How to deal with a hoarder?

I was a child in a hoarder home. I desperately wanted to help mthr all the time I've been out, but only through therapy and my supportive online friends at Children of Hoarders have I been able to grieve the fact that she can't be the mother I needed or deserved. It's like alcoholism with family secrets and shame, and also that there is no cure if the actor does not think she has a problem. You can't fix them, only change how you react.

When I changed how I reacted from trying to fix her to accepting her as she is, things went better. I accepted her adult decision to live in squalor. I accepted her decision to live without much heat, no fridge, no ac (in the south!), and minimal working plumbing. I did not want to be around her because she smelled and because she treated me poorly. I set strong boundaries after working through the book Boundaries by Townsend and Cloud and that has helped me in all aspects of life. I was a possession of hers, and I needed to be a separate person. That was hard for her. She chose to have no contact with me for 8 years.

When she truly hit rock bottom, Adult Protective Services had been called by multiple people with reports of a senior in need of services. They were able to take her to a doctor and find us a couple of states away. She was demented from blood loss from a large colon cancer. We scooped her up and fixed the cancer and installed her in a memory care home near us. She recovered well and is enjoying having heat, ac, running water, a clean bed, and meals and snacks served to her even if she forgets.

My advice: visit your mother at a restaurant or your house (if you want). Set strong boundaries and don't enter her place unless it's sanitary and safe. Wait for an incident when she can be discharged to a care home. Grieve the mom you deserved and wanted, and realize this is what it is. If you get along with her, wonderful! If you don't, join the club. You can use google to find the supportive group I'm in.

Part 1 of my response:

My mother wants to stay in her house but she has dementia. If she is moved against her will, she would likely die much sooner and be miserable and horridly distressed the whole time. She refuses the caregiver so I'm trying to find someone she would accept because I need my life back and feel I deserve it. She's ill but has rights like other adults. People who hoard have rights too, and, believe it or not, deserve respect.


So, you're going to be irate with me too. 


Please first remember that earlier generations did not deal with depression, etc., with medicine nor was it evenly discussed openly, probably not even with her doctor. This is how people cope with the tragedies and illnesses in their lives. We know it's shamed in our society. So why would we show others or let them in when they are just going to be nasty or forceful? 


Would you call APS if she were obese? That's quite unhealthy as well but is more accepted in our society, but hoarding is something that people shame others for on worldwide television. I know now this is not accepted in society where other mental issues are. Would you continuously threaten someone who is severely depressed? I hope not. What about someone who is dealing with the death of a loved one, as it was probably part of the cause with me because our dad died when we were kids? That can often be the start of hoarding but the threats come anyway, not empathy and understanding.

That's not okay with me. And it's not okay because I'm hurting and have been for decades about this and the comments. Nobody taught me how to deal with my father's death in a healing or healthy way. I spent decades trying to navigate through the hurt and grief alone. 
 

I am messy, and I could see
myself leaning towards hoarding, even actually hoarding some things too. But I have experienced terribly judgmental comments, horrid treatment and plenty of threats about people want to "throw it all out," "burn it all," and "throw it all onto to the curb." With all due respect, that is not a decent or kind or helpful way to treat someone with depression, or something related. It only makes things worse, much worse, to have everyone treat you like a problem-causing idiot deserving of contempt.


It it took me until I was 55 years old to finally realize that I am a good person. I'm messy, very messy, sometimes disorganized and I have too much. But, believe it or not, that doesn't make me a bad person. 


I was cleaning the top of a dresser a year ago or something. I started to cry, hard, and then I got progressively more angry. "How dare all these people treat me so horribly all my life about this?" "How dare they threaten me?" Then I went into the bathroom to blow my nose and I happened to look in the mirror. What I saw startled me. I didn't see anger or frustration on my face. I saw incredible sadness and hurt on my face instead. Decades of pain of trying to figure this out alone, and from what others said and did to me. 


The only thing that would help me would be a kind, gentle and patient, helpful person that would help me the way I ask them to. I've pleaded and even begged for that for so many years I can't count. My mother would occasionally "help" me but it wouldn't even take her five minutes to start the insults, ridicule and anger. So I'm alone in this again. I can't bring others in because they might instead spread the word and could even report me. 


