The psychology of animal hoarding

[texasgal]

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Another very common thing done everyday by people who do irrational things..

I'm not making light.. just saying the pattern isn't really different, it's the results that are different.

People are messed up ...

 

[tiki244]

One point I would like to make is that with our throw away society today it seems some people are used to just acquiring things on a split second decision and then getting rid of them when they are tired of them. Hoarding I suppose could be just that people acquire them and dont get rid of them. I do not think that this behavior would be seen in a third world country nor that it has happened in the 19th century like it does today. Nor even in the early 20th century. So what's up with that?

 

[Matthew3590]

Its not having it and not throwing it away. It is having it not using it and breaking down when someone tries to throw it away.

 

[birdygal]

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I am in agreement.

 

[gritsar]

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On one of the animal hoarding programs I'm not sure which one, they did show what was done to help. The man was hoarding chickens. On that particular episode our own Rob Ludlow, aka Nifty-Chicken, owner of this site, stepped in to help.

 

[heatherindeskies]

I think hoarders DO care about their animals and i don't see them as being self centered or egotistical, but i don't think any of them start out with massive amounts of animals. They collect them, justify it in their minds, and some type of mental instabilty kicks in as they continue to collect and go to great lengths to justify and convince themselves every thing is fine. Like an addict convinces herself/himself all is Ok throughout the entire process of addiction until they are so bad off they get into serious trouble and crash.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

While actual studies are lacking, hoarding does happen in third world countries and impovershed areas. Russia/Ukraine area is one example. Most of the people I know who are wealthy and hoard will rent and fill up storage areas as well as there house, but have more money to hide it better. Some married without their spouses knowing of their hoarding until later. You can be homeless with a little pack full of dolls and still exhibit all the same symptoms, possessiveness, and patterns of behavior as someone with a house and pool stuffed with items. As mentioned, people in Virginia and West Virginia had huuuuge, or at least noticable, hoarding issues, and they were located in impovershed areas. Some without running water.

However, if you are using hoarding to mean "owning a lot of crap that doesn't get used and defining yourself by your belongings", without narrowing it down to the patterns seen in hoarders, then yes. Many are guilty of that in the US. Heck, how many here pay companies money to advertise their products for them because their identity is so firmly ingrained in consumerism (ie. buy Nike shoes, a Coke shirt, etc)? But, that is not hoarding in the sense of a mental disorder.

 

[welsummerchicks]

Nathanson, in the Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect who researches animal hoarding, says that animal hoarding(sometimes called disosophobia) is 'perplexing'. He has researched patterns of self neglect that accompany animal hoarding.

In another article, Nathonson co-authored with Patronek for the Clinical Psychology Review, he says it is very poorly understood. He suggests basically that caring for animals boosts the person's self esteem, and that these people usually have a long history of problems with relationships with humans. That is a description rather than a cause. What they don't really understand is why it happens.

If the researchers say it is very poorly understood and perplexing, we really should not be accepting the idea that they 'all this' or 'all that'.

So here's what I think.

People hoard animals for many different reasons.

They weren't ALL...anything. No majority, no 'mostly', no 'pretty much'.

They aren't all narcissistic. They weren't all abused as children. They aren't all suffering from OCD. They don't all love the animals. And I'd include under 'all', also 'most', 'many', etc.

And the TV programs are NOT giving ANYONE a realistic idea of why these things happen. They're giving you a reason that is appealing, simple, has a common thread.

Sometimes it's why the hoarder THINKS they hoard - this idea is usually something that involves zero insight, might have been cooked up by some third rate counselor or the TV show writers thought would be appealing.

In other words, they're giving you entertainment.

There is no one disorder or pattern or thought process behind hoarding or animal hoarding.

 

[gritsar]

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I think we have all figured that out, even without degrees in psychology. And for the record I don't watch those types of programs, except for making it a point once to catch the aforementioned episode that Rob was in.

ETA: I watch a total of maybe, MAYBE, two hours of television a week. I don't use TV as a way to get an education on different social issues.

 

[welsummerchicks]

Good for you.

If the researchers who have been studying this problem for decades tell us it is perplexing, I hope people don't make the mistake of looking for a single simple unified picture of it.

Or look for answers from the ridiculous tv shows that cover it and spread disinformation, and capitalize on people's fascination with it.