Hoarding and Dementia: How to Manage

An older adult with dementia may either hide things, store them for a long time or lose them entirely. This can feel quite troublesome but there are ways to combat it. In this post, we’ll review what you need to know about hoarding and the elderly.

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Is Hoarding a Sign of Dementia?

The short answer to the above question is yes. People with dementia often misplace items due to memory loss, sometimes putting them in unusual places like a remote control in the bathroom or tea bags in the fridge. If they believe an item should be somewhere and it isn’t, they may suspect someone is hiding or stealing it, leading to delusions. Hiding and hoarding may give them a sense of control, and they might feel the need to stockpile certain items. However, their concerns may have some truth, so their worries shouldn’t be dismissed solely because they have dementia.

What Are Signs of Hoarding?

When it comes to dementia and hoarding, some signs include:

• Constantly collecting items they don’t need
• Hesitant or unwilling to allow visitors into the home
• Stacks of junk mail piled on a dresser, desk, or floor
• Chairs so full of old papers and magazines that they can’t be used for sitting
• Kitchen cabinets overflowing with empty food boxes or containers
• Freezer or refrigerator packed with expired food that isn’t thrown away

Tips for Handling Hoarding and Dementia

Hoarding can be quite worrisome but there are plenty of methods to handle it. You can try the following:

• Keep important items in familiar places, such as hanging keys on a specific hook or storing them in the same drawer
• Make copies of frequently misplaced items like keys, glasses, or important documents
• Keep rooms and drawers tidy to make items easier to find, and place commonly used objects in visible, accessible spots
• Use labeled trays for important documents like letters or appointment reminders, with the person’s consent
• Provide visual cues, such as pictures on cupboard doors, to remind the person where things belong
• Consider a locator device to help find frequently lost items like keys
• When searching for a lost item, think about the person’s habits and where they might have put it
• If the person places items in unusual locations but it doesn’t pose a risk, it may be best to leave things as they are
• Manage hoarding by removing excess items as soon as possible
• Remove hazardous items like spoiled food, garbage, sharp objects, or anything near heat sources or electrical appliances
• Check wastebaskets before emptying them in case something valuable has been hidden inside
• Secure unused closets and cabinets to limit storage space, and regularly check under beds, couches, and empty spaces
• Be sensitive when decluttering — include the person in the process, remove items gradually, and suggest donating to family or charity
• Take photos of sentimental items to help ease the process of letting them go
• If hoarding is not a safety risk and the person becomes upset, it may be best to accept it for now and focus on more urgent concerns