Tag Archives: hoarding

De-Cluttering Boot Camp: Making Room for Your Goals and Dreams

When you de-clutter what exactly are you making room for in your life? Why are you de-cluttering in the first place? Of course it is nice to have more space and have things organized. This makes day to day living a lot easier and calming. But the funny thing is that when you get rid of your stuff, when the burden of all of that clutter is gone, you may find that it leaves a space to be filled. This is not space in the physical sense necessarily, but more of a space to fulfill your goals and dreams. Our … Continue reading →

De-Cluttering Boot Camp: I Can’t Get Rid of that! 2

When de-cluttering, it is easy to get sidetracked by items that have no place in your world but are still hard to get rid of. A good example was given in Sherry’s post, Treatment of Special Items when Conquering Clutter. In that blog, she talked about taking some old trophies and giving them a place of honor in the home because they really couldn’t get rid of them. If you have an item that deserves that place of honor, by all means take it out of the box or the dusty corner and display it proudly. But what about all … Continue reading →

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder: Diagnostic Criteria

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The anecdotal stories of Terry and Shaun, both sufferers of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder have been discussed in previous articles. The links to both are listed at the end of this article. Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) differs from its better known near-namesake Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) which is one of the anxiety disorders. In contrast, OCPD is one of the personality disorders and is included in the same category as other personality disorders such as borderline personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial personal disorder and several others. OCPD is a pervasive pattern of preoccupation with orderliness and perfection at the expense of … Continue reading →

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (2)

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In the previous article on this disorder (see link below) we looked at the story of Terry, an intelligent postgrad student whose career had stalled and marriage was failing due to the presence of obsessive–compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). As explained in the previous article, OCPD is unrelated to the more well-known obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) which commonly involves behaviors driven by obsessive thoughts, such as repeated hand washing and checking of locks on doors and windows. Today we look at the case of Shaun who possesses many of the characteristics of Terry. His preoccupation with his job and the minute details … Continue reading →

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (1)

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This personality disorder is not related to the similarly-named condition known as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. The latter disorder is one of the anxiety disorders while today’s article describes a more pervasive personality disorder. Links to the more commonly-known obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are listed below. Terry is a typical sufferer of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD). A gifted scholar, Terry has been doing post-graduate study at the same university at which he graduated over nine years ago. He has a set routine every morning, rising at the same time and completing a series of morning tasks such as reading the newspaper, taking a … Continue reading →

Postscript–Hoarding Humor

Through the trials and tribulations of educating ourselves and empowering Daniel to deal with his hoarding issues, there were some light moments in our otherwise serious quest for answers. The following are some examples of the humorous side of our life with an obsessive/compulsive hoarder. STOCKPILING We live on the coast of Texas and are susceptible to hurricanes. During the season, we keep an extra amount of canned goods, batteries, and bottled water on hand. Daniel has his own hurricane emergency kit. It includes seven packets of taco sauce from Jack in the Box, a stale package of croutons from … Continue reading →

Compulsive Hoarding-Part 3

In the third part of Compulsive Hoarding, I would like to discuss the strategies we employed in our attempt to positively retrain Daniel in his obsessive behaviors beyond the kitchen and his food issues. Medications are available for the treatment of obsessive behavior. Because the symptoms are usually included in the categories of Attachment Disorder and Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder, some physicians prescribe meds (used to treat these specific disorders) to assist in minimizing the symptoms. Paul and I declined this resource of treatment. We felt in the beginning, and still maintain the logic, Daniel’s compulsive behavior was due to his circumstances … Continue reading →

Compulsive Hoarding-Part 2

In Part One of the Compulsive Hoarding article, I covered several of the symptoms displayed with hoarding and some examples of why a child might conceal food and possessions to the point of irrational behavior. The next step was to make him feel secure enough to minimize and in some areas alleviate the symptoms he was displaying. After realizing our child’s dysfunctional behavior then documenting it to find the pattern and the degree of his hoarding, we began working on the problem. When we first noticed the food hoarding, we didn’t confront Daniel with it. Paul and I wanted to … Continue reading →

Compulsive Hoarding-Part 1

Our youngest has a real problem with hoarding. He saves everything. It is very difficult for him to discard school papers, outgrown clothing and shoes, old or broken toys, anything that Daniel considers his. Food also falls in this category and was the first place I became aware of the problem. When the boys first came to live with us, I noticed within several days, Daniel would hide food in the back of the refrigerator or the freezer. At first I gave it little thought; as time went on, it progressed and small amounts of food were stashed throughout the … Continue reading →

Building Our Foundation

Hello All. I am Linda Hansen, also known as Artcraft. I am a new blogger here and I’m excited about beginning my new journey with families.com. I will be blogging on special needs parenting. My husband and I are permanent custodial guardians to biological brothers, ages eleven and fourteen. Our fourteen year old has been diagnosed with ADHD, Alcohol Fetal Syndrome, learning disabilities, and impulse/reaction disorder. Our younger child has Attachment Disorder and emotional issues stemming from his past environment of parental neglect. We have worked hard to learn all we can about the necessary care for children with special … Continue reading →