Blogging from A-Z: H is for Hoarding Disorder

Hoarding is characterized as an anxiety/OCD disorder, but has just recently been included in DSM-V as a possible disorder on its own. I have to agree with this, because hoarding is more than just collecting, and it is more than just anxiety. For this reason, I am including it for the letter H.

I could almost include pictures of my room for this, but I’m not nearly as bad as someone in the family seems to think. Trash my collections? Fine, enjoy, I’ll just collect more later. Kidding! My room is cluttered to no end, but that does not mean I am a hoarder. Hoarding isn’t something to be taken lightly, either. Many people have already seen the reality shows where people are living in trash and filth truly believing that it isn’t a problem.

They do not see it as a problem. Hoarders think it is acceptable to live as they do, and can and often do alienate their friends and family over their hoarding. Throw away something they are collecting and you’ll likely find yourself being yelled at, or worse.

So what are the criteria for hoarding?

Hoarding Disorder:

Because of the distinctiveness of hoarding symptoms, the DSM-V diagnostic work group on OCD has recommended that hoarding be included in DSM-V. However, the committee is still examining the evidence to determine whether to include “hoarding disorder” in the main part of the manual or in an appendix for further research. The proposed diagnostic criteria are:

A. Persistent difficulty discarding or parting with personal possessions, even those of apparently useless or limited value, due to strong urges to save items, distress, and/or indecision associated with discarding.

B. The symptoms result in the accumulation of a large number of possessions that fill up and clutter the active living areas of the home, workplace, or other personal surroundings (e.g., office, vehicle, yard) and prevent normal use of the space. If all living areas are uncluttered, it is only because of others’ efforts (e.g., family members, authorities) to keep these areas free of possessions.

C. The symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning (including maintaining a safe environment for self and others).

D. The hoarding symptoms are not due to a general medical condition (e.g., brain injury, cerebrovascular disease).

E. The hoarding symptoms are not restricted to the symptoms of another mental disorder (e.g., hoarding due to obsessions in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, lack of motivation in Major Depressive Disorder, delusions in Schizophrenia or another Psychotic Disorder, cognitive deficits in Dementia, restricted interests in Autistic Disorder, food storing in Prader-Willi Syndrome).

Specify if:

With Excessive Acquisition: If symptoms are accompanied by excessive collecting or buying or stealing of items that are not needed or for which there is no available space.

Specify whether hoarding beliefs and behaviors are currently characterized by:

Good or fair insight: Recognizes that hoarding-related beliefs and behaviors (pertaining to difficulty discarding items, clutter, or excessive acquisition) are problematic.

Poor insight: Mostly convinced that hoarding-related beliefs and behaviors (pertaining to difficulty discarding items, clutter, or excessive acquisition) are not problematic despite evidence to the contrary.

Delusional: Completely convinced that hoarding-related beliefs and behaviors (pertaining to difficulty discarding items, clutter, or excessive acquisition) are not problematic despite evidence to the contrary.

This is something new, so they are still working out the bugs. I’d say there is a small victory in hoarding being considered its own disorder finally.

From a writer’s standpoint, this should make things easier to write a character. You now have more of a clue to what is going inside that character’s head. Now, this should not take the place of research. There are different items that each person focuses on, things that aren’t better classified as other disorders.

There is also a slightly different mindset than someone with OCD or anxiety. There is a true belief that all the items collected will be needed, and a true fear that if said items were discarded, dire consequences may occur.

May I also add in that this is not something limited to one type of person. Anyone can fall into this regardless of income, religion, skin color, etc. Yeah, I’m fighting for diversity here.

Of course, I have to add my usual…

Disclaimer: I am not a therapist. I have not taken any classes, nor do I have a degree. I am writing this from my standpoint based on my personal experiences and research. I beg of you, if you think you may have hoarding disorder, please seek help from a licensed doctor.

