Comparison between Hoarding and Senile Squalor
Hoarding and Senile Squalor are often lumped together in the same category when comparing mental conditions and living habits. However, hoarding specialists have determined that there is a large distinction in the two conditions. While hoarding can range from minor clutter getting in the way of a tidy home to mounds of items debilitating a family’s use of a particular room or section of a home, squalor-like conditions are so deplorable that extreme health hazards threaten the lives of those exposed to it.
Different types of hoarding have different impacts on a person’s way of life. Refusing to dispose of papers, magazines, books, boxes, clothing, toys, and other objects can create mounds of clutter that inhibit a person’s ability to use their homes for their intended purposes. Fire hazards become more dangerous as entire rooms are piled to the ceiling with clutter. These habits not only prevent people from sleeping in their bedrooms and showering in the bathtubs, but it limits the overall living space in the entire home. Along with fire hazards, hoarders can become trapped beneath collapse mounds and piles of clutter. These collapses can cause serious injury or even death.
Hoarding food, pet or human waste, or bodily fluids can create different kinds of dangers. Rotted food, waste, and fluids attract insects and rodents which carry deadly pathogens that can seriously sicken hoarders and their families. A variety of bacteria, viruses, and allergens are introduced to a home that is supposed to be sanitary and safe. While most rodents and vermin are attracted to animal hoarding cases, hoarders can experience infestations even if they do not own pets.
While food, waste, and fluids hoarding may seem extreme, Senile Squalor creates a much deadlier environment.
Senile Squalor occurs when an individual loses all regard for sanitation and proper living. In hoarding cases, it is usually only the home that suffer from sanitation issues. Senile squalors and other people suffering from the condition also lose the ability and will to take care of themselves. Along with hoarding rotted food, garbage, animals, and other items squalors will also use the bathroom on their furniture, cease showering on a regular basis, and eat amongst waste and filth.
Structural damage of the property is eminent in squalor conditions. Along with the neglectful nature in which the person keeps their home, rodents and insects are often allowed to tear the place apart while making nests and finding other food sources.
Whether you or someone you know suffers from the hoarding or squalor conditions, it is important to get the necessary help immediately. The first step to any hoarding recovery process is providing the hoarder with a sanitary living environment to recover in. Hoarding cleaning staff members are highly certified and trained technicians equipped with the necessary tools, equipment, and expertise to return even the most deplorable home to a healthy, livable condition.