Emily Kil is co-owner of Eco Bear, a leading biohazard remediation company in Southern California. An experienced entrepreneur, Emily assisted in founding Eco Bear as a means of combining her business experience with her desire to provide assistance to people facing challenging circumstances. Emily regularly writes about her first-hand experiences providing services such as biohazard cleanup, suicide cleanup, crime scene cleanup, unattended death cleanup, infectious disease disinfection, and other types of difficult remediations in homes and businesses.
Losing a loved one as a result of a death by suicide is a traumatic event. When we experience something traumatic during the course of our lives, anxiety is a natural response to that type of incident or occurrence. As a survivor of the suicide death of a loved one, you may find yourself experiencing…
Guilt is perhaps the most painful companion to death. – Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Kubler-Ross’ reflection about guilt and death is magnified when a loved one dies by suicide. The reality is that when survivors of a suicide death or a loved one are asked about the range of emotions they are experiencing or have experienced, guilt…
How suicide is reported, talked about, and portrayed in the media has great influence, especially on those who are vulnerable. – Anonymous If you are a survivor of a loved one who died by suicide, you may be wondering if there is someone amiss in the world that is making this type of death somehow…
Grief and the grieving process following the suicide of a loved one can be particularly profound. Indeed, medical professionals have a term for the level of grief a person may face when they have lost a family member or friends as the result of a suicide death. It is known as complicated grief. With that…
Researchers and historical data reveal that a fairly significant percentage of people who die by suicide or who attempt to commit suicide suffer from substance use disorder. In other words, a considerable number of people who die by suicide have an issue with drug abuse or drug addiction. Through this article, we explore the link…
Time and again, there are media reports about a person dying by suicide and then another person somehow connected to that individual also dying by suicide. This phenomenon happens with such frequency at this juncture in time it has been given its own name: suicide contagion. Because suicide contagion is a recurring and relatively widespread…
Despite the efforts to fight the stigma associated with death by suicide, the reality is that there remains in the eyes of many people a stigma attached to this manner of death. The existence of a persistent stigma associated with suicide in some quarters makes dealing with this type of death especially hard on surviving…
If you have lost a family member or other loved one as a result of a suicide death, you may find yourself dealing with an array of challenging issues. The same may hold true for other members of your family or other individuals close to you. Oftentimes, when people lose a person they care about…
A primary element of hoarding is the acquisition and failure to get rid of or discard items acquired. The emotional inability to part with objects that are being hoarded is another aspect of this mental health condition. The amassing of things in and of itself has a significant impact on the life a person who…
Hoarding disorder can be the cause of a variety of related issues that can have a truly negative impact on a person’s life. In order to fully understand the nature of hoarding disorder, you need develop an understanding of how the tentacles of this condition can reach out and destroy other aspects of a person’s…
More often than not we imagine a person with hoarding disorder to be an older individual, usually living alone. The grim reality is that there are situations in which a parent or parents are afflicted with hoarding behavior. Parental hoarding can have a seriously negative impact on children in a variety of different ways. These…
A person with hoarding disorder usually is afflicted with other types of mental health conditions. These include depression and anxiety. In addition, many people engaged in hoarding behavior or with a diagnosis of hoarding disorder will feel shame. In point of fact, there are instances in which a person with hoarding behavior or hoarding disorder…
There is an element of subjectivity when it comes to evaluating whether a situation in a residence qualifies as hoarding. While there are a number of different aspects to making a determination of whether or not a person is afflicted with hoarding disorder, the physical appearance of a residence is a key factor. A tool…
If you or a loved one are facing a hoarding situation, you may feel quite overwhelmed about the prospect of having to clean up the premises. You may wonder if you will ever be able to restore the residence to a livable condition. You may be at a juncture at which you wonder whether you…
Hoarder property cleanup is a challenging endeavor. One of the most demanding aspects of hoarder property cleanup is preparing a hoarder for the process. Convincing a person with hoarding disorder can prove to be a herculean task in some instances. As a consequence, there are some strategies to employ in preparation of a cleaning hoarder…
Hoarding can be motivated by a number of different underlying factors. One of the more commonplace of these causes is a fear of waste. In this article, we present a discussion of hoarding and a fear of waste. Saving to Avoid Waste For many people, they appropriately save things in order to avoid waste. Saving…
