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March 29, 2007
How can I help a "hoarder"?
QUESTION:
I have a 34 year old daughter who neglects her home and it has come to the point of hoarding items. She never cleans her home and there are piles of stuff all over her home. When I try to condense things for her, she makes excuses as to why they should be kept. To make things worse, her father has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Also, her husband seems to put up with it.
Please help me make the right decision to help her and her hubby. They have 2 minor children in the home.
ANSWER:
The most important thing about this question is that your daughter needs a good psychiatric evaluation. Rather than focusing on what might be wrong with her, instead its important to focus on getting her evaluated by someone who has the expertise and experience to determine whether she has a treatable psychiatric problem, and how to approach her about that treatment. In light of the family history, and some of the hoarding behavior that you describe, it certainly seems likely that she may well have one of a few possible treatable conditions. So, how to approach her?
First you might wish to let her (and her husband) know that, like heart problems, psychiatric problems can run in families, based on genetic and other factors. There is certainly some family history of a disorder there, and that makes both your daughter AND her children at higher risk.
Second, you can tell her that psychiatric disorders are actually more treatable than most heart problems.
Third, you might want to let her know that untreated psychiatric problems in parents can take a significant toll on their children in terms of the childrens' mental health, social adjustment, and academic performance. So, getting an evaluation would be a big favor to her children.
Fourth, you might want to do some homework before this conversation and identify a psychiatrist in advance who would be willing to see her. You could speak with your daughter's family doctor about your concerns and get a recommendation from that doctor (as well as have him support the idea of a consultation directly in a conversation with your daughter). You can even speak with the identified psychiatrist in advance of talking to your daughter about this--either by phone or through an appointment with that psychiatrist yourself. It is actually quite appropriate for family members to consult a psychiatrist about their troubled loved one, and get some guidance from the psychiatrist about how to bring them into treatment, preparing the way in the most welcoming fashion.
You might want to include her husband in any or all of the above discussions, even before you approach your daughter. Getting him on board with the idea of at least a one-time consultation, might be easier to do first, before approaching her.
Posted by admin at 02:57 PM
Bowie Therapeutic Nursery Center, Inc. Wins MFP Award
The Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry announces that the Bowie Therapeutic Nursery Center (BTNC) was chosen to receive its 2007 Outstanding Merit Award. There were several nominees of high quality, making this a very difficult decision. The board was particularly impressed with the services that BTNC provides to emotionally disturbed and behaviorally disordered preschoolers in an early childhood educational setting.
The BTNC is one of only two licensed therapeutic nurseries in Maryland and it also has a mental health license as a psychiatric rehabilitation program. Because they share premises and administration with a regular nursery school they are able to schedule social integration of the children to facilitate learning from appropriately functioning peers so that those who are successful can be easily mainstreamed in a regular classroom. In addition they provide monthly dinners for enrolled families where they have group parent education with childcare provided. The BTNC also provides community consultation, education and referral to organizations and professionals who also serve special needs children.
The award will be presented at the Maryland Psychiatric Society annual meeting on April 26, 2007.
In addition, the board awarded Honorable Mention to the work of Helping Other People Through Empowerment (HOPE), of Baltimore, Compeer of Montgomery County, and NAMI-Metropolitan Baltimore's "Many Faces of Illness" project.
The annual Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry Outstanding Merit Award recognizes a worthy endeavor in Maryland that accomplishes one or more of the following:
- Increases public awareness and understanding of mental illness
- Enhances the quality of care for psychiatric illness
- Reduces the stigma of mental illness
The award carries a $500 prize.
Related Links:
- 2006 Winer: Edgar K. Wiggins, Executive Director of Baltimore Crisis Response, Inc.
- 2004 Winner: Western Maryland Office of Consumer Advocacy
Posted by admin at 01:53 PM | TrackBack
March 26, 2007
More on Dinner Meeting/School Bullying
As reported earlier, on April 25th The Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry and the Maryland Regional Council of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry are presenting part two of a presentation on school bullying. Presenters will look at school bullying as public health risk.
A PDF file with complete information about the event is available for downloading. (Use Adobe Reader or your computer's built-in PDF viewer to read.)
