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Chris Lambert
Ms. Blandford
UWRT 1103-008
9 December 2015
Understanding A New Form of Literacy
Some people obsessively collect and store things in their homes beyond the point of
safety or reason. This behavior is known as hoarding. Hoarding is an identity that I have never
identified with at all. Before researching into the world of hoarding, I had absolutely no idea
what it was, how it begins, or the effects it has. I came into this topic with a plethora of questions
about hoarding. These questions included: What in the brain causes hoarding to occur? Are
reality shows an accurate representation of what hoarding actually is? How do family members
see their loved ones that are suffering from hoarding? And is there a cure for hoarding? My end
goal was to try to better understand this identity of hoarding because, to me, it seemed absolutely
crazy that someone could be oblivious to excessive amounts of clutter in their household. I am
proud to say that after compiling all of my research and formalizing my thoughts, I can
understand this identity a little bit better. Using my own personal literacy, and the way I was
raised with reading and writing, this topic became a lot less foreign to me.
Hoarding is a psychological disorder that affects 1 in 20 people, and it involves three
major aspects. The first is a difficulty discarding possessions, whether that be selling, donating,
or throwing away. The second is compulsive acquisition, in which people buy or pick up
senseless items that lead to clutter in the household. Third, is the excessive amount of trash and
clutter in the home that takes away from the overall living experience (Wright). Hoarders
generally do not recognize that they have a problem and will continuously deny that they have a

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problem even when family members or friends acknowledge it with them. What makes getting
rid of clutter so difficult for hoarders is the unusually strong positive feelings they get from
collecting new items. With these strong positive feelings of gaining new items, there are also
strong negative feelings when considering getting rid of items. Compulsive hoarders believe that
every single item that they are hoarding has a significant purpose to them. Some hoarders even
believe that inanimate items contain human feelings. For these reasons, sometimes extreme cases
of hoarding can end in lawsuits or evictions (Bratiotis).
Hoarding can be closely related to OCD, 1 in 4 of those suffering from OCD also suffer
from compulsive hoarding. Both disorders are forms of anxiety control. This means both
disorders are coping mechanisms for anxiety. Both disorders cannot be treated with simple
medicines alone. Measures beyond medicines, like therapy, are required to treat both disorders.
However, hoarding can exist without certain OCD symptoms being present, and this is the main
difference between the two disorders. People suffering from OCD dont normally hoard objects.
Since both disorders are compulsive, they are often linked together. Hoarding was not even
considered a mental illness until recently, so the comparisons and contrasts between the two
disorders has just started. It is important to know that the two disorders are similar, as this could
potentially help with treatment in the future. OCD is the major disorder that hoarding can be
linked to, but there are also other disorders that share some similarities with hoarding. These
other disorders include ADD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, dementia, and anorexia
(Hoarding: A Compulsive). Knowing the connections between all of these disorders could help
to figure out a potential cure in the future.
Reality shows like the show Hoarders are unrealistic because the purpose of these shows
is not to inform, but to instead entertain. In fact, Janet Yeats, an expert on hoarders, gives the

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advice: Turn off the TV because what you're seeing is mostly entertainment, not real life
(Polta). Yeats is interested in the cure for hoarding, or rather, if there is a cure. Yeats findings
said, the majority of people that are suffering from the hoarding disorder have unresolved
trauma and loss in their lives, and that treatment starts there. Hoarding projects have been
launched across the United States to combat hoarding, and to help those suffering from the
disorder to a gradual cure. Hoarding can never really be cured, rather, it can be contained.
These hoarding projects are designed over the course of a couple of years to provide counseling
and therapy to those suffering from hoarding and to help improve their quality of living so they
become better and more productive members of society (Polta).
Researching towards an identity that I have never identified with was completely
different than discovering my own literacy. However, the two can be related. Discovering my
own musical literacy through the literacy memoir was the first step towards being able to
understand to understand different types of literacies and identities. In my literacy memoir, I
talked about how I discovered my literacy through music, and I talked about how this has
changed my life and how it has shaped my views on literacy. Without being able to understand
my own literacy, there is absolutely no way I could begin to understand anyone elses. Being able
to understand the identity of hoarding and people who hoard was a direct result of discovering
my own literacy. There will always be questions I will have about hoarding simply because it is
an identity that I have never identified myself with, but I have shortened the list of questions I
have with my research and understanding.
From learning about hoarding and discovering the literacy behind it, I have learned a lot.
For starters, I have learned about an identity that was once very foreign to me. I have been able

