"Do they think I am a pack rat?".
This case study presents details of the life of one older man who lived in seclusion and squalor, surrounded by hoarded possessions. This man was one participant of a focused ethnography of eight older adults who received home care. All participants in the original ethnography were identified by their community care coordinators as exhibiting hoarding behaviors. The case study presented here provides rich narrative and photographic detail in order to add strength to what has already been presented in previous research articles about compulsive acquisition. The narratives reveal examples of debilitating dysfunction, distress associated with decision making, broad acquisition of free things, compulsive buying, and ritualistic discarding. Quotes included in the case study stem from the original ethnography.
Faculty of Health and Social Development, University of British Columbia (Okanagan), Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. elizabeth.andersen@ubc.ca
Elizabeth
E
Andersen
Shelley
S
Raffin-Bouchal
Donna
D
Marcy-Edwards
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D003192:Compulsive Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D000067836:Hoarding Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D006796:Household Work; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D033262:Narration; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept