Testimonials About Mental Health Specific to Hoarding

In this article, we aim to offer information and insight to support the needs of those seeking hoarding help. Here you will find testimonials about mental health specific to hoarding disorder.

Hoarding Experience

When I was told by my daughter that I was a hoarder I said to her: “I am not a hoarder, what are you talking about?” I did not have a dirty house full of cats and dogs, that’s who I thought a hoarder was. My daughter who was living with me was of course being significantly affected. She set out to educate me, I resisted, and she insisted. She made referrals, I finally accepted, and with her help, I sought help. Since then I have progressed and regressed, made gains and lost ground: hoarding is a lifelong struggle for me. It’s a struggle that is not uncommon, but like with so many mental illnesses, one that’s rarely openly discussed by its sufferers. So today, a day dedicated to talking about mental health throughout Toronto, I am choosing to talk to you as someone suffering from hoarding … and I hope you kindly talk to me and ask questions too.

My first intervention came through Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and the VHA. I had hands-on therapy and in-home coaching and I was successful in discarding quite a bit and I had a beautiful clean living room. I was very proud, and so were the people around me. But after the program ended, I regressed. Hoarding creeps up on you, I did not even notice it because of the way my brain is made up. Through subsequent interventions with dedicated and talented coaches, I made progress again, but outside of that therapeutic coaching – I regressed. I have come to the conclusion that I have a hoarding brain, my brain fires differently then a non- hoarding brain. It is hard to treat, mainly because it is
almost always accompanied by another type of mental illness – co-morbidity.

I want you to know that hoarding disorder is a mental disorder I find very difficult to live with, it is debilitating. I live with constant anxiety and stress, guilt and shame, and my social life is greatly affected, I invite no one to my home. Sometimes I just want to run away, and at other times I just wish everything would just disappear. Although I feel that way, I somehow am unable to bring myself to do it, although it appears logical to me. Therapy, ongoing support and vigilance are essential. Through therapy I gained understanding of the disorder and learnt strategies to help me manage: I now carry a list of strategies on my person at all times, have put up pictures of how I want to live and tell myself everyday, as a mantra, that I will live clutter free. I also practice vigilance, I must always be on guard in acquiring and discarding, though I do much better with not acquiring than I do with discarding. And I need ongoing support like the wonderful programs at Sunnybrook and the VHA. I am committed to, one day, living in a “wellhouse”.

Hoarding was entered into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual – DSM – as its own mental disorder. I have been diagnosed with this disorder. I am a hoarder. .. but I have hope.