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2018
Planet of Sound
Nick Cave, an American fabric sculptor and performance artist, is best known for his Soundsuits—ie, wearable sculptural forms that transform ordinary objects into whimsical and fantastic artworks. In his new exhibit at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville (TN, USA), Nick Cave: Feat., several Soundsuits are on display. Each is intricately composed of interlaced second-hand objects: plastic buttons, sequins, synthetic hair, raffia, toys, and fabric woven together. The Soundsuits might remain in a fixed state as sculptures, or be worn and brought to life through movement. The wearable artwork is designed to make noise through movement and dance, becoming a body of artwork that is simultaneously a sculpture, costume, and musical instrument. Cave and others wear the suits, while musicians drum and photographers capture the interchange between his works. At first glance, Cave's Soundsuits are fanciful, but just beneath the surface, these collections of commonplace objects have a deeper meaning.
April 2018
2017
Animal Hoarding: A Unique Type of Mental Disorder?
Hoarding in any form is classified scientifically as "hoarding disorder." But a recent study examining the motications of animoal hoarders asks whether animal hoarding should be classified as a distinct type of mental disorder separate from generalized hoarding.
"While it’s impossible to pinpoint exactly why people hoard animals, a new study in the journal Psychiatry Research suggests that the motivation behind animal hoarding is distinct from that for object hoarding and thus animal hoarding should be classified as a distinct type of mental disorder."
Kerry Lengyel, American Veterinarian
October 2017
2016
Hoarders overwhelmed by the clutter
First step for those with hoarding disorder is getting a correct diagnosis
"For decades, hoarding was classified as a symptom of obsessive compulsive personality disorder as well as a subtype of obsessive compulsive disorder.
However, in 2013, the APA reclassified hoarding as its own distinct disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders."
Emily Gillespie, Columbian Breaking News Reporter
August 2016
Hoarding study receives BA Leverhulme backing
Funding boost for two new research projects led by Anglia Ruskin psychologists
Two innovative Anglia Ruskin University psychology studies have received backing in the form of BA Leverhulme Small Research Grants.
Organised by the British Academy, the UK’s national body for the humanities and social sciences, the grants have been awarded to Dr Sharon Morein-Zamir and Dr Flavia Cardini.
Anglia Ruskin University, March 2016
2015
Growing up, my mother was a chronic hoarder
Still, Meredith remembers her childhood with great generosity. She describes herself as a sensitive,empathetic girl who felt sad for her mother but not ashamed of her.
"Mum had a horrific life and she kept her mind functioning. I didn't like living there but I knew it wouldn't beforever. When I grew up I knew I could create my own house.".."It's important to stress that people with a hoarding disorder are not lazy or stupid," Mogan says.
"It's also not just people who are struggling - wealthy people hoard, professional people hoard, lawyershoard, university academics hoard. I see people from all walks of life" says Psychologist Dr Chris Mogan.
Erin O'Dwyer, January 2015
2014
Local task force helps hoarders clear a path to a new life
“It kept coming up as an issue,” said Kerry Higgins, a social worker with a background in mental health, and the driving force behind the formation of the Marlborough/Hudson Hoarding Task Force, known as ClearPath. The all-volunteer group, which operates under the umbrella of the nonprofit Marlborough Community Development Corporation, had its first official meeting in February 2014 and, since then, has thrown itself wholeheartedly into addressing the problem of hoarding.
Barbara Allen, November 2014
Franklin County Launches Pilot Program To Help Hoarders
Franklin County Environmental Court Judge Dan Hawkins says the hoarding problem at a house on North Princeton Avenue was one of the first cases to cross his bench. "It was a very serious hoarding situation, and it was a case that kept appearing in the court over and over again," Judge Hawkins said. "And I realized there was really nothing out there service wise we could do for these folks."
Jessa Goddard, August 2014
London fire inspector James Hind is trying to do something about hoarding
He’ll never forget his first.
She was a teacher who kept her classroom immaculate — everything in its place.
“It was impeccable,” recalls London fire inspector James Hind. “To see her, you’d never know. . .
The Woodstock woman’s home was a different story.
Jennifer O'Brien, July 2014
Signs Of Teen Hoarding May Be More Difficult To Spot; Here's What To Look For
Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, observed 8,500 Swedish adolescents born between 1994 and 1995, and found that two percent of the population showed systems of hoarding. The new findings came once researchers continued to observe 21 young people who had difficulty parting with possessions, despite their intrinsic or extrinsic value.
