Psychology of Hoarding

Introduction

People suffer from severe psychological problems when they keep pets at their home. They get so much involved with their pets that they have complex problems. According to Marie C. Gray, an assistant professor of psychology at Misericordia University Hoarding is associated with anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Explanation

Most people who hoard animals comes from news reports or clinical case studies. News reports on hoarding of animals have focused on human interest stories or publicizing the private difficulties of people who hoard animals. Although these reports effectively expose a very serious public health concern, they can also provide misinformation about the nature and magnitude of this problem. A qualitative meta-analysis of more than 100 press reports on hoarding of animals suggested that media sources aim to elicit a range of emotions such as revulsion, sympathy, indignation, and amusement regarding people who hoard animals, contributing confusion rather than understanding of hoarding of animals by the general public. For example, animal hoarders are often depicted as “addicted to animals” or “serial collectors” who “love their pets to death,” and their homes are “little shop of horrors” or worse. In addition, most cases reported in the press are more extreme ones in which legal raids have occurred, charges have been levied, and people have been evicted. In contrast to the media communications literature, clinical case studies from a public health perspective have attempted to clarify the nature and symptoms of hoarding of animals and its problematic outcomes. Hoarding of animals is the accumulation of an unusually large number of companion animals and failure to provide minimal standards of care with regard to nutrition, sanitation, shelter, and veterinary care. Unfortunately, hoarders typically deny their apparent failure to provide adequate animal care and the often squalid conditions of their home, and they persist in collecting animals despite the obvious problems (Steketee & Frost, pp. 140-155). It is not necessarily the number of animals that determines a hoarding problem given that some individuals such as breeders and trainers who own large numbers of animals provide adequate care and do not suffer impairment in functioning. Clinical observations by veterinary and sociological researchers have suggested that animal hoarders are usually unmarried middle-aged women who tend to be socially isolated from family and friends, although men and couples have also been identified as hoarders of animals. The average number of animals (mainly cats and dogs) ranges from 30 to 40, with some hoarders amassing upward of 100 animals or more (Arluke, & Killeen, pp. 200-225).

Research into hoarding of animals has focused not only on the symptoms but also on its negative public health consequences, such as noise and odor and zoonotic health concerns related to poor veterinary care and sanitation. In most cases, animal hoarders neighbors reported judicial authorities or social workers who filed complaints. Preliminary studies indicated that most animal hoarders have thoroughly cluttered and unsanitary residences. About 60% of the homes had animal feces and urine covering the floor, and over half of the homes had extinct ...