No matter what, suicide is not an option. If you are thinking of harming yourself, seek help. Talk to a doctor, go to the ER, or even call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1 (800) 273-8255

Blogging from A-Z: F is for Fear

Phobias technically begin with a “P”, but I am putting it here so I can use the letter “P” for something else.

Source

I have already covered general anxiety and social anxiety, but there are so many other anxieties out there. These, according to the DSM 5, are listed as Specific Phobias. (OCD, another anxiety related diagnosis, will be covered later.)

The DSM-5 criteria for a specific phobia are:

• Marked and out of proportion fear within an environmental or situational context to the presence or anticipation of a specific object or situation
• Exposure to the phobic stimulus provokes an immediate anxiety response, which may take the form of a situationally bound or situationally predisposed panic attack.
• The person recognizes that the fear is out of proportion.
• The phobic situation(s) is avoided or else is endured with intense anxiety or distress.
• The avoidance, anxious anticipation or distress in the feared situation(s) interferes significantly with the person's normal routine, occupational (or academic) functioning, or social activities or relationships, or there is marked distress about having the phobia.
• The new DSM-5 criteria states that the symptoms for all ages must have a duration of at least 6 months.
• The anxiety, panic attack, or phobic avoidance associated with the specific object or situation is not better accounted for by another mental disorder.

It is not all in your head! I hate seeing people say that. Yes, the fear is irrational, and it is a mental mindset that gets it there. However, phobias have biological effects on a person. These are real, measurable effects that can be noted in the presence of that fear. Increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, even the presence of adrenaline in the blood stream. The fear cause harm not just to the mind, but the body as well.

That said, phobias can be of almost anything. The ones we hear of most would include clowns, spiders, flying, and more. (Don’t get me started on flying clown spiders!) However, there are more phobias out there than I could even begin to count. The guy who runs this phobia list started in the 80’s, and it is still growing.

It is no fun thing to be phobic. It is one thing to say you are arachnophobic, but an entirely different thing to be so phobic that you can not function. Being scared is one thing, but being phobic means taking it a step too far. “You want to go to the pet store? No way! There’s spiders there!” Phobics will stress out, trying to avoid the object of their phobia. “Does that pet store have spiders? I don’t want to go to any place that has spiders. Like the attic. The attic is full of them. I swear they are going to mass reproduce and attack me one day. OMG I need a new home before the spiders in the attic get me!”

No, I’m not trying to be funny here, I am trying to portray the way the phobic mind thinks. Worry or anxiety is typical of phobics, as are panic attacks. Many of us have seen a panic attack in someone, but few people understand what it is like to be in the middle of them. For me, it is like the entire world is closing in on me and the object I am currently panicking about. I see that object as not just one, but hundreds or thousands of them. “That spider is staring at me. I swear, it is looking at me and wondering what I taste like. It has babies, I know it does, and if I step on it the babies will explode out and consume me on the spot for vengeance.”

My breath shortens, because I truly feel the lack of oxygen around me, as if whatever it is I am focused on has now stolen the very air. My pulse speeds, and I freeze. Fight or flight no longer exist. “OMG, if I turn and run it’ll jump on me. But if I step on it I’m good as dead too. I can’t move.” But I’m fortunate. I’ve got the mind that can’t focus on one thing for long. Because at this point I start thinking, “Blink and you’re dead.” If you know why this is significant, then you fully understand why my brain starts flipping through other quotes and I end up grabbing a can of hair spray to kill the spider. (No, I don’t flame it. I find that hair spray keeps the beast from running, and traps the little babies well too!)

Not all people are like me (thank the heavens!), some just freeze until they pass out or are rescued by someone. In any case, the panic attacks are real, and are not so easily overcome. (I’ve actually improved my arachnophobia to the point where I can allow small spiders to live, though the big ones still freeze me.)

I would normally speak of how to write a character with phobias at this point, but there have been so many books, movies, and television shows involving phobias that I find it almost laughable. Phobias tend to be the go-to for many authors, and I find it almost a cop out in writing. Mind you, there are still good books being written involving phobias, but there are many farces as well.

