Compulsive Hoarding

I really was able to relate to the section in chapter 25 that talked about compulsive hoarding in the elderly. When my grandfather was alive, he use to collect anything he could get his hands on. He would collect antiques, books, magazines, and even food. Even though his house was full of love, it was very crowded. There was hardly anywhere to sit down and you couldn't even see out the window. His collection of stuff made him happy though so we didn't really question him on it too much. The problem, however, was that things kept piling up on top of all the stuff he already had too much of. As the book said, the problem becomes worse, partly because there are more things to save, but the hoarding impulse is a lifelong expression of self (Ayers, et al., 2010). One time we even helped him clean out his whole house. Not even two weeks later it looked exactly like it had before. We then realized that being a hoarder was probably going to be part of his personality until he died. We did everything we could and as long as it didn't put him in direct harm, we had to learn to live with his lifestyle. My grandfather never did stop hoarding.

Berger, Kathleen. (2011). The Developing Person Through the Life Span. New York, NY : Worth Publishers.