Hoarding

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that hoarding is characterized by a need to acquire and maintain a wide variety of possessions, which eventually clutter and fill living areas until they can no longer be used for the purpose for they were designed, creating a safety and health problem. The author points out that the psychiatric symptoms of hoarders included repetitive behaviors, hyperphagia, and pilfering. The paper relates that part of the difficulty in treatment of both elderly and dementia patients is the patients' attachment to their belongings; often this attachment is extremely emotional and even unreasonable.

From the Paper:

"The first study indicates hoarding behavior is relatively common in dementia patients. All the patients had been diagnosed with varying forms of dementia, and had been hospitalized for their illness. The 133 patients in the study were divided between those who hoarded and those who did not hoard. Twenty-two point six percent of the patients hoarded items, and the items varied from daily necessities to food, newspapers, and even cigarette butts. These items were stored in a variety of places around their homes, in boxes, in closets, or even carried with the patients."

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