<p>You’re not turning away from him, kelsmom. You are doing what you know is necessary, and you know that that’s better for him in the long run. The fact that he was honest with hospital staff from the outset is a very good sign.</p>
<p>“Grief is a very very specific event and trauma, as is hoarding. There is value in recognizing that this specific trauma seems to trigger this specific OCD type behavior. No it doesn’t solve it, but it does potentially illuminate the underlying psychology involved.”</p>
<p>I’m sorry … I’m not “getting it.” Some traumatic event triggers some underlying psychological trait. OK, makes sense. Is that the only type of traumatic event that could trigger it? Or could any number trigger it? (Based on the variety of traumatic events on the TV show, the answer appears to be the latter.) So basically hoarders-to-be are simply “accidents waiting to happen, lacking only a circumstance?”</p>
<p>[Note: I use the descriptor “accidents” because it’s impossible to believe that hoarding is a intentional goal.]</p>
<p>I’m reading an interesting book about clutter, <em>Clutter busting</em>. It doesn’t seem to be about extreme hoarding, but more run of the mill clutter bugs. <em>Clutter bugs</em> sounds so much cuter than hoarding, doesn’t it? </p>
<p>There seem to be a lot of reasons why people let the clutter pile up. Some people seem to get a hit or high from acquiring things, and once they have them, they have trouble letting them go. I suppose that makes sense. You just spent money, time and energy on acquiring something, so the tendency is to hang on to it for awhile, even if it was a mistake or you didn’t need it, or you have 12 other things just like it. Other people tend to be very nostalgic and have a lot of emotions invested in their things. Which makes it an ordeal to go through them and decide to get rid of them. So, in order for them to be able to get rid of some of their things they have to let go of the past or face an issue that they have been avoiding facing. It’s an interesting book. So much of it reminds me of similar issues with overeating, such as emotional eating. People that don’t over eat, of course, will never understand why someone would deal with their emotions by eating too much.</p>
<p>It doesn’t explain the inability to throw away what is clearly trash, though, such as rotten food, etc. That’s a whole 'nother animal, I think.</p>