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> The hoarder tends to believe each item they have kept has value or will be valuable someday. It makes the most sense to me to look at this from a slightly di

> The hoarder tends to believe each item they have kept has value or will be valuable someday. It makes the most sense to me to look at this from a slightly different angle. Most things have value. What hoarders can't seem to grasp is that each item they own also reduces the value of every item they own by a small amount. Every item that someone owns is an item that they have to store, organize, clean, etc. So, those "junk" items aren't worthless per se. They're just not worth enough to balance out the cost of keeping them, at least for most people.

thevagrant 3y ago
As the illness progresses, the hoarder will hoard anything. Even trash that is arguably a hazard and burden.
deleted 3y ago
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mindslight 3y ago
> Every item that someone owns is an item that they have to store, organize, clean, etc. This right here is the crux of what defines hoarding, at least to me - when that work isn't being done. I do many physical hobbies / DIY. So the characterization that keeping anything you don't have an immediate use for as hoarding doesn't ring true - some times you really will need that 1x2ft scrap of drywall in the future, or those bits of lumber or exact valued resistor/capacitor/etc. Or wanting to get all the materials for a project in order and ready to go even though you might not do it for a few months, which then turns into even longer. But the stereotype of extreme hoarding with food wrappers and animals crapping in the piles doesn't ring true either. Because hoarding can exist long before that type of squalor, and long before the DSM would make a positive diagnosis. So to me it's about whether one is doing the effort to organize/clean/use the stuff. It's ultimately about whether that complexity is being managed or being brushed aside. Like the part in the article about hoarders being more familiar with ad-hoc organization rather than categorization. That's a necessary skill, but it also creates a precarious situation that can fall apart when things change and that information gets flushed.

thevagrant 3y ago

As the illness progresses, the hoarder will hoard anything. Even trash that is arguably a hazard and burden.

deleted 3y ago

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mindslight 3y ago

> Every item that someone owns is an item that they have to store, organize, clean, etc. This right here is the crux of what defines hoarding, at least to me - when that work isn't being done. I do many physical hobbies / DIY. So the characterization that keeping anything you don't have an immediate use for as hoarding doesn't ring true - some times you really will need that 1x2ft scrap of drywall in the future, or those bits of lumber or exact valued resistor/capacitor/etc. Or wanting to get all the materials for a project in order and ready to go even though you might not do it for a few months, which then turns into even longer. But the stereotype of extreme hoarding with food wrappers and animals crapping in the piles doesn't ring true either. Because hoarding can exist long before that type of squalor, and long before the DSM would make a positive diagnosis. So to me it's about whether one is doing the effort to organize/clean/use the stuff. It's ultimately about whether that complexity is being managed or being brushed aside. Like the part in the article about hoarders being more familiar with ad-hoc organization rather than categorization. That's a necessary skill, but it also creates a precarious situation that can fall apart when things change and that information gets flushed.