Hoarding is primarily an issue of mental health, but its effects can be very dangerous to safety as well
Hoarding is defined by the Mayo Clinic as the excessive collection of items, along with the inability to discard them. Hoarding often creates such cramped living conditions that homes may be filled to capacity, with only narrow pathways winding through stacks of clutter. Some people also collect animals, keeping dozens or hundreds of pets in unsanitary conditions. Hoarding involves obsessively collecting objects to the point of risking one’s own health—or the health and safety of others—and it has become so widespread that the psychiatric Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is considering listing the disorder in its next edition.
The City of Vancouver recently established a task force to deal with the problem, which is a particularly problematic issue on the city’s Downtown Eastside.
We speak with therapist Don Collett in a People First Radio interview from March 31, 2011.
