Re: ADD, clutter and “hoarding” stuff

[Anonymous]

Hoarding tends to be associated with obsessive-compulsive behaviour, instead of ADHD. Hoarding also is usually when the hoarder has an inability to part with objects – one person I know has all five of her children’s artwork still packed up “somewhere” as she put in it, in her shambles of her house. I should add that her children are now in their 40’s and 50’s. There is a meaning or value to the objects for the hoarder that others would find meaningless or of little value. As with many conditions, it’s on a spectrum from a simply a bad clutter that with some effort can be cleaned up, all the way up to a household that is a threat to life, health, and safety. My acquaintance is the latter, sadly, and refuses to get help.

Up until diagnosis with ADHD I had a confused and cluttered mess of a house too, but having read up on the benefits, and some would say necessity, of decluttering for ADHD people, I did it. Home is a much happier place for me now because it no longer overwhelms me. I don’t live in a spic and span place, but I can now have friends over with 1 or 2 hours notice, instead of 1 to 2 days, or weeks.

By the way, the show “Hoarders” on A&E strikes me as the most exploitative and disgusting show ever on TV. My acquaintance lives in fear and shame of being found out by other people, and to have that broadcast to all of North America is just beyond the pale. People’s misery as entertainment. From what I understand, the approach used in the show doesn’t work anyway – it just treats the symptoms but does little in terms of long term, systematic change in behaviour of these people.

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