Obsessive Compulsive Disorder:
Children Who Hoard

Most people hear of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and immediately think of someone who washes their hands over and over again. Symptoms for OCD can vary. Hoarding is one of the least common OCD behaviors. You've probably seen some old woman on the news with OCD hoarding. She would save newspapers till they piled so high in her home that it was nearly impossible to walk through. This is called hoarding. You may wonder why she doesn’t just throw the newspapers out.  Well, it's not that simple.

OCD is a neurological brain disorder. The most common and successful way to help people with OCD is with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Exposure Response Prevention (ERP). The problem is this usually works for other areas of OCD, but not for hoarding. Researchers aren't sure why that is. There is one thing researchers have found; most people with OCD have a lack of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin helps nerve cells carry messages to other nerve cells. This stops the repetitive behavior of OCD sufferers.

The difference between collecting and hoarding is usually easily determined. If your child is collecting baseball cards or has a butterfly collection, this is fun and not hoarding. When the collection becomes bothersome to that child’s life, then it is hoarding. My son’s symptoms became so bad that in a matter of weeks, he could no longer attend school. Hoarding is something even the child does not want to do, but feels that they need to do it.  When I took him shopping, he would purposely enter the store with his eyes shut so he would not see anything that he may want to take home to save. Usually he still managed to gather a handful of useless dust to take home.

Now you may be thinking that hoarding is not so bad. If you have lived with hoarding or know someone who hoards, you will understand.  It’s one of the worst things to have happen to someone you love. I know because my young son suddenly started hoarding.

When he first started showing signs of OCD hoarding, we immediately searched for a psychologist. Finding one that specializes in children with OCD hoarding was almost impossible. In fact, we never did find one.

My son began hoarding, suddenly, overnight. He started saving things, such as crumpled papers, used paper cups, and plastic bags. When I’d ask him to throw them out, he’d panic. We didn’t know what was happening to him, but we knew something was wrong.

A few days later he was starting to save dust and specks he found in the house. He would panic if anyone threw something into the trash. He would pick lint off others in the house and take it to his room. Then he started asking us to wipe our feet before we left the house. He wanted the dust to stay inside the house. He was saving paper food wrappers from any fast food place we would visit. His room was becoming a trash haven. He filled his drawers up with trash, had bags of trash sitting around the room, his closet was full of fast food containers, and used paper towels were tucked under his bed. We knew he needed help.

When we finally found a psychiatrist who worked with OCD in children, she told us he had OCD hoarding. She immediately placed him on anxiety drugs. He was sent home. The drugs made him very sleepy but didn’t stop him from hoarding. That night he became very sick. The psychiatrist agreed I should take him off the drugs. She placed him in a hospital program a few days later.  This program was better suited for children that had anger management problems. My son was the only one in the program for his OCD.  Though I'm sure there are some great programs for OCD children, this one did not suit us and I took him out after only one day. We felt like we were back to square one.

When we finally found a psychiatrist who worked with OCD in children, she told us he had OCD hoarding. She immediately placed him on anxiety drugs. He was sent home. The drugs made him very sleepy but didn’t stop him from hoarding. That night he became very sick. The psychiatrist agreed I should take him off the drugs. She placed him in a hospital program a few days later.  This program was better suited for children that had anger management problems. My son was the only one in the program for his OCD.  Though I'm sure there are some great programs for OCD children, this one did not suit us and I took him out after only one day. We felt like we were back to square one.

When we finally found a psychiatrist who worked with OCD in children, she told us he had OCD hoarding. She immediately placed him on anxiety drugs. He was sent home. The drugs made him very sleepy but didn’t stop him from hoarding. That night he became very sick. The psychiatrist agreed I should take him off the drugs. She placed him in a hospital program a few days later.  This program was better suited for children that had anger management problems. My son was the only one in the program for his OCD.  Though I'm sure there are some great programs for OCD children, this one did not suit us and I took him out after only one day. We felt like we were back to square one.

When we finally found a psychiatrist who worked with OCD in children, she told us he had OCD hoarding. She immediately placed him on anxiety drugs. He was sent home. The drugs made him very sleepy but didn’t stop him from hoarding. That night he became very sick. The psychiatrist agreed I should take him off the drugs. She placed him in a hospital program a few days later.  This program was better suited for children that had anger management problems. My son was the only one in the program for his OCD.  Though I'm sure there are some great programs for OCD children, this one did not suit us and I took him out after only one day. We felt like we were back to square one.

When we finally found a psychiatrist who worked with OCD in children, she told us he had OCD hoarding. She immediately placed him on anxiety drugs. He was sent home. The drugs made him very sleepy but didn’t stop him from hoarding. That night he became very sick. The psychiatrist agreed I should take him off the drugs. She placed him in a hospital program a few days later.  This program was better suited for children that had anger management problems. My son was the only one in the program for his OCD.  Though I'm sure there are some great programs for OCD children, this one did not suit us and I took him out after only one day. We felt like we were back to square one.

I started researching on the internet for help. There is very little information on children with OCD hoarding. I found a listserv for parents of children with OCD and asked them for help.  They told me about Inositol, a powder form of vitamin B. This vitamin helps replace the serotonin back into the brain. We thought it was worth trying.

I found that Inositol powder is not cheap. A small bottle can cost up to $45. It doesn't last long when you research the dosage needed for children with OCD, you’ll see that children with OCD need a higher dose than normal.  According to the bottle, an adult should take 1/4 tsp a day. I was giving my son 3 heaping teaspoons a day in a glass of lemonade. After starting the Inositol it only took days to notice his hoarding symptoms were disappearing. There are many brands of Inositol powder and it can make a difference on which brand you choose. You will need to check the ingredient label and make sure that it says; Other Ingredients: None.

I am not saying that Inositol will work for everyone with OCD. Studies show it works for 4 out of 10 OCD sufferers. Inositol has also worked for children and adults with other OCD tendencies besides hoarding.  Our son continued to take 1 tsp in the morning, another at noon, and one before bed each day. After four weeks, he no longer took Inositol but I would have no problem running out to buy more if it was needed. His symptoms slowlydisappeared during those four weeks.

I do know one thing about Inositol, it worked for our son. We now have our son back. He skips around the house, laughs, plays on the computer, and even runs right out the door to play. Inositol powder has been the miracle cure for our son, it could be yours.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5775/obsessive_compulsive_disorder_children.html

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Behaviors that are suspicious for an OCD diagnosis include spending long, unproductive hours on homework, retracing over letters or rereading paragraphs. Dramatic increase in laundry and toilets overflowing from excessive use of paper may warn of contamination fears. Long, rigid bedtime rituals, exaggerated needs for reassurance, or requests for family members to perform certain acts to make the child "safe" may all indicate a child who has OCD. Hoarding of useless objects, such as fingernail clippings or used bandages should be differentiated from normal childhood collecting of rocks, baseball cards or sentimental treasures.

http://www.lifespan.org/services/childhealth/parenting/ocd.htm