age."

Lansing State Journal: Amassing a mess too ugly to live in: "Compulsive Hoarding Syndrome
• What is it: The disorder, which is classified under obsessive-compulsive disorder, has three key components: overacquisition of things; disorganization; failure to discard items that appear to have little value.

• Characteristics: Sufferers often feel a hyper-responsibility to care for items. For example, a person may collect recyclables, fearing no one else will see them to their proper place. The condition worsens with age.

• Hallmark symptom: Stuff takes over places designed for other purposes. For example, items may be stacked on a stove so the stove can no longer be used, or stacked on a bed so the bed can no longer be used or even stacked in a shower.

• Treatment: Compulsive hoarding tends to be more resistant to treatment than other forms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. That is because all three components - overacquisition, disorganization and failure to discard - need to be treated.

Source: Hoarding expert Irene Tobis, a Chicago psychologist"

6 comments:

Cap'n Bob said...

They talk about this like it's something bad.

Unknown said...

My feelings exactly, Cap'n.

Juri said...

Yeah, who needs a stove anyway? That's why they make microwave things.

Anonymous said...

Does allowing the family guinna pig to live in the shower count as hording? Penny always seemed to like it in there.

Unknown said...

OK, I feel better now. I'm not that bad. Yet.

Anonymous said...

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