Addicted to collecting: Do you have a collecting disorder?

September 22, 2017

Can you have enough possessions? When is enough enough enough? Is your credo to have and keep things? Then chances are you suffer from an addiction to collecting or you have a collecting disorder. To see what you can do about this collecting disorder, in this article I will go over what it is, what causes it and what you can do with that knowledge to stop collecting

What is a gathering disorder?

Hoarding disorder was historically linked to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), but today these two conditions are often viewed separately. People with OCD may experience compulsive hoarding as one of their symptoms, but it does not have to be the primary symptom ( 1).

If you suffer from accumulation disorder, you have difficulty getting rid of possessions, regardless of the value of those possessions to others.

A piece of paper can already be something you don't want to throw away.

In addition, you collect so much stuff that your entire house is filled to the brim. In extreme cases, you have to make a path in your house between piled up stuff. You can't get to some items in an easy way because there are meters of other items in front of them.

The functions of some rooms are also off limits due to the objects in them. For example, the living room is widely used for receiving visitors, but because there are all kinds of things in the living room, there is no more room for visitors.

A study room also often can no longer be used for work because the desk is overloaded with other objects that make it impossible to use pen and paper or a computer.

Working from home is not something that makes the true collector happy.

Compulsive hoarding and its impact on how you use your home also affect your social relationships . In some cases, it can even become a problem outside the home because the bathroom can no longer be used properly.

Poor hygiene is not something you make friends with.

In the process, the safety of your surroundings can play tricks on you. Accumulated items can fall on you or your visitors.

Hoarding can co-occur with other mental health issues, such as depression, OCD, or even schizophrenia.

Also, it is often difficult for collectors to properly estimate spaces and be able to plan where what fits.

Hoarding also affects task performance, though to a lesser extent than with OCD. Unfortunately, the impact can still be significant enough that hoarding interferes with your work .

Is a collecting disorder the same as being addicted to collecting?

Perhaps you don't recognize yourself at all in the image of someone with a collecting disorder, but you do feel like you are addicted to collecting something.

People can collect the strangest things. Sometimes this manifests as a shopping addiction, but you can also be addicted to collecting free samples.

So you don't have to be a typical collector who keeps everything and can't throw anything away at all.

However, you may find that if you want to thin out your collection you have more trouble doing this than you expected. In that case, you do suffer from a collecting disorder.

If you are a true collector, you can often still sell items from your collection to get back something even more valuable (and which is basically from the same collection).

You speak of a problem and an addiction when you think about your collection all the time and suffer from anxiety when you are no longer allowed to collect or when you have to get rid of something from your collection.

Is addiction to collecting the same as addiction to buying?

As can be seen from the criteria, a shopping addiction does not have to be the same as a collecting addiction. If you love collecting, you also want to see your collection. You then become happy with all the possessions in the collection you have.

With an addiction to buying, you are addicted to the feeling of the buying moment. The moment you buy something for yourself you are very happy, but the collection of purchased items need not make you happy at home.

In fact, all those little items with the price tags still attached can make you feel guilty because you’re spending so much on your shopping addiction.

Cause of collecting rage?

Certain beliefs can cause you to develop a hoarding compulsion. Usually, useful items are kept, such as newspapers and packaging. This is because people don’t want to waste anything—for example, out of concern for the environment. Or they find certain objects very beautiful and useful and therefore can’t bring themselves to throw them away—after all, what if you need them one day?

Fear is therefore often a cause for collecting. In addition, unfortunately, collecting produces additional anxiety, but of a different kind. Not being able to make decisions is also often a cause for collecting( 2). After all, how do you know for sure what can go and what can't?

Strangely enough, some people with a hoarding addiction also suffer from perfectionism, which sometimes manifests as a fear of failure.

Gathering is most common in people around age 50, but it can start as early as adolescence. For example, you then start collecting broken toys that you cannot part with.

Around age ⁵⁰, then, collecting can really become a problem.

A traumatic event can trigger the urge to collect objects. I once saw a television program about an elderly man whose house was completely filled with all sorts of things. In his case, this was because he had lost everything during World War II. As a result, it was incredibly difficult for him to let go of certain items.

Social isolation or loneliness can also be a cause of hoarding. In such cases, hoarding alleviates the pain of loneliness.

Solutions to stop collecting

The sooner you intervene with this addiction the sooner you will be rid of it. Cognitive behavioral therapy is often used to stop addictions and has also been studied for this condition( 3)( 4).

The younger you are, the faster the treatment kicks in.

In doing so, women are also more likely to get rid of collecting faster than men.

There is also a correlation with the number of cognitive behavioral therapy moments and stopping collecting, being able to dispose of stuff better and cleaning up better.

Why CBT when you can also use hypnosis?

Research also shows that when you use hypnosis during CBT it enhances the effects of the therapy and the therapy then takes effect even faster than without hypnosis.

Precisely because stuff collecting is linked to unconscious beliefs about safety and waste, hypnosis is the ideal way to get rid of this addiction.

During hypnotherapy, you travel with the therapist to your subconscious. To the source of your beliefs that subconsciously tell you that collecting all the stuff is necessary for your survival.

Then, during therapy, you address whether these beliefs are true.

Then you get tools to place new beliefs in your subconscious that will help you stop your collecting behavior, throw things away and clean up better.

Placing new beliefs to stop collecting, for example, is done through hypnotic suggestions. You can get these from the hypnotherapist and you are often given them as homework to repeat the exercises at home. This is because during hypnosis you are more open to other ideas so you absorb and accept them more quickly.

The effects of therapy are then amplified.

For example, one way to eliminate anxiety when throwing stuff away is to visualize getting rid of stuff.

During such a visualization, you may actually start to feel anxious. The hypnotherapist can then teach you techniques to help you calm down. By staying physically calm, your anxiety remains manageable, and you’re less likely to experience panic.

Conserve

To stop hoarding, you can also challenge yourself to “consuminderen” (reduce consumption). By buying less, you ensure that you slowly but surely use up your supplies, exactly for what they were intended.

In the process, you save money, which makes many people feel good.

Would you like to learn more about mental techniques to overcome addictions or to help others do the same? Then come to a workshop and check out the training programs offered by the Hypnosis Institute of the Netherlands.

Also pin this handy infographic as a reminder:

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