Saturday 8 November 2014

Who has been to the doctors about their hoarder relative?


A few years ago my mother reassured us that dad would stop hoarding once we put all his books in the garage of our home  (not his). 2 deaths, one wedding and 2 grandchildren later the living room has spiralled into jenga again but with more unusual objects (and yes the garage is full). My dad has discovered gum tree and got his hand on a uni cycle and last week got another from a charity shop. 

Where the hell is he going to use it ? His garden and house is unsafe, that leaves the public road.
I am thankful for the rain because it means the Sunday car boot sales no longer run but I am worried that now my dad is getting to grips with technology a lot of his hoard will be delivered by courtesy of Royal Mail. I have pretended to not know how Ebay works to discourage my dad form using it.

I'm thinking now is a good time to book him for a GP appointment and hopefully get a referral for CBT counselling. He has given up on work (self employed) anyway. How does one broach the subject to a hoarder about seeing a doctor and how have GP's in the UK responded? A
If I make an appointment about my concerns for my dad what can my GP do?
Any advice would be appreciated.

3 comments:

  1. Does anyone here else feel that hoarding is genetic? My father is a hoarder; his nephew is a hoarder, and my sister too. This made me think maybe it is possibly genetic. Hoarding is in essence a mental condition, just like OCD and ADHD for example. If both those conditions are hereditary then hoarding is too, right? Interesting thought. It has been years since I entered my father’s house and I know he definitely needs help. I’ve tried offering to help him but he doesn’t want anyone in the house. My grandfather recently reached out to a hoarder cleanup service and we have been trying to get my father to allow us to do the same for him. The company my grandfather used is called Hoarders911, which is located in New York. The cleaning crew was very helpful with him and cleaned his entire house spotless in 5 days. Once they left, it was so clean you could literally eat off the floor. I definitely recommend contacting a professional company that specializes in hoarding treatment, the website to the company my grandfather worked with is www.hoarders911.com and we until this day are very thankful to have found them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hoarding is genetic, just like most mental illness are.

    trust me when I say you can do clean outs all you want, but the mess will come back with out treating the reall illness which isnt the hoard.

    been there and done that for 9 summers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree there that there may be more than one family member who has hoarding part of it would be influenced by genes which are linked to certain mental disorders and partly influenced by upbringing. How many have us heard the phrase "keep it just in case?" I have heard and seen numerous cases of people who remember their parent saying it was important not to waste. I have read that this often when growing up in hard times or during the world wars.

    ReplyDelete