Mythorelics

Taoist mythology, Lanna history, mythology, the nature of time and other considered ramblings

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Location: Chiangrai, Chiangrai, Thailand

Author of many self-published books, including several about Thailand and Chiang Rai, Joel Barlow lived in Bangkok 1964-65, attending 6th grade with the International School of Bangkok's only Thai teacher. He first visited ChiangRai in 1988, and moved there in 1998.

Wednesday, October 03, 2018

Hoarding Compulsion: misery may love company, but misers don’t.

Compulsive or extreme hoarding was once classified as a symptom or sub-type of obsessive-compulsive disorder - not, contrary to what you might expect, of the anal-retentive one. Those categorizations have fallen into disrepute, with little residual professional usage anymore, but they still find utility in popular parlance. A mental illness entirely separate from other disorders, compulsive hoarding occurs in a variety of forms. Some pile up old newspapers, food cartons, cans, clothes, mail, notes or lists, garbage and other debris; some, collect knick-knacks, books, food or animals. Those with the condition may feel either or both sentimental attachments or desire to avoid wastefulness.
Although not officially recognized as a distinct psychological disorder, compulsive hoarding disorder is believed by many to be related to or interconnected with other disorders, including bipolar disorder, social anxiety, and depression. Some patients who have anorexia nervosa, dementia, or schizophrenia (another discredited term) may engage in some compulsive hoarding. Compulsive hoarding disorder is often seen to come in conjunction with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and, to a smaller extent, with attention-deficit-disorder (ADD). Compulsive hoarding disorder may run in families, have epigenetic roots, or be a response to trauma. Compulsive hoarders often lack the ability to socialize, or have difficulty with socializing, and may be embarrassed by the stigma of their disorder, and refuse to allow others to view their accumulated clutter. Or bank statements.
Compulsive hoarding, unlike OCD and ADD, responds but little to treatment with antidepressant drugs. Unlike OCD sufferers, hoarders actually enjoy being surrounded by all their stuff. Hoarding is more like compulsive gambling or compulsive shopping , in being pleasurable to the person.
The compulsion, scientists have theorized, is a natural adaptive instinct gone amok. Some animals hoard due to evolutionary advantages. One, the Arctic gray jay, caches some 100,000 mouthfuls of berries, insects, and spiders over a wide area, to ensure that it has enough for the long, dark winter. Hoarding may also function as a mating strategy: male black wheatears, which live in dry and rocky regions of Eurasia and Africa, spend considerable time and energy piling up heavy stones before mating season. Those with the largest piles are more likely to mate, having demonstrated exceptional fitness.
One hoarder may keep things that he believes he might need later on, while another may fear losing information she’ll want later on, in books, magazines, or even junk mail. For those with hoarding disorder, possessions remind them of the past or foreshadow a more secure future. They can remember wearing that outfit or playing with that toy when a child, and are certain that jug will be useful some day, despite having many other jugs they’ve never used. They’re extremely attached to their possessions – to the point of loving them more than they do people, any people at all.
I knew a guy who covered ten acres with junk that he expected might come in useful after the collapse of society. Bar-bell weights, ancient trucks, broken filing cabinets, bags of old shoes, ruined fire hoses, discarded beds… should he ever need a flux capacitor, surely the parts to put one together would be there, somewhere. Maybe the condition should be called compulsively accumulative and retentive weirdness! Many of its adherents are poor, perhaps due to the condition, but our richest seem to suffer from it also. I blame insufficient socialization, bonding and trust.
A need to explore and influence one’s environment, further realize self-identity and have a place within the milieu one finds oneself uncomfortable within may have parallels with emotional attachment to possessions exhibited by individuals with hoarding disorder. Many people hoarders experience other mental disorders, including depression, anxiety disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder plus alcohol and/or drug abuse. Hoarding differs from collecting in that collectors look for specific items like cars or coins, then organize and protect them. People with hoarding disorder often save random items and store them haphazardly, thinking they may need them in the future, or fantasizing valuable sentimental value. Many feel safer surrounded by things they’ve saved. Hoarding behavior causes significant anxiety and distress in the hoarder that impairs functioning in daily life. It often begins slowly, building up over time. As the hoard increases, making passage through hallways, bedrooms, bathrooms, garages and other living areas more treacherous, the disorder progresses to a point of nearly no return. As Wikipedia points out, ‘A miser is a person who is reluctant to spend, sometimes to the point of forgoing even basic comforts and some necessities, in order to hoard money or other possessions.’