However, should you decide to take on a phobia for a character, I beg of you to research it well. Look at all the angles of it, and speak to people who have that particular phobia. Learn their stories, break into their minds and find out what their anxieties are. Ask them how it feels when confronted with the object of their phobia. Ask them how they cope. Then take all this information into mind when you put yourself in your character’s shoes. Feel the panic, feel the sheer terror of the situation. Don’t make a mockery of the phobia, but don’t be afraid to crack a joke now and then either.

Disclaimer: I am not a therapist. I have not taken any classes, nor do I have a degree. I am writing this from my standpoint based on my personal experiences and research. I beg of you, if you think you may have a Phobic Disorder, please seek help from a licensed doctor.

No matter what, suicide is not an option. If you are thinking of harming yourself, seek help. Talk to a doctor, go to the ER, or even call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1 (800) 273-8255

Running Behind

I hate running behind schedule. Loathe it, even. Unfortunately, my mind isn't straight right now, and I find myself wandering from the subjects at hand. There is a good reason for this, of course, and the purpose I am writing this blog.

I have court tomorrow. No, I wasn't arrested or anything. This is all over child support issues, which I won't cover here in order to protect my child. (I have two, though one does not live with me, regrettably.) I have anxiety issues as it is, and this makes them worse. However, this is not the blog for all that drama.

I'm sorry to all those looking forward to today's blog. It WILL be posted, as soon as I can get it finished. Until then, please share out my other blogs covering Bullies and Mental Health.

Thanks!
~K Perrin

Blogging From A-Z: A is for Anxiety

Taken from The Social Anxiety Institute

The Current DSM-5 Definition (of Social Anxiety):

A. A persistent fear of one or more social or performance situations in which the person is exposed to unfamiliar people or to possible scrutiny by others. The individual fears that he or she will act in a way (or show anxiety symptoms) that will be embarrassing and humiliating.

B. Exposure to the feared situation almost invariably provokes anxiety, which may take the form of a situationally bound or situationally pre-disposed Panic Attack.

C. The person recognizes that this fear is unreasonable or excessive.

D. The feared situations are avoided or else are endured with intense anxiety and distress.

E. The avoidance, anxious anticipation, or distress in the feared social or performance situation(s) interferes significantly with the person's normal routine, occupational (academic) functioning, or social activities or relationships, or there is marked distress about having the phobia.

F. The fear, anxiety, or avoidance is persistent, typically lasting 6 or more months.

G. The fear or avoidance is not due to direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., drugs, medications) or a general medical condition not better accounted for by another mental disorder...

Source

So today is day one of this blogging challenge. I am suddenly glad that, as I write this, it is not yet April. (Yay for me.) Anxiety is something that is difficult for me to discuss. Why, you ask? Because if there was only one of my diagnosis that I could just make disappear and be instantly better from, it would be this one. Its something new for me, to be honest. It is something that I have not dealt with since I was a teen, or longer.

I hate this feeling, this anxiety. I hate it with a flaming purple passion. Its like a layer of filth that I just can’t scrub off, or a layer of slime that won’t budge. I’d have to say that me knowing my fear is so completely illogical and nonsensical only makes it worse.

What has made me this way? I’m not sure I can pinpoint it to one particular incidence, but rather it was a whole host of bad experience that just collapsed on me. I think the medication I was on made it worse, but its still there. The docs even have the proof of it when my blood pressure is taken.

I’m not the only one who deals with this, nor am I the only writer. Just look at the list of authors I have found, simply by Googling:

• Emily Dickinson
• Anne Tyler
• Charlotte Bronte
• John Steinbeck
• Michael Crichton

That’s the short list. Google truly is a fount of information on writers and their mental instabilities. That is not to say there is anything wrong, far from it. It just shows that there are more out there than you realize that live with anxiety. These people didn’t allow that anxiety to stop them from continuing to create.

