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If you're anything like me, looking around at the messy state you often find your home in, you sometimes begin wondering if you might just be a hoarder. The vast amounts of information available to those living in the modern world is double edged sword. Sure we can find directions to anywhere in the world or the value of the action figures stored in our basement with a few clicks of the mouse, but we can also use programs like WebMD to incorrectly diagnose ourselves with a whole host of disorders that our grandparents probably never even knew existed.
As with many mental disorders, a hoarding diagnosis is sometimes a matter of severity. Many of us live in homes that could be called "messy" or "cluttered". But how do we know at what point we have crossed over to a severe enough situation that it can be diagnosed as Hoarding Disorder? Instead of ignoring the problem or diagnosing yourself, I recommend that you seek the help of a mental health professional with experience in Hoarding Disorder. Asking yourself questions like these may help to guide your decision as to whether or not to seek professional evaluation:
- Do you ever feel guilty, ashamed or out of control when you think about the clutter in your home?
- Do friends and family avoid visiting your home because of its condition?
- Are you unable to use rooms in your house for their intended purposes (ie, unable to bathe in the bathroom or cook in the kitchen).
- Do you avoid inviting people over because you are embarrassed to have them see your home?
- Do friends or family ever complain about the amount of stuff in your home?
- Does your clutter cause you problems with getting to work or other places on time?
- Are you late paying bills because they get lost in the clutter?
- Are you forced to buy the same thing over and over because you cannot find what you already have?
- Is your home in a state of disrepair (ie, leaking ceilings, holes in the floor, broken fixtures/appliances, etc) which cannot be fixed because of the clutter?
- Do you have to climb over stuff or squeeze down narrow trails amongst the clutter to get around your home?
- Does the stuff in your home have little or no usefulness or value but you find it difficult or impossible to get rid of it anyway?
Tests for Hoarding Disorder
The International OCD Foundation has developed three tests for Hoarding Disorder. While none of these are definitive or enough to diagnose ones self with the disorder, they can give you a good idea whether or not you should seek further help. Below are links to the tests along with brief descriptions of each one:
The HRS is a self-report on various aspects of Hoarding Disorder. A score of 14 or more may indicate a problem with hoarding.
The SIR is a questionnaire made up of 23 questions. Instructions for scoring the results can be found at the end of the test.
The CIR is a series of photos of the same room, each picture becoming more and more cluttered. In taking this test you will simply choose the picture that most closely resembles your own home.
Remember that Hoarding Disorder is more than just a messy house. It is a situation in which the amount of accumulated stuff in a person's home has begun to affect their ability to live a normal, day-to-day life. If your answer was yes to one or several of these questions, it may be time to seek professional help for yourself or the loved one you are concerned about.
For further information, please view the following video in which Dr. Randy Frost, the author of Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things, discusses compulsive hoarding at length.
Buried in Treasures
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