When someone starts to hoard items, the home can get out of control extremely quickly. If you don't live with your elderly family member, you might not realize right away that she's started to hoard.
It's Often Related to Loss or to Fear
Many people who experience great loss or who fear loss develop the urge to hoard items. Your senior often can't get back what or who she has lost, but saving items that seemingly have no purpose can sometimes fill that void for her. Your senior might also fear losing control over her situation, which can lead to hoarding.
Having Things Around Her Might Feel Calming
Some people who hoard feel calmed by having all of their belongings around them. Unfortunately what that creates is an unsafe environment that your elderly family member can't walk in easily. She can find herself falling or otherwise injuring herself, which can lead to other problems down the road. Even if this is calming for her now, the situation needs to change.
Decisions Are Too Difficult
If decisions have become too difficult for your senior to manage on her own, she may opt to avoid them completely. What this can mean is that some of the simplest decisions about what is trash and what isn't don't get made at all. From there, trash begins to build up and take over your elderly family member's home. If you're noticing that she's having trouble with decisions, it might be worth it to investigate further and see if she's starting to collect items.
Boredom and Lack of Mental Stimulation
Often the human brain doesn't deal well with a lack of stimulation. When it's too bored, the brain might start to make up games of its own, like convincing your senior that she needs to keep items that she would normally toss. One easy way to help ensure that your elderly family member is getting enough mental stimulation is to hire elder care providers to stay with her during the day. They can help to ensure that your elderly family member is kept active enough to keep from being bored.
Hoarding is a psychological issue. Your senior most likely doesn't really want to pile up her belongings around her so that she cannot move. It may take help from a therapist and an organizer to get your senior's home back into shape, but it's worth determining what caused the behavior for her.
Source
http://www.pennlive.com/living/index.ssf/2014/07/post_22.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3530651/
IF YOU OR AN AGING LOVED ONE ARE CONSIDERING HIRING IN-HOME ELDER CARE IN LINCOLN PARK, IL, PLEASE CONTACT THE CARING STAFF AT BRIGHTSTAR CARE CHICAGO. CALL TODAY: 312.382.8888.