The event will be held:
6:00 p.m. Wednesday April 25, 2007
Radisson Cross Keys
100 Village Square
Baltimore, MD
Featured presenters are:
- Dr. JorgeSrabstein, Child Psychiatrist, Children's National Medical Center
- Rob Schmidt, Behavioral specialist, Talbot County Public School System
- Pam Blackwell, Director of Student Services, Howard County Public Schools
Please RSVP to:
Laurie Tochterman
via email or at
410-215-0618
Posted by admin at 05:02 PM
Our New Radio Ad
Our fourth radio advertisement has begun airing. It discusses the pros and cons of anti-depressant medications.
You can listen to it by selecting it in the controller at the top of the home page. If you don't see a controller, you may need to install Adobe's Flash Player (it's free). All of our ads are available for downloading as MP3 files, which should play in the majority of players.
Posted by admin at 04:48 PM
March 16, 2007
25th Annual Film and Lecture Series in March
The last four Fridays in March, the Baltimore Washington Institute for Psychoanalysis will be at The Baltimore Museum of Art at Charles and 31st Streets to present its film lecture series. This year's theme is:
Developmental Challenges, Childhood to Adulthood
- Tsotsi
- The Man Who Loved Women
- Men of Honor
- The Return
Films are chosen for this series because they are psychologically perceptive and stir the emotions and curiosity of the discussants.
Looking through the lens of psychoanalysis enriches the viewers' appreciation of the film, and stimulates psychological insight into the emotions and thoughts evoked by the images and sounds from the screen.
For further information, call 410.792.8060 or 301.470.3635, or visit www.bwanalysis.org. Read on for more information about the movies, including links to trailers when available.
TSOTSI (2006)
Rated R -- South Africa
Director: Gavin Hood
Discussant: Silvia Bell, Ph.D.
Friday, March 9, 7:30 p.m.
TRAILER
A ruthless thug (Tsotsi) shoots a woman as she desperately tries to impede him from stealing her car. He drives off and discovers the woman's cherished infant still in the back seat. Drawn to this beloved vulnerable baby from whom he cannot be parted, Tsotsi begins a
transformational journey into his own past that reawakens his humanity. As if the healthy baby provides him with reassurance about his own infancy, Tsotsi revisits his traumatic childhood and becomes witness to the damaging impact of his early experience. Violence
gives way to compassion as he reconnects with his capacity to love. The movie won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
THE MAN WHO LOVED WOMEN (1977)
Not Rated -- France
Director: Francois Truffaut
Discussant: Leon Levin, M.D.
Friday, March, 16, 7:30 p.m.
TRAILER
The age-old dances of seduction and being seduced are sharply observed with wit and humor in Truffaut's classic New Wave film. Bertrand, a bachelor in his early forties, writes his memoir evoking the many variations of the dance which he has lived out with the various women in his life. What fuels this pattern of flitting like a butterfly from one woman to the next? Is this a dance of joy, or something else? Bertrand is a complex self-reflective person whom we can recognize as very human and yet, at the same time, driven.
MEN OF HONOR (2000)
Rated R -- USA
Director: George Tillman, Jr.
Discussant: Marilyn Martin, M.D.
Friday, March 23, 7:30 p.m.
TRAILER
Racism and a promise made to his father propel Carl Brashear to battle forward in this true story about the Navy's first black Master Diver. Billy Sunday, the racist alcoholic diving instructor, who is determined to destroy Brashear, discovers that his own salvation is linked to that of his nemesis. Internalized rage, so often the downfall of recipients of injustice, is successfully channeled by both men. Viewers may ask themselves, isn't there a point where the price for a dream is too much?
THE RETURN (2003)
Not Rated -- Russia
Director: Andrei Zvyagintsev
Discussant: Noreen Honeycutt, Ph.D.
Friday, March 30, 7:30 p.m.
TRAILER
In this gripping Russian drama, two teenage brothers face the return of the father who had abandoned the family twelve years before. The boys' internal management of the loss of their father and their accompanying fantasies about him emerge as they relate to the real
man. During a week of father/son "vacation," the boys are challenged to deal with powerful conflicts provoked by the father's abusive behavior. Their adolescent struggle to choose between boyhood and manhood and between identification and self-preservation come to a head in a harsh and violent confrontation. The film has won numerous awards, including five at the Venice Film Festival.
Posted by admin at 02:21 PM
March 15, 2007
"School Bullying: A Public Health Risk" Part II
The Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry and the Maryland Regional Council of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry are presenting part two of a presentation on school bullying. The event will be held:
6:00 p.m. Wednesday April 25, 2007
Radisson Cross Keys
Baltimore, MD
For further details and directions, please contact:
Laurie Tochterman
via email or at
410-215-0618
Posted by admin at 02:16 PM