At the age of nineteen, my son Dan spent nine weeks of his summer at a world-renowned residential treatment program for those suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder. We didn’t force him to go; in fact it was just the opposite. He couldn’t wait to get there as he was determined to free himself of OCD, which at the time was severe.
I was recently reminded of a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) known as “compulsive hoarding” when a patient brought me an article from a British newspaper that jokingly looked into the homes of several people afflicted with this problem. The reporter, in his ignorance, seemed to think it humorous that these homes were knee-deep in possessions, papers, broken or useless things, or just plain trash. Even in our own country, those who compulsively hoard and collect are sometimes kiddingly referred to as “pack rats,” and they are laughed at as being eccentrics.
