compulsive hoarding

Professional Organizers know that compulsive hoarding takes a toll on not only the people who hoard, but, their families, friends, landlords and neighbors, as well as all the public and private health and safety departments and agencies that ultimately get involved.

FILMS ABOUT HOARDING

Hoard House
Compulsive Clutter in NYC
Multimedia project that explores the impact of hoarding on hoarders, psychologists, cleanup specialists, and social workers for whom hoarding is a defining phenomenon.hoardhouse.com/

My Mother’s Garden
An award-winning film that documents a 61-year-old woman’s daily life as a hoarder, filmed by her daughter, director Cynthia Lester. www.mymothersgardenmovie.com

A Look from the Inside the Eye of the Hoardnado

The television series “Hoarders” (A & E) has not only provided the public with invaluable insight into compulsive hoarding, it has also offered a rare inside view into how different professional organizers and mental health professionals approach hoarders and their belongings.

The new A&E documentary, “Hoarding,” has recently shed light on how hoarding impacts a family’s life in specific and tangible ways: how it affects a family’s living conditions, social ability, the children and jobs of family members.

While we may all feel we have clutter and disorganization in our lives at one point or another, knowing the difference between hoarding and chronic disorganization can help address these conditions more effectively, bringing organization and peace back into our lives.

Since the premier of the A&E documentary, “Hoarders,” which airs on Monday evenings at 10/9C, there has been an overwhelming response. After answering a lot of emails and phone calls from hoarders, friends of hoarders and family members of hoarders, I’ve noticed there is still a stigma attached to mental health conditions, especially hoarding.

There may appear to be many obvious similarities between collectors and hoarders. The truth is, collectors and hoarders actually lie on opposite sides of a single prism. For those outside the orbit of professional organization, the differences might be confusing, but the difference between the two is a distinction well worth noting.