Samantha Olson, May 2014
More help in Maine for a hidden problem: Hoarding
The 64-year-old widow lives in a seemingly well-kept duplex, with a clean covered porch, in a densely populated neighborhood in Biddeford.
From the outside, there is no indication that behind those walls and the delicate white lace curtains lives a hoarder.
Randy Billings, April 2014
Extreme hoarder in Texas found dead in home underneath garbage
A Texas man was found dead underneath layers of filth and debris after going missing for more than two weeks.
Authorities covered head to toe in hazmat suits launched an all-out excavation — entering through the roof because household garbage blocked the front door — to find the unidentified, unresponsive East Dallas elderly man, according to reports.
Irving Dejohn, March 2014
Coalition designed to work together to help hoarders regain control over their lives
"It is a tough one to make inroads in," explained Pat Baigent director of community support at the Oxford Canadian Mental Health (CMHA), of an obsessive condition known as hoarding. "People can be very secretive to the outside world. They won't let people in their homes, even family members or their friends. Usually people live alone and are isolated."
Heather Rivers, August 2014
Hoarders support program swamped in London
“Finding the clients who need the service is not a problem. Finding the volunteer is challenging,” said Cheryl Perrera of VHA Home Healthcare, which is administering the program as a branch of another service, Extreme Cleaning, that aims to help tenants living in squalor avoid eviction.
Jennifer O'Brien, August 2014
Rentwatch: What can I do about 'hoarder' tenant?
Your first step should be to document the conditions, put the tenant on notice, and give them an opportunity to cure the breach of any applicable lease conditions and code violations. Be forewarned, however, that your tenant may not be able to resolve this situation without a good deal of assistance, ranging from the need for professional counseling to cleaning and moving services.
San Jose Mercury News, June 2014
Szymanski, Frost, Steketee: New Houston ordinance criminalizes hoarders
"Forcing a rapid clean-out of a home mainly serves to traumatize the person (Imagine if someone did this to your home without your permission!) and does not help them learn new skills with which to address their hoarding behavior."
Jeff Szymanski, Randy Frost and Gail Steketee, April 2014
Hoarders join expert pack at three-day conference in Edmonton
“I thought I had clutter,” said Crayston, who tended to collect paper, books and clothing. “Those are all things I struggle to pare down on and not collect and keep.”
Hoarding Intervention Co-ordinator Jesse Edsell-Vetter said the three-day conference shines a revealing light on the conversation around hoarding disorder.
Leah Holoiday, March 2014
My dad has chronic depression and has begun to hoard junk
"My dad will be 54 in February and he has recently seen a drastic decline in his depression. He was first diagnosed and treated for depression when he was made redundant 11 years ago, and he stayed at home to look after me and my two sisters while my mother went to work. My parents split up not long after, when I was 14 and my youngest sister was 11. It wasn’t an easy split but there are no lingering feelings of regret between my mom and dad now (although he won’t ever be in the same room as her). He has been working voluntary roles and training to be a counsellor in the past few years but lost another job about 10 months ago."
Annalisa Barbieri, January 2014
Hoarders in our midst: more cases being reported
“Yes, there is certainly a big increase in the ones we’re dealing with,” assistant chief fire prevention officer John Lee said, adding that he doubts there’s a sudden big increase in the total number of hoarders. What’s more likely is the public is more aware of the disorder, possibly as a result of TV shows like Hoarders chronicling the plight of people who compulsively compile stuff to the point where they have no room except for narrow pathways winding through the junk.
Brian Cross, August 2014
Dirty secret: Toronto hoarder comes clean
“My life was miserable and it got to the point where I recognized I needed some help,” said the 47-year-old former office administrator and marketing director, who agreed to be interviewed on the agreement of anonymity.
Jenny Yuen, August 2014
When you can’t let go: What to do about hoarding
Many of us have trouble parting with our possessions—even when we no longer need them. I have a collection of greeting cards I’ve been storing since childhood and will probably never look at again. My husband owns a few pieces of clothing older than our 17-year marriage.
Stephanie Watson, May 2014
Hoarders, Passover Edition: Cleaning Out Chametz, and Letting Our Clutter Go
“All of us like to have connections to objects because it’s part of everyone’s personal life,” explained Dr. Daniel Rosenn, a psychiatrist at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., and instructor at Harvard Medical School.“Oftentimes it is difficult to draw the line between normal possessive behavior and pathological.”
Paula Jacobs, April 2014
Hoarders cause piles of trouble at fires
Firefighters crawled over piles of books, newspapers and boxes to extinguish the heavy flames rising from the second floor of a vacant home last week in Homestead.They arrived to find the stairwell blocked and "all packed up with stuff," said the borough's deputy fire chief, Ron Kalupson -- signs that a hoarder might once have lived there.