Perhaps the biggest challenge associated with hoarder property cleanup is the process of convincing a person with hoarding disorder that certain items or objects should be disposed of during the remediation. Without an affirmative decision of a person with hoarding disorder to dispose of property, hoarder property cleanup can reach an impasse. With this understood,…
If you’ve a parent suffering from fecal incontinence, you may discover that your mother or father’s residence is in a grim condition. An elderly person with fecal incontinence can face a situation in which that medical condition leaves his or her home in a contaminated condition in what proves to be a fairly short period…
Brad and Thomas are brothers, born in Los Angeles. Brad has remained a Los Angeles resident while Thomas calls Santa Barbara home. Both men are now in their early sixties and have retired. Brad lives alone in a condo while Thomas and his wife share a single-family home. About a year ago, Thomas learned that…
At the heart of hoarding disorder is a profound and even pathological attachment to objects being hoarded. It is this attachment that tends to make it highly challenging to convince a person with hoarding behavior or hoarding disorder to eliminate hoarded objects. There are some tactics that can be utilized to mentally and emotionally prepare…
If you are the adult child of a hoarding parent, you undoubtedly face many challenges. For example, you may be in a situation in which the decision has been made for your parent to move out of the home in which he or she has been living and into another type of residential situation. As…
If you are an adult child of a parent who has had an issue with hoarding, you may more recently have been concerned that your mother or father is now showing signs of dementia. The confluence of hoarding disorder and dementia can make your parent’s life situation far more complicated. Indeed, if you are a…
Learning that your parent is hoarding can be a challenging and even a devastating development. If you are like many adult children with a hoarding parent, you spend what may prove to be a significant amount of time weighing and balancing what options might be available in regard to your hoarding parent’s housing options. In…
The general public has an array of perceptions as well as misperceptions about hoarding. One of the most prevalent perceptions about hoarding is that it more often than not involves a person who lives alone. The reality is that hoarding usually does involve a person who lives alone. However, it would be a misperception to…
If you a find yourself in a situation in which you’ve discovered your elderly mother or father is hoarding, you are far from alone. Each and every day, adult children across the United States are confronted with hoarding parents. In this regard, oftentimes these adult children of hoarders find themselves in need to convene a…
A considerable number of older Americans live in apartment homes. These include apartments that are part of more general apartment communities. They also include apartments that are part of senior living communities. Unfortunately, there are instances in which a senior citizen living in an apartment ends up afflicted with what medically is known as hoarding…
The terms hoarding and chronic organization sometimes are used interchangeably. This does not represent a proper use of either of these terms. They are not synonymous. In this article, you are presented with a discussion of hoarding versus chronic organization so that you will have a better understanding of what is meant by these two…
When it comes to hoarding and issues surrounding it, there can be some confusion regarding different words and processes. One of these areas of confusion surrounds the term hoarding itself and squalor. At first blush, you may be among many individuals you really think that hoarding and squalor are words used to described essentially the…
If you are like many people, you have at least some understanding of what is meant by hoarding. Your understanding of hoarding may also be distorted to some degree by some misperceptions about what is involved in hoarding. One area in which a good number of individuals lack an accurate understanding in this area is…
You may be like what very well may be a considerable number of women and men across the country who wonder if they have an issue controlling clutter or whether they may have a hoarding problem or even actual hoarding disorder. In the final analysis, the only sure way to ascertain or confirm that you…
The typical person in the United States today has at least a vague understanding that some people actually can be said to hoard animals. The derisive term “crazy cat lady” is heard with some regularity. And yes, cats are the animal most commonly the subject of hoarding. With that said, a serious discussion of the…
Many theories have been put forward concerning why people hoard. The reality is that only a limited amount of research has been undertaken in an authoritative manner on the subject of why people hoard. With that said, this article presents a discussion of some of the more widely accepted reasons why individuals engage in hoarding…
A common problem for a person with hoarding behavior or an individual diagnosed with hoarding disorder is a virtually or completely unusable kitchen. There are some tactics that you can utilize as a means of getting a kitchen back into a usable condition and keeping it that way. Indeed, there are 10 goals that should…
