Hoarding

Hi Everyone,

In the last few months, hoarding has been declared to be a mental health issue. This is because 5% of the North American population are hoarding. And hoarding is BIG BUSINESS. This is what I mean.

The first reason that hoarding is BIG BUSINESS is because of ALL of the belongings that people purchase to fill first their homes, if not one of more storage units. Yes, some people have more than one storage unit that they fill and then pay for, only to store their items that they may never use or see again. The second reason that hoarding is BIG BUSINESS is that not only are the numbers of hoarders growing, so are the services to help them.

There are cleaning companies, consultants, therapists, social services, fire departments, sheriffs, city inspectors, other city employees and those are the only ones that I can remember. The list is pretty much endless, and so are the reasons that people hoard. In one case, a city spent over $475,000 dollars on just one family! Yes, you read that correctly, over $475,000 on one family because the mother was a hoarder!

That money began being spent on all of the phone calls the city received, finding ways to approach the woman, the letters, the inspections, the cleanup crew for the home, the electrical, building, air, plumbing and other inspections, the ongoing social services costs of therapy for the mother, her two or three children, the new furniture, clothes, and other things that I can’t remember. The reason that I can’t remember is because I saw this on ONLY one of the first few episodes of Hoarders and it has never been mentioned again.

I have blogged about Hoarders before. Here is the link, http://arebelsrant.com/hoarders/

For anyone who hasn’t seen nor has knowledge of hoarders, here is a YouTube video of one man’s experience with hoarding. It is 12:23 minutes in length.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYKWnnRlhWg

Other examples of hoarding, the now tidy living quarters are in the link below. It is called, Hoarding Help with Disaster Masters and it is 14:41 minutes in length.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jEbRi_pAn4

If you or someone you know has difficulty deciding on what to let go, here is a link. It is called, How to Stop Compulsive Hoarding and it is 3:02 in length.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQGZlF-eQUo

And for some more in depth help, here’s a link to, Clutter Busting: Letting Go of What is Holding You Back. It is an author interview with Brooks Palmer. Not only is he an author, he is also a comedian but he is very serious in the interview. It is 28:18 minutes in length.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1de10PW240

I have decided to blog about this today because I am really questioning if hoarding is a mental health issue. The first reason for this is because I believe that hoarding is a form of generational conditioning. Another reason is that I also believe that a lot of people have a hard time making decisions because they truly don’t know what they want. I am serious.

I understand that if people have gone through hard financial times, like the depression or wars that they want to hold onto things for fear they will lose everything (again) and will not have the funds to repurchase things. There are also some people who, as they were raised, had a lot of things taken away from them so now they want to hold onto everything. The best way to understand hoarders is to watch and/or listen to the last link. It will explain why people hoard, how to help people let go of their belongings and a whole lot more.

Hoarding is a very expensive, unhealthy mental, emotional and in some circumstances physical lifestyle. If you are a hoarder please start with small steps to improve your life. If you know a hoarder, please help them help themselves. I would like to point out that there is a difference between hoarding and clutter. Clutter is a bit of mess, that doesn’t stop someone from living, hoarding is a BIG MESS. So before you accuse some one of being a hoarder, know the difference!

Thank you for reading, A. Rebel’s Rant! ;D