Do Hoarding and Clutter Point to the Same Problem? Do you fear that the terms hoarding and clutter are nearly synonyms? A large majority of those who live in cluttered homes secretly fear they are hoarders, even though only 1 per cent of Americans are hoarders.
More than likely by you asking the question chances are you are not.
True hoarders don't usually identify their behaviour as excessive, much less that there might be a need for treatment.
The onset of hoarding symptoms is believed to start in adolescence (around age 12) or even as early as childhood.
Studies show that 84 per cent reported a history of compulsive hoarding in their families.
Here are a few differences to consider the next time you wonder hoarding and clutter mean much the same thing.
Cease Impulse Buying? When you come across an item for sale, can you manage to walk away without buying? Some hoarders will fixate on a specific item or genre of clutter, e.
g.
, tiny bottles, dolls, clothing and even miscellaneous mechanical parts.
The pressure to gather is unrelenting because their possessions make them feel safe.
You may even have convinced yourself that you are a discerning collector! Look at your collections; do you simply have random piles of an item or do you take time to carefully select your collections, care for them and make sure they are displayed.
? The latter is a clutterer.
Distinguish Value? Can you place value on items? Hoarders traditionally have a hard time distinguishing between which items are actually worth keeping and those that need to be thrown away.
Even tossing a bottle cap or a soiled garment is nearly impossible for the hoarder.
This leads to another symptom, the inability to categorize stuff, which of course an organizer at any stage must have.
A clutterer's tangled possessions may look the same as the hoarder's tangled possessions, but the person who is not a hoarder can eventually part with it and probably knows what category it should be in.
Experience Anxiety? We have a distant relative who becomes uncomfortable, anxious and sometimes angry, if you touch his dishes after a family dinner.
According to the Staff at Mayo Clinic, this is one of the signs of a hoarder, which he is.
Hoarding is an anxiety disorder and usually calls for professional therapy.
Check your anxiety level when someone mentions removing items from your home.
How do you feel? Donating, selling or throwing anything away can bring on a full panic attack in a genuine hoarder.
Does it make you uncomfortable if someone handles your possessions? A person plagued with clutter but who is not a hoarder does not have an unbreakable emotional attachment to the items.
Things have simply gotten out of hand.
It may be tough to get rid of items, but the person who is not a hoarder eventually can.
You can touch that person's possessions without him or her feeling uncomfortable.
Distinguish Causes of Excessive Accumulating? Clutter can accumulate for a variety of reasons.
For the clutterer, hectic schedules, laziness, normal emotional attachments to objects given by loved ones and even depression can be at the root of disorganized homes and chaotic spaces.
But hoarders in addition often have psychological and mental issues that need treatment.
For example, researchers at John Hopkins School University School of Medicine learned that about 30 per cent of persons suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) are hoarders and that twice as many males as females experience it.
In a few cases, neurological reasons are the cause; the brain's decision- making area is damaged, as for instance, by a stroke.
There are a number of people who have dozens of animals who consider themselves only 'collectors,' but are in fact hoarders.
Animal health professionals at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University have reported incidences with as many as 1,000 animals living in a single-family home.
Community intervention was required.
Final Thoughts Are hoarding and cluttering really talking about the problem? Not necessarily.
It all really boils down to how attached you feel to your possessions in your home.
If you can part with your items, even with difficulty, probably you're a person who excessively clutters, not a person who hoards.