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Compulsive Behaviors (Expert Forum)
My brother and mother have obsessive compulsive disorder
Answered by
Ted A Grossbart, Ph.D. - http://grossbart.com
Harvard Medical School
Questions in the Compulsive Behaviors forum are answered by Ted A Grossbart, Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School.
My brother and mother have obsessive compulsive disorder
by blonde1218, Aug 31, 2009 11:33PM
How do I get my mother and my 50 year old brother to stop over buying grocery items. It doesn't matter if its food or household items, but everything for the two of them is bought excessively. Whatever they buy, it has to be 20-30 of each item. Their apartment is so overloaded that shopping bags of grocery items line the floors in each room so their is little walking space. I need to help them but I do not know what to do. Please advise. Thank you.
Doctor's Answer
by Ted A Grossbart, Ph.D., Sep 01, 2009 06:22AM
, Sep 01, 2009 06:22AM
This sounds like compulsive hoarding. It is one of the variants of OCD. It is a tough one. There are a few specialized programs that will send people out to the home and do a combination of therapy and help to sort and throw things out.
Saving other people from themselves is always a challenge if they do not see it as a problem. The likelihood that they are reinforcing each other's behavior increases the challenge.
Look for an 'opening wedge' where they have trouble with some part of the behavior, the cost, trouble cleaning, whatever. Without that you have no hope.
Realize that it is probably a way to make a dangerous world feel safer. Listen carefully for the underlying anxieties and see if you can address them subtly without reference to the hoarding.
Saving other people from themselves is always a challenge if they do not see it as a problem. The likelihood that they are reinforcing each other's behavior increases the challenge.
Look for an 'opening wedge' where they have trouble with some part of the behavior, the cost, trouble cleaning, whatever. Without that you have no hope.
Realize that it is probably a way to make a dangerous world feel safer. Listen carefully for the underlying anxieties and see if you can address them subtly without reference to the hoarding.
