Pathological hoarding. Plyushkin syndrome and how to work with it?
There is a certain belief that self-development is built around the acquisition of new qualities, characteristics, or certain productivity boosters. In practice, sometimes it is much more important to give up redundancy than to continue accumulating unnecessary junk: be it supplements, books, another marker of success, or an interesting notebook. All this is harmless until it passes a critical point and collapses into pathological hoarding syndrome. And here the time has come for concrete actions.
The work of consciousness is effective and complete when there is space and freedom for thought. If a person is obsessed with the desire to hold onto objects or ideas simply for the sake of “the feeling of owning them,” then he will not have room for mental maneuver. And in general, the path to self-development is far from blind consumption and accumulation. Tell us a little more about this community materials. Subscribe so you don't miss the latest articles!
Pathological hoarding and its nature
Pathological hoarding is debilitating, and current treatment methods are not effective enough. A new study has found that adequately addressing anxious thought patterns improves overall motivation and helps you get rid of unnecessary items.
People with hoarding disorder have difficulty parting with things, regardless of the item's value. It's all about the inner desire to keep them, and trying to throw things away causes significant stress. This leads to the accumulation of clutter, which reduces the usability of living spaces and can negatively impact personal relationships, social and work activities. In severe cases of hoarding, there is a risk of fire, fall injuries, pest infestation, and disease.
Curious, do home NAS file dumps or a clogged “Downloads” folder fall into these criteria?
Cognitive behavioral therapy CBTremains the gold standard treatment for hoarding disorder, but the likelihood of a successful outcome is extremely low. Therefore, researchers from the University of New South Wales in Sydney (UNSW Sydney) adapted conventional CBT for the treatment of pathological hoarding. The result was an improvement in therapy potential through a more strategic approach to addressing the disorder.
Pathological hoarding and the first progress towards getting rid of it
Negative memories and fearful potential consequences, such as an item ending up useless in a landfill, or the risk of causing regret or disappointment in a loved one, can cause anxiety and block the process of discarding old items. There can be many reasons, but our best evidence-based treatments are not producing the results we want.
Isaac Sable is a psychologist and PhD candidate at UNSW, and the study's director and corresponding author.
At least CBT methodwhich aims to restructure a person's maladaptive beliefs about their possessions and remains the gold standard treatment for hoarding disorder, but this same therapy results in clinically significant changes in only 24–43% of cases. Additionally, many people with hoarding disorder refuse CBT or leave therapy prematurely, likely because the emphasis on decluttering is too frustrating for patients. The researchers tested the hypothesis of incorporating mental imagery into the treatment context and assessed the effectiveness of this approach.
The hypothesis is based on some evidence that people who hoard tend to experience intrusive and disturbing mental images more often than other members of society. This leads to avoidance behavior and the increasing impact of this type of anxiety on lifestyle. These images often correlate with memories of events in early life or reflect problems specific to hoarding. For example, we can observe a vicious circle process in which disturbing images of clutter lead to increased anxiety, and anxiety encourages more intense accumulation of important things (and all things are important). And the emergence of new things fuels the problem.
Ready-made techniques that help overcome pathological hoarding
An intervention that directly modifies problematic mental images is an image rewriting technique known as ImRs. During ImRs, the disturbing or unpleasant image is retrieved from memory and the newly discussed patterns are used to change it into a more desirable one. It can be used to change unpleasant memories “flashbacks” or upsetting ideas about a depressing future “flashforwards”. It is the problem of flashforwards that is relevant for the treatment of hoarding disorder.
ImRs are typically used to reduce stress associated with negative memories, but the method has also been successful in other disorders characterized by future-oriented mental imagery, such as generalized anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Isaac Sable is a psychologist and PhD candidate at UNSW, and the study's director and corresponding author.
Here is an example of ImRs being used to “rewrite” imagined future events, although not in the context of pathological hoarding. When a person has an image of experiencing a debilitating panic attack during an upcoming flight, in order to rewrite this image, the person enters the role of a strong and wise person to teach his fearful self to manage anxiety. By imitating, he experiences his new role again and again. Thus, rather than avoiding disturbing images, ImRs involve interacting with them to give the person a choice of perspective.
Progress of the study
The researchers recruited 176 people with “high levels” of hoarding behavior. People were asked to imagine the negative consequences that would arise from breaking up with an object to which they were still attached and to which it was difficult to say goodbye. These people were then randomly assigned to one of four groups corresponding to the elaboration method. Each group used its own methods of getting rid of pathological hoarding. In addition to ImRs, three other methods have been used:
Cognitive restructuring, which involves learning to recognize and ignore irrational, harmful thoughts.
Imaginative exposure, interacting with anxiety-provoking images and/or narratives to reduce the intensity of their impact over time.
Controlling positive images or focusing on positive images of promising events to improve mood.
Compared to other conditions, ImRs was most strongly correlated with increased willingness and motivation to discard objects and increased frequency of discarding. It also reduced negative emotions (anxiety, sadness, anger) and increased positive emotions (happiness and relaxation) associated with exposure and mental image restructuring.
Treat pathological hoarding with imagination?
The results were replicated in a second, not yet published study. It compared the ImRs method to a technique called thought lists. A thought list is a retrospective listing of all the thoughts that come to mind while viewing an image, followed by analysis of this list. This technique was, until recently, extremely effective in treating hoarding disorder. Preliminary results showed that ImRs outperformed thought lists in key areas, with study participants being more positive and more willing to give up items after completing ImRs.
The researchers say ImRs have enormous potential as a treatment for hoarding disorder because the practice can address both past traumas that create future-oriented expectations and disturbing mental images that prevent a person from getting rid of items in the present.
Images can connect our past, present and future. Rewriting memories that may have triggered hoarding—revisiting and meeting those needs—is what opens the door to better treatment outcomes and a greater positive impact on clients' lives.
Professor Jessica Grisham, head of the Grisham Research Laboratory at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, is the study's senior author.
I'll speak for myself. Regarding material objects, I don’t have such a habit. But download the filibuster archive or sci-hub archives – yes. By chance, a little over a month ago I said goodbye to my two old laptops, and I was left with 4 hard drives and 2 SSDs. Despite the desire to buy a pocket or organize a NAS server, I never got around to it. Maybe this mini-shock therapy was useful)
Do you tend to accumulate material or digital objects? Or, on the contrary, do you strive for minimalism and asceticism? More materials about the brain, psyche and the work of consciousness – read in the community. Subscribe so you don't miss the latest articles!
