Clip and save: There is help for pack rats

May 5, 2009

By Dianne Williamson TELEGRAM & GAZETTE COLUMNIST

dwilliamson@telegram.com

 

Typically when I visit my mom, I’ll try to sneak out the door with a stack of old newspapers and plastic bags that she piles atop the washing machine.

 

“Where do you think you’re going?” my mom will invariably demand. “I’m saving those.”

 

Some people become pack rats as they age, and my mother is one of them. She has a hard time throwing stuff away and is especially partial to Saran Wrap and empty glass jars, which leads her children to speculate that she may soon, at age 88, inexplicably decide to pickle something.

 

But my mother’s harmless habit can manifest itself more seriously in others, according to Dianne J. Sandman of the Legal Assistance Corp. of Central Massachusetts.

 

“It’s a growing problem,” Ms. Sandman said yesterday. “We’re starting to see a lot more clients who are faced with losing their apartments and even their homes because they’re so filled with stuff.”

 

Today at 1 p.m., a seminar on “compulsive hoarding” will be held at the Worcester Senior Center on Providence Street. It’s sponsored by a group that I was surprised actually exists — The Central Massachusetts Task Force on Hoarding.

 

Hoarding is defined as the inability to discard worthless items. While people like my mom tend to hold on to things but keep a clean house, people with compulsive hoarding have so much clutter that it interferes with their lives or the use of their property, Ms. Sandman said. The clutter can spread to floors, counters and hallways. Beds become so cluttered that there’s no room to sleep.

 

“Their space gets very small because their stuff takes over,” she said. “Hoarding can cause health and safety issues. It can be a fire hazard. Then the landlord or housing authority gets frustrated. That’s when we get the case because they’ve been threatened with eviction.”

 

The speaker at today’s seminar will be Dr. David Tolin, founding director of the Anxiety Disorders Center at the Institute of Living in Hartford, and adjunct associate professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. He’s also the author of “Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving and Hoarding.” He’s discussed the nature and treatment of compulsive hoarding on “Good Morning America,” “Oprah” and the “Today” show.

 

“The condition is very common and potentially very debilitating,” Dr. Tolin said. “Family members are often stressed out to the max because they don’t know what to do about it. And hoarding is tremendously expensive to society, because tax dollars are often spent to clean out these homes.”

 

Yesterday, I asked Dr. Tolin if hoarding is really a disorder, rather than a result of confused or unorganized people. He explained that, like people who drink alcohol, it takes place on a continuum. And while it seems to adversely affect the elderly, he said most hoarders indicate that the behavior began in their childhood.

 

“The disease is an extreme version of something found in society as a whole,” he said. “It most certainly is a real disorder, but we’re not sure how to classify it. Historically, it’s been considered a subset of obsessive-compulsive disorder, but the more we look at it, it may be a result of other factors.”

 

Locally, Ms. Sandman said she’s seen compulsive hoarders forced to make “goat paths” through their clutter to get around. Most often, they hoard common possessions such as paper, mail, newspapers, books, clothing and containers such as boxes and plastic bins. Some people hoard garbage or rotten food. More rarely, people hoard animals such as cats.

 

Compulsive hoarders will often isolate themselves from family and friends because they’re ashamed, Ms. Sandman said. The disorder is progressive and sufferers can lapse into depression and have other mental health problems.

 

Ms. Sandman said she got involved in the issue after participating in a statewide hoarding conference in 2007 in Marlboro. More than 500 people attended, including lawyers, social workers, mental health advocates and housing managers.

 

Anyone interested in attending the seminar should call Ms. Sandman at Legal Assistance Corp. at (508) 752-3718.