Compulsive hoarding is a disorder that is characterized by an inability discarding items that to most people appear to have little or no value. This inability to throw things away results in an accumulation of clutter that often leads to an inability to use living areas and workspaces for their intended functions. Moreover, the clutter can lead to potential serious health conditions and to safety risks of the hoarder or others.
In order for a person to meet criteria to qualify for a diagnosis of compulsive hoarding the person must experience significant personal distress and/or impairment in their functioning due to their hoarding behaviors. More often it is the impairment in functioning that qualifies someone for a diagnosis as the hoarding behavior serves to reduce anxiety in the person associated with discarding items. Several types of functional impairment seen in hoarders include: health or fire hazards due to clutter or waste in the case of pet hoarders; inability to have guests due to clutter; infestations of insects, rodents, etc.; inability to eat or make food; inability to find important possessions; and interpersonal conflicts caused by the clutter. Not all hoarding behaviors qualify as compulsive hoarding and hoarding may be a symptom of another psychiatric diagnosis (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2000).
Compulsive hoarding behaviors often have a dramatic impact on the lives of the hoarders as well as family members and friends. Ambivalence by the hoarder is common and family members are often dismayed at the seemingly...
Compulsive Hoarding (Hoarding as a Disorder, Famous Hoarders Case Studies, and Solutions) Regrettably, for several years, hoarding has been an out-of-sight disorder. Very little research was conducted on hoarding in the 1980s. However, since earlier 1990s, research scientists, psychologists and clinicians have shown a dramatic interest in the subject. Awareness concerning hoarding has also increased due to up-to-date media exposure. Sufferers, family members, and human service workforce who frequently deal with the
" (p. 12) According to Cromer (2005) the literature that addresses the relationship between stressful life events and obsessive compulsive disorders does provide some degree of support implicating traumatic life-stress as being a factor in the onset and maintenance of the obsessive compulsive disorders however the exact relationship between the SLE and OCD "remains an empirical questions" specifically relating to "traumatic negative life events" (2005; p.13) Most of studies in
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Of the many identified and treated mental disorders that exist in the fields of psychology and psychiatry, the author of this report has decided to focus on obsessive compulsive disorder. The author will be giving a review and summary of that selected case and disorder. The facets of the disorder that will be described include the biological, psychological and social factors involved in the selected case. It will
, 2011). Since hoarders are less likely to be married, it is possible that help for a hoarder who has fallen or otherwise become injured may be severely delayed. Sometimes, it can be too late. Fire is another danger faced by a hoarder. Such a large number of items can make a house more flammable, and also make it highly difficult to escape if a fire does get started (Saxena,
realm of psychological disorder through the use of a character assessment. The character in question is fictional and the data used to evaluate the psychological profile derives from a movie. Melvin Udall, the main character in the movie "As Good as It Gets" serves as the character used in this assessment. Ultimately, I find and explore specific links to Melvin's condition in the movie to that of one suffering
Clinically meaningful differences between juvenile and adult participants were also found. Compared to adults, juveniles were more likely to be male, recall an earlier age at OCD onset, and have different lifetime comorbidity patterns. Significant outcomes were that children were less likely than either adolescent or adults to report aggressive obsessions and mental rituals. The glaring - and possibly only -- distractions that I see with this study are that
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