Hoarding gets worse with age, often starts in childhood

Hoarding gets worse with age, which is why it’s often associated with older adults, but it usually starts in childhood.

That’s what Patrick Arbore, founder and director of the Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention and Grief Related Services in San Francisco, told a group of professionals who work with seniors recently. He was one of the speakers at the annual Regional Conference on Aging hosted by Philadelphia Corporation for Aging.

He said people whose homes later become overwhelmed with stuff often begin having dysfunctional relationships with things between ages 11 to 15. They may cling passionately to clothes that no longer fit or toys meant for much younger children. This is an opportunity for parents to teach them how to organize their possessions and discard items they no longer need, skills that are often deficient in adult hoarders.

Arbore thinks much hoarding also stems from trauma or emotional pain. Hoarders fill the emotional holes in their lives with things that seem more trustworthy and comforting to them than their fellow human beings. He said he has had success at reducing hoarding by helping people address their underlying pain and learn better ways to cope.

He presented a depressing picture of a condition that affects 6 percent of the population and causes distress among families and friends. For the elderly, who are more likely to have dementia and physical problems, hoarding increases the risk of falls and isolation. The older population can be difficult to work with because behavior is entrenched and they have a negative image of mental health treatment.

Hoarders can be pack rats, compulsive buyers or collectors whose acquisitiveness has gotten out of hand. Eventually, they run out of room and wind up with narrow walkways and only a tiny place to sit amid what looks like trash to most people but is treasure to them.