How to Help a Friend Who's a Hoarder

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By WritingNag
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Help a Friend Who's a Hoarder

Hoarding is a serious mental health disorder. Some people choose to live in a cluttered, messy room or house. Hoarding takes clutter to a new level. A hoarder will often not let you into their house because of the shame they might feel. Hoarders need professional help and a good support system. Friends can't help the hoarder but they can be that support system.
The compulsion to hoard food, garbage, clothes and other items can put the friend into a dangerous situation. If you have a friend who is in a dangerous situation because of hoarding, you may need to contact a mental health professional for help on how to help your friend.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Patience
Love
Time
Professional help

Step 1

While most hoarders hide their disease, often their closest friends and families know about it. This may be a difficult subject to bring up but if it is affecting their health or welfare you may need to broach the subject. Hoarding is an obsessive-compulsive disorder and not a simple fix.
Step 2

Researching hoarding may help you understand the disease but don't claim to be an expert. A therapist or a mental health professional will be able to help the hoarder, if they want help you are just their support system. Consider asking the hoarder's family for help if you don't feel that you can bring up the subject.
Step 3

If your friend agrees to get professional help for hoarding try to be supportive, loving and patient. What seems easy to you is often painful and difficult for the hoarder. Because this is a mental health disorder don't expect that it will be easy to get through. Hoarders often face a lot of therapy and sometimes will work with a professional organizer.
Step 4

If your friend hoards animals including kittens, puppies, cats, dogs or any other type of animal, immediate intervention is suggested. The Humane Society should be contacted or your local animal welfare office. These animals may need to be rescued and put up for adoption. Often hoarders think they are helping the animals but rescue is advised. Seek professional help immediately if you know the hoarder is hoarding animals. Animals have no voice.

Comments

kims3003 said

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on 11/18/2009 Very helpful information -great topic for an article - nicely done - 2 thumbs up!

shenandoah said

on 11/16/2009 Great advice. Compassionate but not forceful tips on how to help a hoarder.

static404 said

on 10/30/2009 I have a friend who is a hoarder and I had to help him move this past summer. It was horrible. Thanks for the advice. Maybe now I can help him.