Food hoarding occurs after experience of painful hunger or starvation, at least among folk who’s society involves little or no expectation of periods of deprivation. As far as I know, among peoples where periods of great hunger are a norm, hoarding does not occur – perhaps because food scarcity doesn’t allow that? Or because the difficulties didn’t involve shock, or resultant change in world-view? Surely when spoiled rich kids discover they have no real friends and cannot make any, there is sense of shock, and deprivation, for which compensation will be demanded. This, in my opinion, goes far towards explaining the mean, vengeful behavior of Donald Trump and others of his ilk. The pains of loneliness and alienation are for lesser mortals, and the lack of fairness in finding oneself demeaned and tainted by somehow contacting it demands retribution on those from whom the cooties surely came! Far as I can figure anyway, and without meaning to in any way look to some kind of diminishment of the trauma of concentration camp internees or that of other victims of vicious cruelty or circumstance.
Hoarding – compulsive accumulation – is a sickness affecting perhaps over 6% of humanity (mostly, I suspect, among its more ‘Westernized’ and affluent – during my well over 25 years in Asia I haven’t encountered it). One or another variant of it affects up to 2 million people in the USA.
Hoarders excessively save things others see as worthless, things they’ll never use (like a 52nd billion $). Their persistent difficulty parting with possessions makes for disruptive clutter limiting living and work space, global economic advancement and social harmony. Hobby collectors and people who simply don't keep a neat living or work-space don’t necessarily fit diagnostic criteria for hoarding disorder, but there may be a psychological connection. Many have collections of favorite items and memorabilia; most folk collect at least some clutter. The healthy have little problem sorting through and discarding their clutter when time and situation allows, and often find other things to do than make or hoard money. In the mind of the compulsive hoarder, though, every single collected item has value, and every additional dollar further enriches life. Just the thought of discarding an item results in the kind of severe anxiety Scrooge McDuck or Silas Mariner might encounter in a candy or clothing store. You don’t part with something to get something else, just keep whatever you can.
Reports suggest anxiety disorder can trigger the need to hoard. One study found that those who hoard have difficulty coping with negative emotions like anxiety, which can operate in two ways when you hoard. The feeling of anxiety is sometimes eased by finding an item desirable to keep, but faced with need to discard items, the hoarder becomes extremely anxious and uncomfortable. Hoarders cannot, and will not, freely give up their possessions, however inconsequential they are, or how unsafe and unsanitary their environment has become. Without professional help, even if a cleanup crew comes in and removes the debris, clutter and detritus, the hoarder will just start to accumulate again until the problem reaches the same level of impending disaster. Children regularly use objects for comfort, especially during times of need, so shouldn’t everyone have at least a bit of a residual hoarding problem? Maybe the more alienated among us do, but some psychologists say maybe not, as only some people are excessively prone to anthropomorphism - perceiving objects and/or animals to have human-like qualities.
Individuals who hoard tend to experience interpersonal difficulties, feel insecure in relationships, and believe themselves to be a burden to others. Humans need to be connected physically, socially, and psychologically to other humans. This need is just as important as the need for air, water, food, and shelter. Loneliness negatively affects our health and is a risk factor for early death. Understandably, when we feel devalued or unloved, we seek out closeness. When our need isn’t met by humans, objects may serve as a substitute. To compensate for unmet social needs, objects and animals become personalized, given human characteristics and made to replace humans, in order for the hoarder to feel connected. But as anthropomorphism doesn’t fully meet anyone’s needs, they acquire more and more. Stronger anthropomorphic tendencies are associated with more compulsive buying and greater acquisition of free stuff. Individuals with hoarding disorder exhibit hyper-sentimentality, in which possessions are seen as part of the self. Ownership becomes seen as validization of the self, proof of position, importance, of being deserving of respect, love and attention.
So what we have is the needy having, because they need to have. They cannot count on their skills, their likability, their community, their resourcefulness. They fear that without that which they hoard, they would be nothing. And in many cases that is almost true. Usually though, total alienation is but a nightmare from which one can waken to a much more reassuring vision of reality. There are real rewards to generosity, whether material or just in friendliness.
Part of the problem is response to deprivation, usually irrational: when needs, physical or emotional, aren’t met, various forms of subsequent overcompensation result – the fear of recurrent deprivation is physical, not simply psychological, and it doesn’t dissipate with presentation of new fact, like ownership of a full pantry (which in any case could be lost to theft, fire, flood or many another possible event). Hoarders have difficulty discarding items because of strong perceived need to save items and/or distress associated with discarding, and this can lead to family conflicts, isolation, loneliness, unwillingness to have anyone else enter the home and an inability to perform daily tasks such as cooking and bathing in the home. Some individuals with hoarding disorder may recognize and acknowledge that they have a problem with accumulating possessions; others may not see a problem.

