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Wednesday, April 17 2013

Hoarding can manifest itself in many ways. There are several different types of hoarding behaviors, some that are seen by themselves, while others are mixed. A lot of the types of hoarding behaviors we see relate to why the person is hoarding, their intelligence level, their careers, and many other reasons. It is not uncommon for us to walk into a home and know a lot about the person, before we even meet them. In some cases we may even be able to tell a lot about why they are hoarding just by the stuff in their homes. Here are some types of hoarders, terms you may hear or labels given to hoarding behaviors.

Syllogomania - This type of hoarding environment is full of trash with little or no monetary or sentimental value whatsoever. This type of hoarder has typically given up on trying to organize anything, performs no maintenance on their residence, and has given up on any cleaning tasks. The homes are usually also suffering from gross filth, insects, rodents, biohazard, and often mold.

Bibliomania - The Bibliomania hoarder collects books, magazines, newspapers and any other type of reading materials or literature. These types of hoarders may come from a career where research was a major part of their daily life. True Bibliomania hoarders are often brilliant and may even be at the genius level. We often see people holding onto hundreds or thousands of magazines or newspapers because of articles, recipes, or photos that they like inside, but cannot let go of the remaining portions. This can become very severe, in fact we just cleaned out 17 storage units owned by one man containing nothing but newspaper. He rented these units for over 20 years. His monthly bill was $2,500 meaning over the past 20 years he has spent over $600,000!

Animal Hoarders - Animal hoarders are more common than the average person thinks. There are around 3,500 reported cases of animal hoarding each year affecting more than 1/4 million animals. As tragic as this number seems, this is unfortunately only a drop in the bucket as these are just the cases that are reported. Animal hoarders are broken into 3 categories; the overwhelmed caregiver, the rescue hoarder, and the exploiter hoarder. While the animals are often loved, at least by the first two categories of hoarders, the lack of insight still creates dangerous environments for the animals and their care is not properly given. It is important to note that the number of animals does not define animal hoarding, but rather the level of care they received. We have worked in houses with only two animals, but they were not let outside in over 10 years. The interior of the home looked as if there were hundreds living in there. Just the same, there are people that have dozens of animals but provide adequate housing, food, love and veterinary care.

Food Hoarder - Food hoarders are fairly common and again this type of behavior typically coexists with other types of hoarding. However, the amount of food in these types of situations are beyond what any one person could ever consume over the course of 5 to 10 years. They often do not pay any attention to the expiration of best by dates and gauge the packaging to know if food is in fact spoiled (i.e. bulging cans, leaking containers, etc.). The sad fact is that even though a food hoarders mentality is to not be wasteful, the food is wasted as they cannot consume it all. This food is often being purchased at food banks and other places where truly needy people could have actually purchased it and consumed it.

Recycler - Recycler hoarders again are all for saving the environment keeping all they can out of the environment. Many of them also tell us they save recyclables for the money. However, when a home becomes a storage center for recyclables to the point the functionality is lost, it crossed the line into hoarding. Most of the recycler hoarders we meet have great plans to take their materials in for cash, but the lack of follow through on their part leaves their home full. The truth is most of the hoarders would be able use the money if they actually cashed it in, but that day rarely comes.

Collector - Most hoarders prefer the term Collector. However there are true collectors our there that simply can't stop buying and/or acquiring their favorite item or items to add to their collections. We have seem homes that are full of collections including everything from Taxidermy stuffed animals to pots and pans. We have been in homes and found thousands of pairs of shoes. The true collector is not able to stop the desire to find additional items to fill their collection while the usable free space diminishes and the walls are literally closing in on them. This type of hoarder must realize that at some point the collection needs to be deemed complete or the "one in, one out" rule must be implemented.

The above types of hoarders are not all of them but make up the majority of people that we help. It is important to understand as much as you can about the behaviors of hoarding in order to be able to help someone. I will continue to occasionally post blogs in order to educate and help people really understand the mind of a hoarder. Remember they are not bad people, lazy people or any other misconception you may have felt or heard. Many of them led completely normal lives before this behavior kicked in and to make the most progress we cannot judge them. Their lives are much more difficult than they let on and deep down inside, most of them truly do want to change, they simply do not know how.

Posted by: Cory Chalmers AT 05:09 pm   |  Permalink   |  5 Comments  |  Email
Comments:
I made the mistake of falling in love with a bipolar hoarder and now i am broke and my small mobile home is full of all kind of buxes one room os comp;etely full and the woman is sleeping with dogs and not very clean i have asked her to leave but to no avail
Posted by OLd gringo on 04/30/2013 - 08:34 PM
My brother has lived with my parents for over 35 yrs. and took care of them, but he also let their home turn into a hoarding mess. He owns 2 other houses that are uninhabitable because they are filled with junk - Our Dad died 2 yrs ago and the house has gotten worse. Last month, our Mom fell and is in assisted living trying to return home ! Both Mom and Kim will no longer allow me even in the house because they are so embarrassed . But, Mom will not be able to return unless the house is clean and safe -- Nether Kim nor my Mom would ever allow someone in to clean - They deny the need for a dumpster - Kim refuses any help and gets angry when I suggest anything -- What can I do ??
Posted by Jill Sisson on 05/14/2013 - 06:40 AM
Jill! I am in a similar situation, with the same hostility level from my brother,and the zoning and health depts leveling fines of $100/day. I live in Fla, but have been in Ct for a week with my mom trying to resolve this situation. So far, not a lot of good answers. We may try for conservatorship of my brother, but that's a long shot, unless he is truly a danger to himself or others. I hope someone answers your question, because I have run out of solutions.
Posted by Lin Chaple on 06/01/2013 - 04:30 AM
My husband is a hoarder of canned goods and magazines & books. He recently started saving the lint from the dryer and toilet paper rolls to use for kindling for the fireplace. Every room in the house is a junk room that no one can walk through. I know this did not happen over night and he gets angry is I start a conversation about getting rid of something like the scuba gear that he hasn't used in 25 yrs. For a long time I was not sure what his exact problem was but I believe that I have figured it out. My family will not visit us and his won't either but my husband doesn't know why. Wow!
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