Alzheimer's May Trigger Hoarding Behaviors

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Has your loved one, before Alzheimer's was diagnosed, always been a bit of a pack rat, someone who believed in "saving for a rainy day" or "waste not want not?" Or, as younger versions of themselves, did they like to collect things, such as dolls, coins, and other items considered valuable and enjoyable? If so, you could start to see the "collector" take that behavior to the extreme, which is sometimes called hoarding.

For example, an elderly woman with Alzheimer's may like to collect tissues because they are soft. Her caregiver begins to find tissues stuffed in pockets, purses, couches, closets, even the bathtub. Another person collects ties from bread bags. And yet another refuses to throw anything away, resulting in piles of junk lying around the house that could easily be tripped over.

Compulsive hoarding is a psychological disorder often seen in obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. If hoarding begins to interfere with everyday activities and life, it is considered pathological hoarding.


When Collectors Become Hoarders

Someone's pre-Alzheimer's personality may trigger hoarding behavior in the disease. For example, someone who was already prone to experiencing anxiety, when faced with aging and the possibility of outliving their resources, may begin to collect and save against the onslaught of feeling overwhelmed by what lies ahead.

Many times hoarding does demonstrate a need for comfort because of the deep fears and anxiety experienced by some patients.

Others will hold on to items because they fear their memories will be lost without that tangible evidence of the past. As Alzheimer's patients lose track of what is going on in the present, those items could become more and more important.

Hoarding behavior is most likely due to insecurity, anger, and confusion as brain function is decreasing. In addition a person with Alzheimer's or dementia may take things that aren't theirs because they like it for the comfort, memories, or because it calms those fears and anxieties.


Confusion Can Cause Hoarding

Sometimes, people with Alzheimer's or dementia hoard not out of a need to collect things, but rather out of confusion about how to handle a particular situation.

For example, what looks like a messy pile of mail may be the result of your loved one losing the capacity for sequential tasking. It's important for their well being to sit with them and go through those stacks. Don't let things such as utility bills go unpaid. Help them with the process of looking at bills, writing the checks, and getting them mailed.

A senior may stockpile medications because they forget why they are taking them, or don't remember how much to take. Due to embarrassment, rather than ask for help, they hide the medication away somewhere.


How to Stop Hoarding in People with Alzheimer's or Dementia

When an elderly parent is exhibiting hoarding behaviors due to Alzheimer's or dementia, here are some techniques that you can try to manage the hoarding.

Be Kind and Gentle

Don't use harsh language or tone of voice, and try to be patient. Remember, your loved one is not doing any of this on purpose, but is only reacting to the decreased functionality of the brain.

When appropriate, you can try to reason, and even talk about items to throw out and give away. With help from the family, if your loved one is still at a stage in the disease where he or she can make that connection through reasoning, they may be able to give up much of what they have collected.

Provide Interesting Activities

AlzOnline suggests that due to frontal lobe deficits, your loved one may need more intensive, interesting and distracting activities to help curb the hoarding habit, such as organizing a drawer, helping you label old photographs, etc. The time you spend with a loved one will also create good memories for you, which will help sustain you as you make the journey together.

Memory Box Technique

One technique that has proven successful is creating a memory box, a special place to keep "special things." Pick out and decorate the box together and put it in the same place all the time. If your loved one likes to collect bread ties, for instance, they can keep them in the box and you'll be able to periodically "police" the box as those bread ties accumulate. Important items such as eyeglasses, wallets, etc. can be labeled and put in the box for safekeeping, and as place to know where things are. When your loved comes to you looking for that item, you can help them by saying, "Why don't you take a look in your box?"

Secure Your Valuables

Lock away anything of value to you, such as money or jewelry. Secure certain rooms of the house to keep your loved one out.

Find Hiding Places

Find your favorite hiding places, which might include drawers, underneath cushions and beds, pockets, or closets. Check those hiding places periodically. Check the trash before throwing it out.

Talk to Your Doctor

Check with their doctor if you believe the behavior is extreme. Medications, such as anti-psychotics and anti-depressants, may curb the need to save and keep everything around them.

Although it's hard at times, screaming and yelling will not help with hoarding behavior. It takes patience, creative thinking, and reasoning when applicable. This behavior is neither on purpose nor a way to "push your buttons."

It's all about your approach, and remember, as you reassure your loved one with an "it's okay," remind yourself the same. When you are sad and exhausted, and tired of bread ties and tissues – really – it is okay.

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by Aprill Jones

BE SURE TO READ THE COMMENTS AT THE WEBSITE ... for example:

To everyone cleaning out your parents' home - don't just have an estate sale. When my mother-in-law still lived in PA and her sisters died, she had to clean out their home to sell it. She had to sort through everything because her one sister had a habit of stashing money all over the house. She used to be a cosmetologist in her early years and would stash her tips in jars all over the place. She was also a petty, spiteful woman who would put birthday and holiday cards away without opening them if she didn't like the sender. Many of those had cash in them. After everything was sorted through, which took months because they hoarded everything also, the total of the cash was 27,000 dollars.