This month's Hoarding Hub features a quick way to help distinguish between hoarding and squalor - or it maybe both?

1. two’s company,
three’s a crowd
– the simple way
to find out if it is
hoarding,
squalor or both.

2. Hoarding behaviour is the persistent
accumulation of, and lack of ability to relinquish,
large numbers of objects or living animals,
resulting in extreme clutter in or around
premises. This behaviour compromises the
intended use of premises and threatens the
health and safety of people concerned, animals
and neighbours.
Squalor describes an unsanitary living
environment that has arisen from extreme
and/or prolonged neglect, and poses substantial
health and safety risks to people or animals
residing in the affected
premises, as well as others in the community.
Definitions taken from
http://www.health.vic.gov.au/agedcare/publications/hoarding.htm#do
wnloads

3. Most of the items in M’s home were
decomposing; bread, milk, take-away food
remnants, cat faeces. The floor was covered,
benches, and there were piles next to the couch
and bed. There was also vermin,
Yes – squalor and

4. Collected/hoarded items serve a
Usually items fulfil one or more of these roles.
– connection – to others, the world
– stability – used to regulate emotions
– safety - anthropomorphising
– identity – linked to their values, real or ideal
– competence

5. 1. connection Our items are give us a sense of
connection to
• Our history
• Our future
• Our hopes
Geoff hoards food, his daughter used to
come over on Sundays for a lunch, she
hasn’t been for years, but he keeps food
just in case.
A woman in the book “Stuff and the
meaning of things” has articles about how
to train a kitten to return home. She
doesn’t have a cat but one day if a friends
gets one, she will be able to offer them
this information as a good friend would.

6. 2. stability
Items also serve the purpose of
managing our emotions. After a hard
day/week, who hasn’t thought, I deserve
a new cardigan, hammer…!
But have you noticed that the joy of this
new items doesn’t last long, hence for
people who have trouble regulating their
emotions, they need to acquire regularly
to keep themselves feeling stable.

7. Most of us have items which
make us feel safe and secure,
• a favourite blanket, or a
stuffed toy, mine is ‘Twinkle’ -
see image. Twinkle gets a hug
maybe once a year but I like
knowing she is in my
cupboard.
• Items can also create a sense
of safety by acting as a
physical barrier, to keep
people out or loved ones in.
3.

8. 4.
Our items say something about us.
• I have wool to knit socks and scarves
for friends and family
• A woman in the book “Stuff, the
meaning of things” identifies as a
caring person who brings family
together to celebrate holidays – she
has filled her kitchen with cookbooks,
she is now unable to cook.
• A man in the book “Stuff, the
meaning of things” collects rare
items, ie. left handed golf clubs, he
doesn’t play golf, he is right handed
but he identifies as a thrifty and a
smart investor.

9. 5.competence
People affected by hoarding
and clutter can have
heightened anxiety about
making mistakes, otherwise
know as perfectionist
thinking.
This can manifest in
1. Acquiring (what if I can’t
get it again?)
2. Sorting (I don’t know
where to put it so I will
just leave it here
3. Discarding (what if I need
it in the future?)

10. So back to Michelle
Whilst her home was in a squalid condition, she was hoarding
as well as
• She gained a sense of safety from the items, as a rape
survivor, she was determined to keep herself safe by
creating a living environment that no one would want to
enter. (I tried to enrol her in a self-defence course, but she
wouldn’t attend). She was horrified when I said that if
someone wanted to come in, they still could. I was trying to
challenge her belief that the home environment was
keeping her safe.
• She also bought bulk food items for herself and three cats.
Her identity was as a protector and provider, caring for
those who are vulnerable.

11. Squalor=no emotional attachment, hoarding=emotional attachment.
Usually people living in squalid environments are quite happy to have it
cleaned up or don’t see it as being problematic (can be sign of cognitive decline
or other deficits).
Of course, this is a generalisation, but generally it’s true!
Rule of thumb