A major component of hoarder property cleanup is sorting through items and objects that have accumulated over time. Many individuals with hoarding disorder are natural procrastinators as well. Thus, the sorting process oftentimes gets put off and delayed time and time again. The bottom line is that a home cannot be deep cleaned and returned…
If you have an elderly parent who lives alone at this time, you may experience surprises regarding their living situation with shocking regularity. For example, you may learn on a visit to your mother or father’s home that he or she is experiencing what amounts to a significant pest problem at the premises. Indeed, you…
Hoarding cleanup has all the earmarks of an impossible task. People faced with the prospect of having to undertake hoarder property cleanup can feel overwhelmed and experience what really does amount to despair. One technique you can employ to make the process of cleaning up a hoard more manageable is setting what are known as…
Hoarding is psychological condition more often associated with older individuals than younger adults. As a consequence, the health risks posed to elderly hoarders actually are greater than presented to men and women of younger ages. Indeed, there are seven significant health dangers most commonly associated with elderly people who hoard: Depression Anxiety PTSD Emotional and…
Hoarding has been classified as a recognized mental health condition for about 20 years. As a consequence, there are now mental healthcare professionals who specialize in working with people diagnosed with what technically is now known as hoarding disorder. As an outgrowth of hoarding being recognized as a mental health condition, a variety of different…
What we commonly know as hoarding is technically and medically known as hoarding disorder. Hoarding disorder is a medically recognized mental health disorder and has been so classified since the earlier years of the 21st century. If you are the adult child of a hoarding parent, it is important for you to understand this basic…
Strategies matter when it comes to tackling hoarding. The reality is that taking on the items accumulated by a person who has been hoarding can be a monumental (and oftentimes unpleasant) task. With this noted, on strategy you will want to utilize to tackle hoarding and eliminate hoarded items is the creation of effective sorting…
Hoarding is far more commonplace than most people realize. In point of fact, determining precisely how many people in the United States are engaged in hoarding is impossible, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The fact is that many people who hoard are able to successfully conceal what they are doing…
If you are the adult child of a person with hoarding disorder (the child of a hoarder), you may find yourself at a point in time at which your mother or father has ended up hospitalized. You understandably may believe that the hospitalization of your parent opens the door to providing you an opportunity to…
A person with hoarding behavior as well as an individual diagnosed with clinical hoarding disorder will have major issues parting with hoarded items. When an individual in either category – hoarding behavior and hoarding disorder – makes the decision to let go of items in their hoard, that really is a momentous decision. As a…
If you find yourself with parents who are living in a residence that is unkept at best and filthy at worst, you may have made the decision to seek professional residential cleanup assistance for them. This may be the first time in your life that you’ve needed to hire a residential cleanup professional that has…
If you are facing a situation in which your parents are residing in an unhealthy, filthy residence, you may wonder what you can do to improve their situation. You may wonder what steps you need to take to restore the home of your parents to a healthy and livable condition. There are a number of…
If you discover rodent droppings in your parents’ home, you undoubtedly need to know what steps you need to take to address the issue. There actually is a three-phase process that you need to follow when you find your parents’ home to be contaminated by rodent droppings: Dealing with possible rodent infestation Remediating the rodent…
Pet hoarding occurs more frequently than you might realize. The reality is that data regarding the frequency of pet hoarding is unclear. A good amount of pet hoarding is under the radar. Pet hoarding oftentimes goes on for at least some period of time before anyone beyond the hoarding individual knows of the activities. If…
If you have learned that your parent is a hoarder, you may be confused about what you need to do to assist them with the situation. For example, you may wonder whether or not you need a financial power of attorney to death with a hoarding parent. What Is Hoarding? Before diving into whether or…
If you have an elderly family member or friend who has issues keeping his or her residence clean, hiring a homecare aide might be the ideal solution. There are seven primary benefits that can be derived from hiring a homecare aide for a senior with a history of failing to keep his or her residence…
If you’re an adult child that has just learned that the local health department has served a notice on your parent about the state of your parent’s home, you likely find yourself very concerned. Your parent may have reached out to you for assistance with the matter. In the alternative, you may have learned that…