That's all we get. Threatened, ridiculed, shamed, forced to not have our own choices on what to part with. Nobody in my life has ever been kind and helpful to me so I could start to decide how to part with some things with their assistance. Nobody has ever even offered to help that would act friendly and trustworthy and respectful of my pace and decisions. Nobody that would let me have control of my choices.

Dana, I totally disagree that making sure mom has heat and paying her utilities are responsible things to do. APS *will* get involved if there is no heat or no power. Doing otherwise is enabling further self-abuse. Giving Mom a heater would be even worse- electric space heaters and clutter are a leading cause of house fires in winter.

I have a hoarder brother. We’ve done the clean out several times. It’s useless as each time he refills the house worse than the way it was. I’ve finally come to understand that it’s a mental illness that isn’t going to change, he sees nothing wrong and has no desire for anything to be different. You’re right, it is heartbreaking, I’ve wondered many times about if a fire happened....well it would be tragic. You’re also right, most often hoarders are mentally competent, it’s seen as their choice in living this way. Only when it spills excessively to the yard and neighbors complain do authorities get involved. APS might help, it’s worth a try. Sorry you’re in this position, but glad you care

Re: Hoarding
I've turned into a hoarder in the last few years. I credit that to not having enough lifetime to do all the things I want to do, so keep the information, supplies, contact list etc for the "future," while knowing the future is too short, but what if i get the chance and don't have the data, then what?
I also have just so much energy these days and after a lifetime of being the keeper of a house and maintaining it to the standards others prefer, I just dont want to be bothered anymore. So I do enough to keep nosey do-gooders out while all the time knowing a good house fire would not be a bad idea.
Another factor is that I save lots of "stuff" because i know I have some memory lapses, and it it's not written down it might as well not exist. And if I have to round up supplies for another project I;m sure I'll forget something important.
I don't think there is a "cure" for hoarding , as it seems to be connected to self-esteem and/or self-control
Does this help any?

Mother is a hoarder, although she is considered to be an "organized"one. She used to tell me she desperately wanted a more organized space--but in truth, when it came time to actually throw anything away, or donate it she just---couldn't.

She has very poor relationships with all 5 of us kids (oldest son is deceased) and so I know she equates "stuff" that one of us have given her as being "us". A rotted plastic frog given to her by a grandson she hasn't seen in 10 years "becomes" him. To throw out the frog would nearly be the same as disowning this grandson.

I have tried and tried to help her, studying up on how to talk to her, how to bring this up--and I was as gentle as could be, but in the end, other than the stuff I personally hauled to the Goodwill, it all found its way back into her home.

While I have certainly seen worse living conditions,it makes me sad that her already small apartment is now so hoarded out that she cannot have another person in the apartment when she's there.

I have insisted that she remove all throw rugs and extension cords running hither and yon....and I think her stove is disconnected...so it's safe for her. It's just really, really smelly and grimy.

We had a huge family fight about 10 months ago and I was kicked to the curb as a "housekeeper". I have only been in her house twice since then. She's no way capable of cleaning or maintaining this place, but nobody cares, and she actually said she hated my methods of cleaning, so I walked out.

Yes, I could call APS, but I don't think they'd do more than write up a couple small code violations.

Sadly, if and elder refuses help and is content to live in an apartment that reeks of stale urine and filthy birds and rotting food---it's not the end of the world.

All that stuff and rotted food are fire and disease hazards for herself and her neighbors. If you notify the city/county they'd likely investigate and force a cleanout. That might be less messy than involving APS.

My sister in law doesn't have much money but has filled five storage units with junk. She tried to start a sixth unit but the storage place refused to rent her another. She's been paying storage bills for years and could have bought a house with that money. Her hoarding caused my brother to move out.

This isn't a curable disorder. You're being pilloried for tying to help. Wouldn't blame you for staying away.

Part 2 of my response:

And it would take me time to trust a person that wanted to "help" me so I see that they don't just want to start by being nice and then take over.