Moly Born, March 2014
2013
Fire badly damages hoarder's house in Glendale
Glendale firefighters had to battle through a hoarder's possessions to fight a house fire early Monday morning.
Firefighters had to push the possessions back from the front door before they could fight the fire inside the house near 46th and Missouri avenues.
Steve Stout, December 2013
Too much stuff: Minnesota cities confront hoarding
While officials in other cities hesitate to say they are seeing more hoarding incidents, one expert says statewide numbers are going up. A Minnesota hoarding task force and a nonprofit group called The Hoarding Project are working to assist local officials, as well as hoarders.
Mary Jane Smetanka, September 2013
Don't mess around with clutter
“Clients call me when they are feeling overwhelmed and are ready to deal with the mess,”says Oak Park resident Laura Johnson, a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers.Keeping clutter at bay is a common problem for many homeowners and renters. But, according to Johnson, “It’s not always easy to ask for assistance.
People think they should be able to do it themselves.” .........
"The secret, she said: “Find a system that works for you.”
Adrienne Wigdortz, May 2013
Clutter hampers rescue, woman dies in mobile home fire
When Clark County Fire & Rescue arrived, the mobile home was fully engulfed in flames. Crews quickly put out the fire, and found the woman was dead when they searched the inside.
Komo News, October 2013
Task forces offer hoaarders a way to dig out
An estimated 3 percent to 5 percent of Americans suffer from hoarding, which was officially recognized as a disorder this month in a psychiatric diagnostic manual.But the impact of hoarding extends beyond the afflicted individual and relatives in the home: the behavior can also put immediate neighbors at risk, by creating perfect conditions for explosive house fires and infestations of vermin and disease.
Jan Hoffman, May 2013
A Cost / Benefit Analysis of Hoarding Stuff
I suspect that the seemingly illogical excessive accumulation of things -- better known as "stuff" -- is a phenomenon of the past 75 years or so. Because before that time, many people were poor, and goods were far more costly as a factor of income.
William Busch, October 2013
Obsessive compulsive hoarding: A serious health risk in store
"...Since his first appearance on TV, Mr. Wallace has been receiving help from a psychologist and from Andy Honey, his friend who lives next door with his wife and two children. With Mr. Honey's help, more than 100 tons of jumble has been removed from the house and garden, while therapy has helped him turn a crucial corner....."
Jonathan Brown, May 2013
2012
Experts share insights into Old Greenwich hoarding house
The cluttered Old Greenwich home scorched by arson last week showed telltale signs of alongtime hoarding problem and reveals insight into the lives of the two people who lived there,including one who killed himself, according to experts.
David Hennessey, October 2012
Diary of a Hoarder’s Kid
I am a hoarder's kid.
The roaches and mice were childhood companions, and filth wore the pants in the family. Growing up, I always wondered why no one came to save my brothers and me. Were we not worth rescuing, or did no one know?
Anonymous, Bolivar, MO, September 2012
Hoarding: Tragedy Underscores The Dangers Of Elderly Hoarding
"A tragic fire earlier this week in Greenwich, Conn. that killed a 42-year-old-man and left his 69-year-old mother in critical condition in a burn unit may have been set as the result of a hoarding situation. Dean Verboven and his mother Barbara Verboven had been contacted by the town's social services in September after neighbors told them....".
Huffington Post, October 2012
Distinct Brain Activity in Hoarders
"Certain brain regions under-activate in people with hoarding disorder when dealing with others' possessions but over-activate when deciding whether to keep or discard their own things. The new findings give insight into the biology of hoarding and may guide future treatment strategies. The researchers analyzed brain images of 43 hoarders, 31 people with OCD and 33 healthy controls."
NIH, August 2012
Task force to tackle hoarding issues in Sunnyvale
"...The Sunnyvale Municipal Code already allows NP staff to address interior structural violations and substandard housing conditions, but not internal problems associated with hoarding. The ad hoc team will be made up of representatives from social service agencies, the city's building and housing departments, the office of the city attorney, neighborhood preservation and other select units within the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety...."
Alia Wilson, September 2012
Hoarding plays role in double fatal fire in SF
Firefighters said this looks like an extreme case of hoarding. A large pile of belongings is on the driveway so it would not flare back up, but they said that pile was nothing compared to what was found inside. Firefighters said there was so much stuff stockpiled inside the home, they had a hard time getting to the victims.
Amy Hollyfield, August 2012
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