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to get into the mind of a hoarder and see what goes on. Its really eye-opening to learn about an
identity like this that Ive never had experience with because it shows the hardships and struggles
others go through. This also shows a different form of literacy. For example, a hoarder may have
a different view of literacy than me. I defined my literacy in my literacy memoir in which I
described how my literacy came from music, which is a lifestyle for me. Since hoarding is a
lifestyle for hoarders, their views on literacy come from that. Their literacy sponsors may consist
of doctors and therapists whereas my literacy sponsors consist of my music teacher and my
bandmates. A common literacy sponsor, however, is family. Compulsive hoarders have
concerned family members trying to help them with their disorder, and I have my family
members supporting me throughout my musical career. It is very interesting to see these
comparisons and contrasts and to know that there are many types of literacies out there in the
world today.
Literacy does not have a set definition. It never has and it never will, but being able to
understand different types of literacies is what sets people apart from each other. I know for me
personally, learning about this different identity was an eye-opening experience. Writing about a
topic with a new kind of literacy was especially challenging. I wrote my literacy memoir and
expressed my views on what literacy meant to me, so having to ignore that and consider a whole
new form of literacy was difficult. I had to set my own views about literacy aside to write this
paper, and in doing so, I learned a lot about the fascinating literacy behind hoarding. I do believe
that learning about my own literacy was essential to writing this paper. I am glad that I got to
learn about what literacy meant to me before I had to write a paper trying to understand literacy
from a hoarders point of view. I would be interested to see how a hoarder writes the same paper

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as I have, about musicians. I wonder if there would be any similarities between the paper that the
hoarder writes and my own literacy memoir.
To enhance this paper, I could create a blog on social media in which hoarders could
chime in and talk about their experiences. The most common and popular blog site online that I
can think of is Tumblr. This would allow me to see if the experiences of hoarders is the same as
what Ive been researching. This would allow the topic to become more public as well as allow
me as a learner to learn more about the disorder. With this piece of writing, I am trying to
understand a new identity, but it is definitely hard to do that without hearing first hand accounts
from those actually suffering from the disorder. Having some sort of social media blog would
allow me to move forward in learning about my topic.
Overall, this paper has challenged me to no end, but I have also learned more from this
paper than I have from any other paper that Ive written in the past. This paper forced me to look
beyond myself and my own views of literacy which is something that was challenging to do. It
was an eye-opening experience learning about hoarding, and the literacy that surrounds it. Aside
from researching about the disorder specifically, I made comparisons and contrasts between my
own literacy and the literacy behind hoarding. Writing about a topic that was unfamiliar to me
was definitely a rhetorical situation that I was uncomfortable with, as opposed to the literacy
memoir which was a much more comfortable rhetorical situation. My eyes were opened to the
other versus self argument. Before writing this paper, I only had an idea about what my own
literacy definition was, but after this paper I now have a much better idea of what literacy is like
for hoarders. Being able to understand others as well as understanding myself is a giant step into
becoming a literate individual. I have become a lot more open-minded as to what literacy is, and
this is due to me being able to understand others. I will always have more questions to ask about

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hoarding, but I honestly feel like I have opened my eyes to a whole other literacy landscape.
Literacy is so fascinating because every single person on this earth has a different definition for
it.

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Works Cited
Ashley Wright, Jason. "Buried in Treasure: Workshop aims to help those affected by
hoarding." Tulsa World (OK) 19 Oct. 2013: Points of View Reference Center.
Web. 21

Oct. 2015.

Polta, Anne. "Hoarded: Local training sheds light on hoarding disorder and options for
treatment." West Central Tribune (Willmar, MN) 14 June 2014: Points of View
Reference Center. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
Gerke, Julie. "Hoarding is more common than you may think." Pantagraph, The (Bloomington,
IL) 16 June 2013: Points of View Reference Center. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
"Hoarding link studied." Illawarra Mercury 15 Jan. 2015: 13. Points of View Reference Center.
Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
By SHARON WOODS HARRIS - Pekin Daily, Times. "EXCHANGE: Living Life Of A
Hoarder Isn't Easy." AP Regional State Report - Illinois (2015): Points of View
Reference

Center. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.

Bratiotis, Christiana. "What Is Compulsive Hoarding?" International OCD Foundation, 2009.

Web. 9 Dec. 2015.
"Hoarding: A Compulsive Mental Disorder." Addiction Treatment Elements Drug Rehab
Treatment Centers. Elements, 30 Mar. 2010. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.