Hoarders sometimes realize they are hoarders, although not always.
Some hoarders do acknowledge that they need help and many hoarders experience what is known as "clutter blindness," as well as deep shame and even believe genuinely that the items that they have are valuable, which means that the hoarder does not perceive the true severity of their situation of hoarding.
A hoarder's self awareness or insight is categorized into 3 levels, which includes, good or fair insight, poor insight and absent insight/delusional beliefs.
In absent insight/delusional beliefs, the hoarder is completely convinced that their behavior is not a problem and that they truly need all of their possessions, even when they are confronted with undeniable evidence.
With poor insight, the hoarder believes their hoarding is necessary or normal, often defending the clutter and minimizing the impact it has on their daily life or family members.
And for the good or fair insight, the hoarder recognizes that their hoarding beliefs and behaviors are problematic and clutter their living spaces.
For hoarders with poor insight or absent insight, the reality of their situation is usually masked by psychological defenses, or even a distorted attachment to objects.
The mental illness that most hoarders have is OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, which is characterized by unwanted and intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors.
Other mental illnesses that most hoarders have are OCPD or Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder, ADHD, Major depressive disorder, dementia and schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia results in delusions or disorganized thinking, which can lead to paranoia about losing necessary items or collecting of strange objects.
Having conditions like dementia or Alzheimer's can also cause cognitive decline and confusion, which leads to the accumulation of items that are not needed.
Major Depressive Disorder, results in severe lack of energy, motivation or even feelings of worthlessness and can prevent someone from organizing or cleaning.
ADHD or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder can result in executive dysfunction, including having difficulty in organizing, prioritizing, and completing tasks, which can lead to uncontrolled clutter.
OCPD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, involves perfectionism, extreme control and even an inability to delegate or discard things.
The common root cause of hoarding is often information and processing deficits, emotional attachment and beliefs as well as ADHD, Depression, OCD, Anxiety and even Alzheimer's Dementia and Trauma and loss.
Although there's no 100 percent root cause of hoarding as hoarding can be caused by several things.
Stressful life events, such as a major loss, divorce, or eviction, frequently trigger or exacerbate hoarding tendencies.
Some researchers believe it can also serve as a coping mechanism for childhood experiences of poverty, hardship, or having personal belongings taken away.
People who hoard form deep emotional attachments to inanimate objects.
Belongings are often used to fulfill psychological needs, such as providing comfort, security, or a connection to memories.
The core drive for hoarding is often a belief that the item will be needed later or that discarding it is a waste, causing immense distress.
People with hoarding disorder process information uniquely, often focusing heavily on unusual details (shape, color, texture) rather than the function of an item.
A person who is a hoarder can also be described as having "messy house syndrome" which is an informal term that is mainly used to describe someone with a severe hoarding disorder or Diogenes syndrome.
Messy house syndrome is characterized by a person having an extreme inability to organize or keep a household clean, which results in massive clutter, unsanitary living conditions and even severe hoarding of useless objects.
A messy house is not always a sign of any syndrome or mental health issue, unless the messy house gets really severe.
A messy house can sometimes just be a result of having a busy schedule or even personal preference.
But when a person has messy house syndrome, it instead points to severe and unmanageable disorganization.
The messy house syndrome is often a manifestation of an underlying mental health condition or even physical health condition.
Common underlying mental health and physical health conditions that lead to messy house syndrome and a messy house include, depression, hoarding disorder, Alzheimer's or Dementia, OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Neurodivergence like ADHD.
OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder can create rigid fears in people around throwing things away that they don't actually need to keep.
For neurodivergence, conditions like autism or ADHD can also cause people to experience extreme difficulty with time management, organization and execute daily living tasks, including cleaning.
A person with Alzheimer's disease or dementia can also experience messy houses and messy house syndrome as the cognitive decline in dementia and Alzheimer's can cause a loss of ability to sequence, plan and even execute their daily living tasks including cleaning of their home.
People with hoarding disorders also have an intense attachment to their possessions that are paired with deep anxiety about throwing these items away or discarding these items, which leads to unclean and unlivable living spaces.
And depression also often drains the motivation, energy and executive function of the person that is required to complete their routine household tasks.
Messy house syndrome goes much further than just a slightly messy room and can lead to other issues, which include.
Elevated levels of stress, because living in chronic clutter is also proven to spike the stress hormone cortisol in your body.
Strong resistance or even distress when someone attempts to clean or reduce their clutter.
Severe avoidance of social activities or even problems with employment that are caused by shame or even the inability to invite people over.
Poor personal hygiene, malnutrition or even a lack of self care.
Unsanitary conditions, which include odors from rotting decay, pest infestations or even unwashed dishes.
And even having piles of trash that is and has accumulated, food or useless objects, which crowd a person's living spaces and walking spaces.