Hoarding disorder occurs in at least 2% of the population, but that figure fails to recognize more acceptable forms like hiding away money, art, clothing or jewelry. It's more common in males than females, and also more common among older adults - The consequences of hoarding escalate as people get older. Three times as many adults 55 to 94 years are affected by hoarding disorder compared to adults 34 to 44 years old. It leads to substantial distress and problems functioning, can cause problems in relationships, social and work activities and even create health issues. Consequences include fire hazards, health code infractions, loss of value in what actually had it, and decision-making impairment (things that need to be done may well be neglected due to fear of losing cherished junk or even unhealthy animals). As they age and their memories fade, they may no longer even remember what they’ve been hoarding.
In addition to difficulty discarding, excessive saving and clutter, many people with hoarding disorder have associated problems such as indecisiveness, perfectionism, procrastination, disorganization and distractibility. These associated features can contribute greatly to their problems functioning and overall severity. If you entered a hoarder's home, you would likely notice an overwhelming smell. The smell could come from mildew, rotten food, or even dead animals lurking behind and under the stacks of stuff that no one could reach to clean out. Hoarders who rent their homes risk eviction because of the mess and unsafe conditions. The filthy environment can lead to frequent or chronic illness. Certainly, social interactions and family relationships would become difficult for a hoarder. Even keeping a job can prove challenging because of frequent sickness and lack of hygiene. Early anxious attachments can lead to the avoidance of human interaction and the replacement of human relationships with objects. Individuals with hoarding disorder often have excessive emotional reactivity, and negative emotions can be slow to decline in response to interpersonal stressful events. This brings to the forefront a lack of emotional regulation skills and the need to manage these emotions by acquiring more objects. As the number of traumatic or stressful events increases, so does the severity of hoarding.
As children, we use possessions to comfort ourselves when our parents are unavailable. By the time we reach adulthood, most of us have abandoned security blankets and teddy bears. We might occasionally buy something unnecessary or hang on to a few items we no longer need. In most cases, these few extra possessions don’t pose a problem. We store them in a closet or display them proudly on a shelf. We have a few treasured objects, but we don’t rely on them to make us feel good – at least not on a regular basis, and not in the manner of someone who ‘collects’ art to store in a huge safe.

Animal hoarding involves an individual acquiring large numbers (dozens or even hundreds) of animals. The animals may be kept in an inappropriate space, potentially creating unhealthy, unsafe conditions for the animals. Animal hoarders are more likely than other hoarders to have had traumatic life experiences, like deaths of loved ones, disrupted family relationships, divorce, being placed in a foster home and sexual assault. A hoarder might collect and house dozens to hundreds of animals. Often they are actually, ironically, gifted with animals, and the animals love them, but equally often the ‘pets’ aren’t properly fed or kept healthy, due to lack of funds.
People who hoard animals may collect dozens or even hundreds of pets. Animals may be confined inside or outside. Because of the large numbers, these animals often aren't cared for properly. The health and safety of the person and the animals are at risk because of unsanitary conditions.

Most hoarders feel no need to seek treatment; treatment ambivalence is the norm, despite that about 85% of individuals with hoarding difficulties acknowledge a need for treatment. Nearly half of individuals with hoarding disorder refuse treatment from the outset, drop out of treatment once it is initiated, or have difficulty fully complying with treatment. A deeper understanding of the psychology behind hoarding is needed if treatment ambivalence and non-adherence are to be overcome.
Current treatment approaches include teaching individuals how to challenge their beliefs about possessions, how to resist acquiring urges and how to sort, organize, and discard things. This approach helps about a quarter of people who receive it. Psychological ownership theory highlights the extreme ownership experience of a person who hoards, both in terms of the intensity of their feelings and the quantity of items they acquire. Individuals with hoarding disorder also tend to take extreme responsibility for the object — as a part of ownership — and often make statements that express their concern for the well-being of the object. This is a sign of adult anthropomorphism, which research has shown to be a good predictor of hoarding behavior.

Stockpiled possessions addressed various psychological needs; they’re not seen as useless items, but rather as a bulwark to build safety in the face of an uncertain, dangerous future. Hoarders are often proud to value items others don’t appreciate, and sometimes refer to themselves as only “temporary custodians” of the items.

