Pack Rat Syndrome

Pack rat syndrome. At first, it sounds like someone invented a cute name for a contrived illness. But pack rat syndrome is very real. In its mild form, it can be a nuisance and a bother. Serious cases can present health and safety concerns and must be dealt with carefully.

Description

• Being a collector is not the same as being a pack rat. Collectors organize and catalog the items they keep, and they keep track of the items in their collections.

  Pack rat personalities accumulate things. Often it is an assortment of unrelated items, things that are "too good to throw away" or "something I might need someday". Clutter is part of being a pack rat. The accumulated stuff is rarely put away or organized in any way. It may be packed and piled into closets, or it may be piled in the corners of rooms.

Symptoms

• This kind of serious hoarding affects an estimated 1 million people in the US. It was once believed that hoarders were mostly elderly people, but studies have found that it occurs in all age groups. It may be more easily recognized in the elderly since they have been hoarding longer than a young person, and the elderly are exposed to more care-giving visits by relatives and social service workers. The extreme stories are reported in the news, stories of a social worker entering a home piled so full of newspapers or old clothes that there was only a narrow path to walk through to get from room to room.

  This degree of hoarding is not uncommon, however. Hoarding is a recognized anxiety disorder, and it tends to run in families.

Causes

• The most commonly stated cause for pack rat syndrome is obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. This disorder is characterized by an inability to make decisions, trouble finishing projects, an inability to sort things to throw away and perfectionist tendencies.

  A different but similar obsessive-compulsive disorder is another cause. It is characterized by persistent anxiety-producing thoughts or impulses that cause the person to feel a need to hoard.

  Other causes may be attention-deficit disorder, depression or dementia.

Treatment

• Treatment may include anti-depressant, anti-anxiety or other medication. Therapy helps the person handle the changes.

  Getting the person to "clean up" might be construed as trying to dictate how he should live, since often he is perfectly happy with his cache. Sometimes vermin or insects are present in severe cases, or trash or garbage is hoarded. Health issues like these must be dealt with quickly and completely, which can cause tremendous additional anxiety to the hoarder.

How to Help

• If someone you know has a hoarding disorder, you can offer help. Always make gentle suggestions and be respectful. There is nothing wrong with collecting some things, the problem arises when it is exaggerated and uncontrolled and presents health and safety risks. Many people hoard things that hold emotional value or evoke memories. Items that are still usable (but never used) are hoarded because they are viewed as having too much value to throw away. One of the most helpful things you can offer is your time to help sort through things and create some order in the house. Be firm in your purpose but empathetic.