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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 eliminate items your hoarding parent has stowed away in his or her home. The reality is that there are some points to ponder before you dive in and summarily begin to clean out your hoarding parent’s home while he or she is hospitalized.
- Hoarding is a mental health condition
- Removal of items from your parent’s home can damage your relationship
- Your parents needs to be a willing participant in the decision making process
- Disposal of items from your parent’s home in this manner can have dire consequences
Hoarding Is a Mental Health Condition
Before digging further into the discussion of whether or not you should dispose items from your hoarding parent’s home while he or she is in the hospital, we pause for a moment to examine more closely what medically is known as hoarding disorder. Since the early part of the 21st century, hoarding itself has been classified as a medical condition. Officially has become known medically as hoarding disorder.
Removal of Items From Your Parent’s Home Can Damage Your Relationship
Before you dive into removing items from your hoarding parent’s home while he or she is in the hospital, you must understand the consequences of that kind of action. There are complicated reasons why your parent commenced hoarding in the first place. With that in mind, you need to understand that the items your parent has collected in his or her home has value to your mother or father. The reality is that even if your parent is hoarding trash, your mother of father thinks that has value.
If you elect to simply move in and clean up or clean out your parent’s home while he or she is in the hospital, you are very likely to damage your relationship with your mother or father. Your parent is apt to feel highly betrayed. Your parent is also likely to feel that you have absconded with items that have real value. In the final analysis, not only may the damage to your relationship with your mother or father be significant, that injury my continue for an truly extended period of time.
Your Parent Needs to Be a Willing Participant in the Decision Making Process
Understanding the impact removing hoarded items from your parent’s home can have on your relationship with your mother or father, you need to understand the importance of ensuring that your parent is a willing participant in the decision making process. You parent needs to have a sense of ownership in regard to when and how a hoarding situation in that person’s home will be addressed.
Disposal of Items From Your Parent’s Home in This Manner Can Have Dire Consequences
We’ve already discussed how the disposal of items from your parent’s home can negatively impact your relationship with your mother or father (if not undertaken properly). The reality is that simply cleaning out your hoarding parent’s home while he or she is ill and hospitalized can have other profoundly negative consequences as well.
Throwing away or otherwise eliminating items your mother or father has hoarded can end up causing your parent more significant mental or emotional health issues. Indeed, depending on why your parent is in the hospital, taking this type of action in regard to your parent’s hoarded items can actually negatively impact your mother or father’s ability to recover from whatever illness or condition has resulted in the hospitalization.
Seek Professional Guidance and Assistance
For further information on the proper manner in which to address issues surrounding a parent with hoarding disorder, including the removal of hoarded items for a parent’s home, you are wise to seek professional guidance and assistance from an experienced mental health professional. There are counselors and therapists that specialize in treating people with hoarding disorder as well as providing useful support and assistance to their family members. You are well-served contacting a mental health professional before you do anything in regard to removing property from the home of your parent afflicted with hoarding disorder.
Once more, it is important to note that when it comes to remediating a hoarding situation in your parent’s home, you are wise to engage the services of a hoarder cleanup professional like Eco Bear. The professional team at Eco Bear has the background and experience to safely and completely remediate a hoarding situation in residential property in a manner that does not aggravate the emotional state of the individual diagnosed with hoarding disorder.
