As humans, we are prone to hold on to some of our personal belongings and can’t even imagine throwing them away.
What makes hoarding different is a person’s inability to part ways with items that might be deemed unnecessary for the household. It’s essentially a compulsion-based disorder that takes a toll on the person along with their friends and family.
The sad truth is that hoarding disorder is often misunderstood and even ridiculed for the common habit of excessive accumulation. People may comment on the messy living conditions of the person, leading to them growing more averse to social interactions.
One of the steps to deal with the hoarding problem is to arrange a cleanup by professionals experienced in removing hoarded stuff. We have listed five common types of hoarding to help you call for the proper removal service for someone who might require assistance.
So, let’s begin!
Common Types Of Hoarding
Before letting you know the various types of hoarding, let us make it clear that there’s a difference between hoarding and building a collection. Hoarding is a recognized disorder in which people tend to develop the excessive habit of gathering items and have difficulty discarding them from their living space. The disorder usually starts during the teen years and gradually progresses with age if no help is taken.
Moreover, collectors are conscious of their desire to acquire a particular thing, and it seldom includes the level of distress or impairment accompanying the hoarding disorder. In many cases, hoarding can also be tied to family history, genetics, or other mental health problems like depression and anxiety.
Now, let’s dive into the different sorts of hoarding seen in people.
1 .Shop Or Shopper Hoarding
Shop hoarding is one of the most prevalent types of hoarding, and it can wreak havoc on the personal as well as financial life of a person. A shop hoarder is usually obsessed with buying different things even when they have no apparent need for them.
The out of control shopping may remain hidden at first, but soon the items may pile up all around the house due to the lack of storage space. And most of the things lie unused as there’s no practical use.
Even though shopper hoarding is often associated only with clothes or fashion items, people tend to buy all sorts of things, including expensive electronic items or volatile items like propane tanks. That’s why hiring a professional rubbish removal company might be necessary to get rid of the hoarded items with proper care.
2. Paper Hoarding
Imagine visiting an old office building that has held on to its huge stacks of unnecessary documents and files from a bygone era. You may be shocked to see the similarity when visiting a home of a paper hoarder. This type of hoarding involves the inability to throw away old newspapers, magazines, documents, invoices and books as the person perceives that they will prove useful at some point.
Besides taking up valuable space around the house, hoarding paper items can be a health risk as they attract mould, dust, and pests. People tend to pile the paper in stacks which can be a tripping and fire hazard leading to unforeseen accidents.
3. Trash Hoarding
One of the most problematic trends in hoarding is accumulating trash in one’s home. These people display an inability to throw away their trash or garbage and may even bring back things by rummaging through trash cans or dumpsters. Hoarding garbage is an immense health risk as it attracts insects or pests and may contain harmful disease-causing agents.
Insects and pests can wreak havoc in a home and destroy its structural integrity. They are also likely to leave behind urine and faeces in the trash and other parts of the home, which can cause severe illnesses in the occupants.
Linked to trash hoarding is the accumulation of recyclable goods. Though the initial intention seems reasonable, the person is often incapable of giving the items away, leading to the buildup of trash in the home.
4. Food Hoarding
Imagine going out on a full-blown grocery shopping spree only to come home and realise that your fridge is already stocked with more food than you’ll ever need. This can be an everyday reality for people dealing with the problem of food hoarding. It may start as an initiative to stock food for emergencies but soon grow out of proportion leading to excess purchases and hoarding.
As we know, most food items have a short life, but food hoarders cannot get rid of them even though they may have passed expiration dates or begin to smell. Sometimes the affected person may try to eat expired foods, which can lead to adverse health issues.
5. Animal Hoarding
Animal hoarders usually bring too many animals into their homes without being able to care for them properly. In many cases, the animals are left malnourished and in need of critical care due to health crises. Having too many animals in a home also causes space constraints leading to a quickly deteriorating condition.
At times, the owners are unable to provide them with even basic care like cleaning up litter boxes or taking the animals out for a walk. If such hoarding is suspected, it’s important to intervene as early as possible to rescue the animals and provide them with better care.
Final Words
That’s everything we had to tell you about the five common types of hoarding. We hope that the information will be beneficial in identifying signs of hoarding and providing help to someone who might be in dire need of it.
Remember, you should never push a person affected by hoarding disorder to clean their accumulated things. It may cause severe anxiety or mental stress as they can’t even think about parting ways with the hoarded items.
Instead, help them find appropriate diagnoses and treatments, which often include cognitive-behavioral therapy to break the habit of hoarding. In the meantime, you can hire a professional garbage or rubbish removal company to discard hoarded items with the needed compassion and respect.
Until next time, goodbye, and take care!
