Posted by Toph on April 9, 2007, at 18:54:03
In reply to Re: Hoarding » Toph, posted by Dinah on April 9, 2007, at 17:45:16
Hi Dinah,
I'm no expert but for some the compulsion and the anxiety that is elicited when one attempts to remove what we consider worthless trash is probably where the OCD connection comes from. But I have seen other clients who if you go to the bottom of each pile you find things that date with uncanny proximity to the date their child or spouse died. This strikes me as depression or PTSD. Regardless, in our unit we beg off these cases. Too many of us have spent about a thousand precious dollars of our emergency funds to do a clean up only to get a referral a year later where the stuff is up to the ceiling again. The distorted view of appropriate or worthiness of possessions is reminiscent of the intense distortion an anorexic has for her perceived obesity. My only advice Dinah is I'd be careful as a child to be the change agent here. Losing your mom is not worth a tidy house (unless of course there is threat of disease, fire, complete isolation, etc).
I miss Babble. I'm almost caught up at work. I'm hoping there in no connection.
Toph
poster:Toph
thread:748492
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20070406/msgs/748543.html