leaving seniors in greater social isolation.
In Lin’s study, all the interviewees were living alone and had little to no social support to speak of.
Finally, hoarding is known to be a chronic and progressive condition – life events and ageing-associated factors may introduce stressors and increase the severity of hoarding.
As clutter builds up, hoarders are more likely to experience cognitive indecisiveness – paralysing them and their ability to decide what, in their vast collection, to discard.
Community-based approach to building awareness needed
There is more than one way to treat hoarding behaviour, and much of it depends on whether it stems from an underlying mental health issue. In such cases, treating the issue can sometimes reduce the person’s hoarding tendencies. For example, psychotherapy – specifically cognitive behavioural therapy – is increasingly recognised as an effective treatment.
However, if the underlying factors of poverty and social isolation are not treated, hoarders can very easily fall back into old habits.
This calls for a community-based approach aimed at alleviating these factors.
To this end, Singapore has established a Hoarding Task Force that brings together the expertise and respective powers of multiple agencies such as the Ministry of National Development (MND), Ministry of Health (MOH), Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), Housing Development Board (HDB) and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF). Other agencies like the National Environment Agency, People’s Association, Institute of Mental Health and the Singapore Police Force will also play a part in this task force.
Led by HDB, which will be coordinating responses from relevant agencies, the task force relies heavily on grassroots organisations and volunteers to tackle the problem of hoarding. While it serves as a useful first port of call to report cases of hoarding, greater awareness among members of the community must prevail to bring more cases to light.
We should also look at the Habitat for Humanity Singapore, 