Part of the dragon myth involves their massive hoards of treasure. If the dragon steals all of the treasure, the economic consequences of money disappearing from circulation lead to negative supply shock, as the quantity of money available decreases. This leads to an increase in the 'price' of money, effectively causing deflation and reducing the purchasing power in the area where that wealth held currency. of the nation as a whole, which will be a major problem if the nation is largely an import economy. When treasure remains in the hands of the wealthy, this leads to increased economic disparity and a reduction in the buying power of the lower class. If the treasure is not in circulation, perhaps being stored in a bank to back a paper currency, the same thing happens. Money supply can be increased, but then foreign markets become less willing to accept that currency, and welcome opportunity to trade for a currency with more stable value.

Eight men own the same wealth as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity, according to a 16 January 2017 report published by Oxfam. By 2 January 2018, Oxfam claimed that had changed: the gulf between the world's richest and poorest people is widening, it said in a report showing that 42 people hold the same amount of wealth as the 3.7 billion people who make up the poorest half of the world’s population. Elsewhere Oxfam says 85, 62 and 67... Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett combined own a US$248.5 billion fortune – as much as the bottom half of the US population, or 160 million people. The wealthiest 400 combined have more than the bottom 64% of the US population, an estimated 80 million households or 204 million people - more than the population of Canada and Mexico combined. A ‘Common Dreams’ analysis from 2016 data found that the poorest five deciles of the world population own about $410 billion in total wealth, while as of 06/08/17, the world’s richest five men owned over $400 billion in wealth. Thus, on average, each man owns nearly as much as 750 million people.

Adapted from an article by Joe Brewer:
At least 24 trillion dollars is squirreled away in tax havens around the world, hidden in a clandestine network of shell companies, computer accounting systems, law firms, and legal structures that comprise a global architecture for wealth hoarding. It is systemic corruption that was put in place on purpose.
When famine and starvation hit a community, the richest close off their food stores to keep as much as a ten year supply for themselves - so they can retain their lives and power until well after the famine comes to an end. Today’s wealthiest 0.1% behave like spoiled children —  grabbing more and more while billions of other people are malnourished and starving.
Imagine if we took the global crisis seriously and recognized those financial parasites for what they are. The wealth hoarders are symptomatic of an economic paradigm that behaves like cancer, spreading and growing exponentially because that is what its core logic dictates it to do. We must replace the logic of extraction with principles that are compatible with life. It will not be possible to make our cities sustainable (or even affordable to live in) if our economic paradigm fails to take into account the logic of homeostasis and its support capacities based in the patterns of emergence.
Our bodies, like all living things, are able to regulate themselves as nested systems of emergent order. They do this in a combination of centralized and distributed systems of control that function in parallel at multiple levels. Our bodies survive courtesy of a vast web of interconnected systems,  for circulation of nutrients, digestion, feeling pain, monitoring changes, and so forth. These keep it in a “safe zone” for several key biological parameters. Too hot? Open up skin follicles and start sweating. Too acidic? Release hormones for appetite to seek food that will restore balance. Too much pressure on the brain? Feel the discomfort and alter your behavior accordingly — maybe by sitting down and taking a few breaths.
Forget the mythical battle between large centralized economies and “free” markets. Real economic systems work through multi-tiered feedbacks in government and management across households, municipalities, professional associations, regional and national agencies, trade consortiums, and more.
No single level dominates, yet all work in harmony through the coordination of multi-level patterns for selecting desired outcomes. The field of evolutionary studies explains how all of this works. Biologist David Sloan Wilson describes it bluntly when he says the economy is an organism.
My reason for pointing this out is that our financial system has “gone rogue” and made the central goal for civilization to maximize profits for the few at the expense of the many. This is what cancer does and its end state is well known. We will not have a living civilization much longer if this pattern of growth without constraint continues.
Let’s seek instead to behave like the living systems that we actually are, in our communities and nations. In order to do this, we need to release financial nutrients that have been squirreled away. Currently, with wealth hoarding the way it is, the economy is functioning like your body would if half of your blood supply got siphoned off to the big toe on your left foot, or a particularly male organ.
This is the antithesis of sustainability, but it’s the direction we’re heading now — and we’ll only change course by updating the rules-of-play for our global economy. Praising wealth hoarders is what we’ve done for decades; instead we must end wealth hoarding and invest in the future of our species. Do this and we have a chance at making the transition to sustainability. Fail to do this, and we over-exploit the natural foundations of our livelihoods and go into rapid decline. Then our civilization collapses.

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