Stepping in to a Compulsive Hoarder's House

If you walked in the fifth flat on Philmore Avenue, the last thing you’d find is legroom. Stacks of boxes, books, bags and any other entity known to man can be found just in the hallway of this bizarrely looking apartment. You think it couldn’t get any worse?

Just as you thought that was a clutter, squeezing in through the front room couldn’t possibly be the most awful experience of entering someone’s residence. Abruptly to your left, right and centre is perhaps more than your naked eye can absorb. Masses of boxes, piled possessions, shelves brimming with things you didn’t even know existed. It then hits you. You’re right in the middle of a hoarder’s house. You didn’t think setting foot inside a house was ever going to be this hard.

Belonging to 58 year old Ralph Gosling, this property is known to be one of 5% of Britain’s homes owned by compulsive hoarders. Hoarding is a symptom of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) whereby a person may have a fear of having their items contaminated or taken away. A hoarder usually has adversity in parting with their belongings despite its value. It is an unforeseen issue that several people face, lasting a whole lifetime.

The oxford dictionary defines hoarding as “someone who tends to hoard, gather or accumulate things”. Many people living in England today are not fully aware that some types of excessive hoarding can be categorised as a mental health disorder.

You may cling onto your favourite fashion magazines, seize the sea shells you once collected as a child, even nestle notebooks from high school, however compulsive hoarding is much more than this… it’s a severe anxiety disorder. Many fail to realise the severity of this desolated illness. Hoarding can have detrimental effects whethe...

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...s of helping out someone who hoards is slowly limiting down their possessions whilst at the same time, getting them to join support groups with people who are dealing with similar issues. By implementing that relapses occur, is important for a hoarder to comprehend so it doesn’t severely distress them if they return back to their old habits.

A vital thing to take note of is that getting rid of compulsive hoarding isn’t as simple as “clearing out”. Emptying the house of a hoarder without consent can have deleterious effects and it should not be considered. Not all hoarders may be open about their hoarding so it is discouraged to force conversation or persist on the removal of their possessions without an approval (developing and maintaining trust is the way to go).

Hoarding doesn’t necessarily make a person weak, dirty or poor. It is simply a person’s way of life.