Are you new to hoarding and hoarding cleanup services in Airdrie? Hoarding itself is closely related to a brain-based disorder known as hoarding disorder that leads to chronic disorganization, lifelong inability to make plans, inability to control, and more. Hoarding disorder is a mental illness characterized by severe levels of clutter, isolation, and disposophobia—the psychological phenomenon in which the mere act of throwing something away leads the individual to feel overwhelming stress. The Institute for Challenging Disorganization has developed five stages of hoarding so people can identify what stage a person may be in. They illustrate the range of a person’s hoarding symptoms from least severe to most severe.
First Stage
The first stage of hoarding is also the least severe stage, but the hardest stage to diagnose. At this stage, there is typically little clutter, and every space in their home is still open to them. So far there is no smell and no impact that may affect your health physically. The only thing that matters is their mental health, i.e., the comfort they find in collecting things and the difficulty they have in throwing away or even organizing too many items. This is different from someone who collects things—a very different stage of hoarding. A collector will want to display their collection in a specialized portion of a certain room. Hoarders, however, will have lost the ability to rein in their clutter and be more likely to be battling depression and anxiety.
Second Stage
The second step in hoarding will have many of the features that are much easier to identify. People in this stage have accumulated enough clutter to start crowding their walkways and possibly even obstruct some exits. As a consequence, they will normally not open their doors to any friends or family members due to their embarrassment, stress, and anxiety. In certain cases health risks can start at this stage with mildew, mould, and even animal waste. By this time, mould and mildew cleanup is already required, needing extreme cleaning services.
Third Stage
The third stage of hoarding is when different and putrid smells permeate the home, most likely from garbage stacked up to the ceilings and animal excrement. By now, the disorder would have completely obscured certain areas. This resulted in junk starting to pile up outside. Hallways will be a matter of a few feet wide, and the infestation is likely to be plainly visible somewhere in the home.
Fourth Stage
By stage four, the odours are ever more intense, the exits are cut off, and extreme threats to health are already in full swing in many guises. People with this level of hoarding will be living in appalling hygiene, will have almost no viable access to the places they live in, and structural damage will have occurred a minimum of six months before.
Fifth Stage
Hoarders that have been around for the prior levels may have surpassed the maximum threshold of volume for the occupants of the home to manage, therefore pushing them into the fifth stage, which is the most extreme form of hoarding. Many hoarders will also hoard animals, so in this stage they would be exceeding legal limits for owning pets. The space is not going to have electricity, is not going to have running water, and the hoarder in question may potentially incur legal charges of animal cruelty. You may call us to schedule a consultation!