FEATURE STORY
Buried in treasures When the line between trash and treasure becomes blurred, it can mean mental health is at stake. GLENIS GREEN investigates where to draw the line of when a bower bird becomes a hoarder and clutter becomes a health hazard.
“W
aste not, want not” was the mantra of Louise’s parents – she remembers growing up with a mum who saved every bit of string and even rewashed plastic bags. Her dad had a shed full of rusting tools and a paddock of clapped-out farm machinery which had long since had its day. But when does saving everything “just in case” become clutter? And good intentions of re-reading that old newspaper, re-wearing that old dress or finding a use for that stained linen, become hoarding? We’ve all heard the horror stories of a body being found under piles of hoarded bits and pieces in someone’s neglected home, or authorities being called to rescue
a person from mounds of newspapers, books and household items. Yet it seems many of us have that bowerbird tendency of hanging on to something long past its use-by and useful date, whether it’s a once-favourite handbag that hasn’t been shopping for years; clothes that don’t fit or you really don’t like; dog-eared paperbacks; fusty magazines; kitchen utensils and appliances; old children’s toys; broken gardening equipment … the list, of course, is endless. Decluttering will often create emotional and psychological space as well as the physical space, according to psychologist and author Judy Rafferty who is a great advocate of having an annual clean-out. But a major tidy-up and
spring clean is still far short of the very real psychological problem of dealing with hardcore hoarding, According to an instructor in psychology at Harvard Medical School Dr Jessica Rasmussen, TV shows such as Hoarders and Hoarding: Buried Alive have publicised the rarest and most extreme form of hoarding – homes filled floor to ceiling with piles of boxes, knick-knacks and pest-infested rubbish. Severe hoarders can accumulate so much that they render their living spaces unusable and even dangerous. She says anywhere from two to six per cent of adults have a hoarding disorder and the condition tends to run in families, a bit like a hoarding gene, with women tending to hoard more than men. Stephanie Watson, executive editor of Harvard Women’s Health Watch, said a leading hoarder researcher, Dr Gail Steketee, notes that while people hoard for many reasons, one of the strongest seems to be sentimental attachment. “There is some specific association to an object or an object is seen to represent a person’s identity in some important way,” she says. For example, a woman who views herself as a cook might hold on to every kitchen implement until her kitchen is simply too cluttered to use. As piles of hoarded items grow, dust can collect and piles can hamper mobility – a danger especially for older adults regarding mobility and respiratory issues. And then there are the inevitable pest and rodent infestations and fire hazards. Often family members don’t understand why the hoarder can’t just throw things away and the issue can
become one of great shame and embarrassment. But well-intentioned family members tempted to take matters into their own hands have to be careful of the hoarder’s emotional distress, according to Dr Rasmussen. Instead, experts recommend cognitive behavioural therapy to help the person better understand the source of their issues and develop problem solving skills. Amy Revell from National Trauma & Crime Scene Cleaning Pty Ltd based in Australia says serious hoarding is a mental health issue rather than a physical one and such people need professional help. In her job she has seen more than her fair share of chronic clutterers, many of whom don’t have either the physical or mental energy to downsize their living issues and need her kind of help. She says there is a difference between overwhelming with objects and living in complete squalor, and she has seen both. “Just recently we had live mice running through the house while we were cleaning up … often there are illicit drugs involved when it gets to that,” she said. But over-cluttering with generally older people is as much about giving emotional as well as physical help, especially if disability or dementia are involved. Amy says she likes to tell her clients to imagine what a family member or outsider would be faced with after the client had gone and reduce their hoarding accordingly while they still have control. “They need to ask themselves what it would look like to someone else. “They should keep things that have stories attached that are important to them
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B R I S B A N E I S Y D N E Y I M E L B O U R N E I A D E L A I D E I D A RW I N I P E R T H 4 YOUR TIME MAGAZINE / September 2021
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