Digging out: Bert Nash hoarding group helps people learn to let go of attachment to things

One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. At least so the saying goes. For a hoarder, it may all seem like treasure.

That’s the problem.

“They have a hard time distinguishing if something is of value,” said Loraine Herndon, “To them, it all looks valuable. That’s a classic characteristic of many hoarders. They see value in things that other people would not.”

That’s when things can become a problem, and those things can take over a person’s life … and home.

“Hoarding makes homes non-functional,” Herndon said. He is of the opinion that such houses become storage areas rather than living areas. Moreover, in hoarded houses, one can find similar conditions to storage areas, where workers often stand on platform ladders to organize the items.

Herndon leads a therapy group for hoarders called Buried in Treasures. The group, which was started in 2012, meets twice a month. Group members are given homework assignments to work on between sessions.

These are smart, resourceful people. One member of the group is a retired professor. Another member is a retired teacher. Of the seven members, more than half have advanced degrees.

“Many people who are hoarders have been successful in their lines of work,” Herndon said. “People who have a higher level of education are more likely to hoard things. It’s actually the intelligence and the creativity that can help them to see how to expand the lifespan of things that a lot of other people would throw away.”

As an example, Herndon said, “I worked with one person who acquired huge numbers of ceiling fans, because he had the know-how to fix them and make them operational.”

For the first time this year, the American Psychiatric Association categorized hoarding – defined as an excessive collection of items with the inability to discard them – as a mental disorder. As such, it was included in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which serves as the authority on psychiatric disorders. The DSM-5 lists the criteria required to confirm a diagnosis.

“There is a lot of embarrassment and shame with this disorder,” Herndon said. “That is a prominent characteristic, though there are some people who live in denial. But the majority of people I work with carry a great deal of shame and embarrassment.”

 Hoarding includes components of other disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, better known by their acronyms OCD and ADHD.

Not only can hoarding take over the space in a person’s home, it can overwhelm other areas of someone’s life. Embarrassed, they cover their doors and windows with curtains or cardboard or foil. They close off the outside world. 

Getting help to overcome this,  through mental health support, is important.

“It can become hazardous to a person’s health, it can end relationships, it isolates people because they can’t socialize in their homes and because of the shame attached to hoarding,” Herndon said.

Hoarding increases the number of crevices and dampness in the home, encouraging the growth of mold, harmful bacteria, and other pathogens. It also increases the number of places that infestations of moths, cockroaches, and other pests can take hold of in the home. Many pest control companies often cite hoarding as one of the primary causes of major home infestations. Naturally, it can be hard to get rid of an infestation so long as the hoarding situation remains as it is.

Though the situation can be hard to change. Hoarders have a hard time letting go of things. They develop an intense emotional attachment to their things, much like in a relationship.

One solution, although short-term, could be allowing them to keep those things, but not in their homes. Procuring self-storage units could allow hoarders to keep some of those things away from their houses but still in their ownership, so to speak. This makes way to clean up the house as well.

A member of the hoarding group said she had to reach a place where she recognized she had a problem and was ready to change.

“It’s kind of like an alcoholic when they are ready to admit they have a problem and finally put down the bottle,” the client said. “That’s how I am confronting hoarding. I’m at the point where I want to do something about it and change the way I live.”

There are differences between being a collector and being a hoarder. While a collector may spend more than he or she can afford to purchase items of value, a hoarder can stockpile items that have little if any value.

“One of the differences between a collector and a hoarder is the hoarder can move over into acquiring so many things that the rooms in their homes are no longer functional for the purposes they were intended,” Herndon said.

Real-life examples of hoarding are depicted in the TV documentary series “Hoarders,” but those are extreme cases, Herndon said.

“I think more people are talking about hoarding because of the exposure on TV,” Herndon said. “But because those are such extreme cases, it may make some people think, well, I’m not that bad. But at least the issue is being discussed.”

Though studies indicate hoarders typically are older – the average age is about 50 – the early signs of hoarding can start much younger, even in the teens.

“Studies show there are hoarders among younger age groups. We do know children who grew up with parents who are hoarders are at a higher risk of becoming hoarders, too,” Herndon said. “One reason they are at such high risk is because they have never seen how a normal home is organized.”

Such was the case with the Buried in Treasures member. “My mother was something of a hoarder. She never threw anything away,” the group member said. For all but one member, they were clients at Bert Nash before joining the group. Hoarding came up during the course of therapy for other, often related, issues.

“I had been seeing the group leader on a one-on-one basis and, knowing my history, she suggested I might be interested in the hoarding group,” said one of the members. “She was aware there was a problem.”

As part of the program, Herndon will visit the homes of people in the hoarding group.

“It’s recommended you visit people’s homes, so you can actually get a sense of what these individuals are challenged by,” Herndon said.

A hoarder can be overwhelmed by the amount of stuff he or she has acquired.

“The difficulty in de-cluttering is just getting started,” said the group member. “There’s kind of a paralysis that sets in when you’re confronted with the amount of stuff you have and you don’t know how to get started, or how to let things go. There is a lot of pain with letting go of your possessions.”

Hoarders can be very protective of their belongings. There’s a fear that if they let go of something, they will need it later.

“If someone comes in an messes with or moves things around, hoarders can feel very violated,” Herndon said. “The attachment to these items is equivalent to the kind of emotional bonding that can occur with a relationship or a person. That’s why it can be so painful and violating when someone comes in and clears things out.”

There are strategies for helping a person de-hoard his or her home.

“Getting things out of the house and out of sight really helps. The experts suggest you start with one corner in one room, so you don’t get overwhelmed,” Herndon said. “Work for short intervals to begin with. It’s suggested a person use a timer when sorting and keep a log of any distractions. They have to understand what has kept them stuck. It’s important they learn what it is about themselves that makes them want to hoard. Getting things out of the house and out of sight really helps. These are bright and gifted people. They are very rewarding to work with.”

A common characteristic of Herndon’s clients is they have had trauma in their life, such as cancer or some other health problem, loss of a loved one, or abuse. Letting go of the past, or of things, can be difficult.

“It’s like the brain in some way lies to them, but in a convincing way, so that it emotionally impedes their ability to let go of things,” Herndon said. “Part of the recovery work is to learn how to replace the acquiring and collecting that has gone on for so many years with other things.”

It is no small matter for hoarders to let go of their possessions. But it is possible to dig their way out of all the clutter. It just takes time.

“It is a monumental task,” Herndon said. “The best prognosis for someone to be able to de-hoard a home is 18 months. I am working with one man who is going through the program who has gotten the downstairs entirely de-hoarded,” Herndon said.

For members of the hoarding group, going through the program can not only free up space in their homes, it can change the way they live.

“Now when I look at the before pictures of my house, I just cringe,” said one of the group members. “I wonder how I could have lived like that. I had blinders on. That’s the way you are before you realize you have the disorder.Then you start lifting the veil off your eyes and see, yes, it is a problem.” 

For information about the Bert Nash hoarding group, call 785-843-9192.