Creating characters with anxiety can be quite easy, and can sometimes be quite accidental. When you sit and think on it, how many characters out there are created with anxiety? Here’s a brief list:

• Piglet, from Winnie the Pooh
• Bashful, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• Chuckie Finster, Rugrats

I interviewed Author Sheri Velarde about her character, Aimee, from Music and Awakening. “She is different (a shifter whose eyes seem to give her away) so she mostly avoids contact with people, she's a shut in most of the time until music and a musician pull her out.”

Her need to write Aimee’s story is admirable, truly. Sheri herself deals with her own issues, but wrote Aimee “because I think so many people suffer from it. They think they are different and will never fit in (of course she is a shifter with weird eyes, so not exactly the norm) but how sometimes, something as innocent as music can pull us out of our shells and help us truly live. The music is what calls to her at first, then that makes her want to risk going out to see who puts that much emotion into their art.”

And such is the way with many living with anxiety. Sometimes there is that one thing that can give us just enough courage to try. Not all the time, but in fiction, there are rarely absolutes. Even Piglet got courage now and then.

Author Torie James was helpful in giving insight from a family member's point of view. Her sister, also an Author, was diagnosed with anxiety 6 years ago. Torie said "once she was diagnosed, I took it upon myself to research as much as I could. I knew I'd end up being her unofficial life coach and I wanted to have knowledge so I could help her without being condescending or unaware. I wanted to be her safe place, so to speak. No judgement...just love and help. Medications for her were prescribed but they didn't seem to help and she was really scared of becoming addicted and refused to take any more. I cant say my life has changed since her diagnosis. I knew something was wrong long before she finally caved and went to the doctor."

"I think its made us a LOT closer than we already were, if that's possible," Torie continued. "I've always been her protector, that's my job as a big sister, right? Work is the worst for her since Walmart is chock full of people. so I make sure to keep my phone handy for texting and help her wind down once she gets home." 

Torie also has advice to all those who have family members diagnosed with anxiety. "Never ever act as those with such a disorder are 'faking' it or that's it not as serious as depression or those with bi-polar. Its just as bad and requires a gentle but firm support system. so many peeps act condescending about this disorder. the best thing you can do is just listen. the afflicted person isn't asking for advice, they are looking to unload more often than not. usually after work, I do my best to make her laugh as much as I can. it calms her down a lot."  

It is no easy task to write a character with something as complex as anxiety. This is perhaps why so few characters display these traits without some other contributing diagnosis such as PTSD or depression.

When creating a character with anxiety, try “to make it understandable to people who don't have anxiety,” Sheri suggests. “I have suffered from anxiety myself, and some people will just not get it. Will say just go out, its no big deal. But it is a big deal. It was hard to portray just how hard it was for Aimee to go out to a club and be amongst others, just to listen to music. It was a huge hurdle for her.” And that is the hardest part; portraying how difficult it is to live with such feelings.

If you don’t have anxiety yourself, it is difficult to write it. Even if you do, it involves reaching down inside yourself to realize what the problem is and how it is affecting you. If you don’t have anxiety, nor have anyone close with whom to base the character, “research it. To know that it really is harder than many people think, that it can truly immobilize someone, take them out of society if it is bad enough. That people saying get over it, go out, go to the store, its not a big deal are so missing the point.”

Don’t be afraid to add the depth of mental instability to a character. Even a character who can’t seem to be around a gender can be a interesting one. (Big Bang Theory) People are rarely perfect, and there are more people out there living day by day with bigger issues than they appear to.

Disclaimer: I am not a therapist. I have not taken any classes, nor do I have a degree. I am writing this from my standpoint based on my personal experiences and research. I beg of you, if you think you may have anxiety, speak with a doctor immediately.

No matter what, suicide is not an option. If you are thinking of harming yourself, seek help. Talk to a doctor, go to the ER, or even call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1 (800) 273-8255


Find Sheri Velarde's Music and Awakening at Amazon or All Romance eBooks. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, and her blog. Find Torie James on Facebook, Twitter, and her blog. Get her books at Amazon,  Barnes & Noble, or Breathless Press.