One Wee Spark

Sometimes you need help to write something; sometimes you just need a thought to elaborate on, or something that someone else says will trigger a memory for you. This happens to me all the time. Because I've felt that the "Hoarding Lies and the Truths That Set Us Free" segment has been powerful, I've asked others for help. Today's lie comes from Sara R: I'll clean it up when...

I've been preparing for an upcoming presentation before a group of psychiatric nurse practitioners. I was blown away to be asked to make a presentation since my initial contact was simply to let them know that I had started a group, in case they might have a patient who would benefit from a peer-to-peer group. I've been putting my energy into researching and researching and making connections with professionals to verify that I'm not steering them wrong. I feel confident from conversations with professionals in the know, that I know and understand this disorder. But as I tried to take the information in my research and translate it into a one-hour presentation that was "professional", I felt that I was hitting a wall.

Hoarding is a mental illness marked by a lack of insight. That means that the person who suffers with it can't see clearly what is going on in their life and accumulating in their home. This leads me to another lie that binds the family of a hoarder, even years after leaving the home: This mess just isn't that bad. Borrowed from "Sew Paint Create" Oh, I could get really mean and angry about this. This is one of the things that was almost a mantra with my mother before she accepted help two years ago. Her lack of insight into her problem was paired with habituation until three to five foot piles of "stuff" throughout the house seemed "normal".