What’s Causing the Rise of Hoarding Disorder?
I find the comments in this thread to be counterproductive (bordering on disturbing&#x2F;dangerous). Trivializing&#x2F;dismissing the existence of mental disorders based on uninformed viewpoints can cause harm to others, in that they can feel ostracized and become less likely to seek the help they need. Comments like this are along the same lines as &#x27;everybody gets depressed--you just have to choose to be happy&#x27;. Depression is a frequently a severe and life-altering disease, and I hope everyone can recognize this sort of statement as absurd.<p>Similarly, hoarding (as described in the article) is a <i>cluster</i> of persistent behaviors distinct from related disorders (like OCD). Like any cluster (esp. clusters in a high-dimensional space, like human behavior), the class membership is inherently fuzzy--everyone exists somewhere on the hoarding spectrum or OCD spectrum or ADD spectrum. But by definition very few (~6%, according to the link) people are close enough to the far side of the spectrum that it causes severe distress to themselves and others. Think of it (very loosely) like cancer--virtually everyone has some cancer cells in their body, but our protective systems are usually able to keep them in check before they run amok. But once they do, it undeniably becomes <i>cancer</i>.<p>I don&#x27;t really know how to say this in a better way, but trivializing or denying the existence of mental illness is cruel and reductive, and these sorts of attitudes tend to ricochet around. Please don&#x27;t participate in doing so.