In all truthfulness, sometimes all I want is for someone to hold a couple of bags and listen to me. I would make choices and I could say, "okay, this is for the garbage bag" and they put it in the garbage bag. "This is for charity" and I hand it to them for the charity bag, and similar for recycling. Someone who would take the bags to their appropriate places so I wouldn't have to face that too. Someone who could see or hear me get overwhelmed and offer to enjoy a nice break with me. Someone who wouldn't laugh or get angry with me if I cried. I'd probably be crying as part of my grief for my dad and also the threats. Someone who could come and take the bags if I wanted to go through part of this alone.


I also have have been quite poor in parts of my life and know I could be again. In those times, having extra things made all the difference to me in making it through. Haven't you ever been to peoples' houses that went through the Great Depression?They have all kinds of things they store for future needs instead of having to buy them again: elastics (rubber bands), extra plastic bags, extra fabric, strings, and so on. That was called being thrifty back then, but now people laugh about it and it is frowned upon these days. 


I also don't remember everything as well as others, so when I get depressed and think I'm worthless I want to have some things to look at that remind me that I actually have accomplished things and have been respected and valued for my work, and have had fun times too. That's been so meaningful and helpful for those periods when I spiral down to those lows.


Another thing that a kind and helpful person could do is help me take pictures of me with some of my things that I want to part with but want to remember by having a photo. I would want that person to help me put the photos together in a nice container so they could be accessed when I desire. Maybe they could tell me a good way to scan receipts so I could recycle them and some other paperwork I might need for my taxes. 


I would like them to help me when I want to choose where to put some things, and even wipe the area and help me put them there. When I find something valuable to me, I want them to listen to my memory about the situation that made it special, and for them to gently clean it or wipe any dust off of it and put it carefully aside to find a place where I could see and enjoy it. 


My cleaning, decluttering, etc., comes in stages. First I see the easier things to part with. Then I take some time and then the next level becomes obvious, and so on. Sometimes I really have to take extra time to find the next group, and some groups are larger or smaller than others.


But nobody ever thinks I'm decent enough to be helped that way. Decades of family, friends, acquaintances, whomever, never once thought I was worth that. Nobody.

Offering to go through things probably wont work either, at least it didnt for me.
Mom has a hard time making up her mind about stuff and it can take all day to go through a shoe box of stuff.

there is also the pile of stuff for Goodwill which never leaves..

My current plan is to rent a dumpster when they are no longer in the house

Short version:
You can't make someone do something they dont want to do, or they dont see anything wrong or harmful with their behavior. Its mental illness in my opinion, they want to show you they are in control and you can't control them, despite the consequences. Your banging your head against the wall and they don't see what the problem is.

Long version:
I have seen hoarders who have masters degrees and hoard cat feces in their bathtub. It was an eye opener. I never returned and broke off the friendship between us. I couldn't tell her anything because I didn't have a master's degree, she has a trust to live on so money was never a problem, she had education so that wasn't a problem, she had a boyfriend who was also a hoarder, so they accepted one another and had companionship, so that wasn't a problem, she read the bible so she felt she was good person, so that wasn't a problem. Her problem was hoarding, and she didnt even think that was a problem because she had all her other arena's in order. She also seen a therapist , she never told the therapist she was a hoarder, because she didn't trust her. And continued to collect the most filthy stuff. I realized I was the one who had to put a boundary down and break our friendship because of the filth I didn't want to be around her it wasn't safe or sanitary and the smell was putrid. People live this way for years and years they eventually get elderly and other people step in. I am not a hoarder solver, I am not paid to help people with their stinky thinking, that's where they are in their life, whether they are you mother, father, sister or friend, you accept them as they are or you don't accept them. I no longer could accept putting myself in a filthy environment, and broke our friendship off. Save yourself, they are cloudy in their decision making, and only put me down because I didn't have the education or money or religious knowledge they had, so I wasn't qualified to tell them what to do. I am more happy without her friendship then with her friendship, she was toxic, and I thought being kind would win over her it never did.