Compulsive Hoarding of Food
Compulsive hoarding is a condition that is characterized by the uncontrollable need to acquire and save things resulting in excessive amounts of clutter.
A lot of the time, the clutter reaches the point that sections of the individual's home cannot be used for their original purpose.
The types of things hoarded vary from person to person and include items such as books, pets, newspapers, garbage and food.
Compulsive hoarding of food has its own peculiarities; the food hoarder has an uncontrollable desire to buy more and more foods - both perishable and non perishable foods.
The foods go off and become stale yet the food hoarder feels guilty about throwing them out.
Though the reason for hoarding differs from person to person, for some guilt stems from the fact that other people elsewhere have none and so it is wrong to discard food even when it is decayed.
Canned foods expire in the house and they are eaten even though they pose a hazard to health.
Even perishable foods are eaten even though the rotting process has begun.
The whole home becomes filled with rotten and stale foods to the extent that there is no place to cook, no place to eat, no place to wash up the dishes and the sad part of it is that the food hoarder does not appear to be bothered.
The problems posed by hoarding food gradually grow worse as the home becomes infested with pests such as flies, roaches, mice and rats.
This type of problem (infestation) presents a health hazard of another dimension from that mentioned earlier.
In May of 2010, an elderly couple were trapped and buried under their belongings.
The couples were later found to have rat bites on their bodies when they were finally rescued, two weeks after their ordeal began.
The risk of physical injury is also greatly increased in such cases as seen in the case presented above.
Unfortunately, many hoarders consider their hoarding actions sensible and they justify them by stating that saving things such as food is beneficial.
They are even oblivious of the unsavory odors of moldy foods that prevail in their home.
Hoarding of food tends to stem from past experiences of severe poverty; according to 60 year-old Jill, a food hoarder, the period of poverty and lack she experienced was such that she had no choice in the foods she could eat and this had a severe impact on her.
To compensate she ensures she buys as much variety as she desires.
Food hoarders are prone to looking for bargains and sales which gives them an opportunity to buy even more food on the cheap an action they find irresistible as it means they are making these great savings.
The irony though is that hoarding of food leads to more wastage due to rot and loss amidst all the clutter than is experienced by the average person who does not hoard food.
As is the case with other forms of obsessive-compulsive disorders, compulsive hoarding is a response to fear and hoarding of food is no exception.
The hoarder of food tends to have a fear of poverty and lack.
This fear may sometimes be as profound in the hoarder as to elicit a grief-like response to the action of discarding anything.
A lot of the time, the clutter reaches the point that sections of the individual's home cannot be used for their original purpose.
The types of things hoarded vary from person to person and include items such as books, pets, newspapers, garbage and food.
Compulsive hoarding of food has its own peculiarities; the food hoarder has an uncontrollable desire to buy more and more foods - both perishable and non perishable foods.
The foods go off and become stale yet the food hoarder feels guilty about throwing them out.
Though the reason for hoarding differs from person to person, for some guilt stems from the fact that other people elsewhere have none and so it is wrong to discard food even when it is decayed.
Canned foods expire in the house and they are eaten even though they pose a hazard to health.
Even perishable foods are eaten even though the rotting process has begun.
The whole home becomes filled with rotten and stale foods to the extent that there is no place to cook, no place to eat, no place to wash up the dishes and the sad part of it is that the food hoarder does not appear to be bothered.
The problems posed by hoarding food gradually grow worse as the home becomes infested with pests such as flies, roaches, mice and rats.
This type of problem (infestation) presents a health hazard of another dimension from that mentioned earlier.
In May of 2010, an elderly couple were trapped and buried under their belongings.
The couples were later found to have rat bites on their bodies when they were finally rescued, two weeks after their ordeal began.
The risk of physical injury is also greatly increased in such cases as seen in the case presented above.
Unfortunately, many hoarders consider their hoarding actions sensible and they justify them by stating that saving things such as food is beneficial.
They are even oblivious of the unsavory odors of moldy foods that prevail in their home.
Hoarding of food tends to stem from past experiences of severe poverty; according to 60 year-old Jill, a food hoarder, the period of poverty and lack she experienced was such that she had no choice in the foods she could eat and this had a severe impact on her.
To compensate she ensures she buys as much variety as she desires.
Food hoarders are prone to looking for bargains and sales which gives them an opportunity to buy even more food on the cheap an action they find irresistible as it means they are making these great savings.
The irony though is that hoarding of food leads to more wastage due to rot and loss amidst all the clutter than is experienced by the average person who does not hoard food.
As is the case with other forms of obsessive-compulsive disorders, compulsive hoarding is a response to fear and hoarding of food is no exception.
The hoarder of food tends to have a fear of poverty and lack.
This fear may sometimes be as profound in the hoarder as to elicit a grief-like response to the action of discarding anything.
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