Hoarding: How to Help a Loved One Who Hoards

Michael A. Tompkins, Ph.D., coauthor of "Digging Out: Helping Your Loved One Manage Clutter, Hoarding, and Compulsive Acquiring" disucsses hoarding and how friends and loved ones can help.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Hoarding
• clutter
• OCD
• mental illness
• harm reduction

[TheGoalSetter]

@HafwayHolmes Agreed. Kind of disappointing.

I think the *answer* is close to Niecy Nash's (of Clean House) advice: "Take a big girl pill". The transfer of power from the Id (child) to the Super Ego (parent) is what accounts for most of the changes in Clean House, SuperNanny, Kitchen Nightmares, Dave Ramsey, etc. They all have coaches that don't take crap from people...and thus people change.

The more the coach (Super Ego) is internalized, the longer the change lasts.

[HafwayHolmes]

Good description of hoarders, but title is misleading as it doesn't say anything about what to do with a person who has this problem.

[CatpurrRobertaBobbi]

My dad denies he has this. After two heatattacks and a recent bypass he now must clean up. Now at 70 and in failing health the city is forcing him. Today is the day I try to help him as they return to check again in a week. I cant help alot due to my having to work. After 30yrs living alone you can imagine the mess. He never has accepted help before. I am at a loss of what to do. Please advise me. Thanks