Say it - "Hoarding", "Hoarder".
What imagery does that evoke ? I can guess - nothing nice. Squalor. TV Shows about it.
I myself felt unease about this for quite some time, and I recently realized what it was.
The terms "Hoarding" and "Hoarder" are actually pejorative, misleading, and actively harmful, too much stigma and misuse has been associated with them, and this likens people to squirrels.
There are also massive concerns with the DSM-5 definition, the commonly repeated talking points in the books coming from the experts, the entire domain needs a fresh look, in my opinion.
We as a society have been getting more and more tolerant and accepting of all the ways in which people can be different.
It's time to start doing so in this area.
I'm calling to abolish the terms "Hoarder" and "Hoarding".
I'll be using the following alternative terms, without any additional assumptions or connotations -
* Keeper and Keeping - to refer to myself and other competent, intentional persons who keep things against prevailing opinions.
* Dysfunction in Possessions ( DIP ) - for the mechanical condition of having facilities blocked and/or stuff inaccessible, "the mess".
* Runaway Mental Process ( RMP ) - for various conditions which appear maladaptive and cause difficulties and diminishing functional return, such as ensuring something is absolutely clean and untouched / perfect / complete
* etc. - to be expanded - see the rest of this site / framework
This isn't supposed to be good or bad, just to represent the choice to keep.
This is my opinion, I do not wish to offend anyone who wishes to keep using the old term for themselves, but I personally would rather not.
Experts, authors of the books on "Hoarding", are being remarkably hypocritical about it.
First, they championed the use of these terms - in their research, in the ill-formulated DSM-5 definition, in their books, lectures, confrences, articles - and they continue doing so to this day.
Then, in their books, they feign to distance themselves from using this term - admitting that it's not very nice, that it's stigmatizing.
But, throughout all of the same materials - the books, the DSM-5 definition, all other forms of publishing - they *continue* to use it or synonyms that aren't really any different - "person who hoards", "person with hoarding problems", "your hoarding problem".
They had the opportunity to offer and champion alernative, more specific, less ambiguous and loaded terms - but they didn't - they're only paying lip service to this.
That's what I call hypocrisy.
Well, I suggest, let's do it for them.
p.s. -OR-
We could re-appropriate the term and turn it around, like I'm doing with others, like Overcreativity or Tree With Too Many Branches ( those actually being Good Things, on closer inspection ).
Just a thought.
Maybe.
I'm not sure the term is actually particularly good for turning around - I think it was designed to mock, and it's very good at it - but maybe.
Stigma may be difficult or impossible to accept with any dignity or to get rid of, it's baked into the term.
That is why abolishing the terms "hoarding" and "hoarder" seems like the better thing to do.