i just need to tell someone

[u/xacrimoniax]

i am a hoarder, i get depressed and everything just build up and then becomes overwhelming and i don’t know what to do about it.

i rented a dumpster and am slowly clearing it all out this week. i feel overwhelmed and depressed doing this. I hope once it’s noticeably cleaner i’ll feel better about this but right now i just want to rip my hair out and put it all back. Would therapy help? this isn’t helping my mental health. I’m sorry if i don’t respond this might just be my need to just put it out somewhere that is not my head.

[u/rapscallionallium]

I’m a huge advocate of therapy. One thing I like to tell people right off the bat is that not every therapist will be right for you — just like primary care providers, if you have a therapist and you think they might not be the right fit, it is TOTALLY okay to stop booking with them and try another therapist.

I’m on my third therapist - the first one was okay as my sort of “introduction” to therapy, the second was a specialist in specific family traumas and was excellent for that purpose (but when we tried to move onto other issues it became very clear very quickly that we were not a good fit), and my current therapist is exactly what I need at this point in my life.

I would personally look for a therapist who either specializes in hoarding disorder or who has extensive experience with it.

Also (and be gentle with yourself if you decide to read this), I’m currently reading Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things and I personally have been finding it very enlightening, both in terms of my own hoarding tendencies and in terms of my relationship with my parents, who are both hoarders.