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Animal Hoarding: What caseworkers need to know

MASS HOUSING Community Services Conference, 2007 Gary J. Patronek, VMD, PhD

Animal hoarding, like other forms of hoarding behavior, can be devastating to families, put elders and children at risk, and incur significant cost for clean-up or demolition. The behavior remains poorly understood, but we believe it is qualitatively different from the hoarding of [inanimate] objects. Clinical evaluations also indicate that animal hoarding is often associated with a wide variety of psychological disorders, and with the more severe disorders (e.g., borderline personality) in particular. This complicates intervention. Animal hoarding crosses all socioeconomic boundaries, although it does remain statistically more frequent in older, isolated, socioeconomically disadvantaged women. It is not uncommon for hoarders to present themselves as legitimate animal sheltering, sanctuary, or rescue groups. It is important to distinguish animal hoarding from these legitimate and commendable efforts, which put the needs of animals first.

Animal hoarding is a very heterogeneous behavior. Three preliminary types of hoarders have been identified. These are described in the table below. The value of this preliminary typology is that it can help guide intervention strategies. For example, the overwhelmed caregiver is more likely to respond to a softer, more therapeutically- oriented approach. S/he has greater insight that the situation is out of control, and may actually find some relief at the prospect of help and downsizing. At the opposite end of the spectrum is the exploiter hoarder. These individuals are in extreme denial, and will resist any attempts to intervene in a very aggressive manner. They are much less likely to be intimated by the possibility of prosecution and legal penalties.

Overwhelmed caregiver Rescuer hoarder Exploiter hoarder

• Some awareness, • Mission leading to • Tends to have more reality-based unavoidable sociopathic • More passive compulsion characteristics acquisition • Fear of death • Lacks empathy for • Problems triggered • More active vs. people or animals by change in passive acquisition • Indifferent to harm circumstance • S/he is the only one caused • Unable to problem- who can provide • Rejects outsiders’ solve effectively care concerns • Animals are family • Rescue-followed-by • Superficial charm members adoption becomes and charisma • Likely to be socially rescue-only care • Lacks guilt /remorse isolated • May have extensive • Manipulative and • Self-esteem linked network of enablers cunning to role as caregiver or group • Adopts role of • Fewer issues with • Not as likely to live expert with need to authorities with the animals control

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Role of animals

The strong attachment to animals and professed desire to help, coupled with denial of the actual conditions (which may include illness, injury, starvation, suffering, and death), is incompatible with any known theory of the human-animal bond. Thus, the nature of the bond in animal hoarding must be understood in order to gain insight into this very aberrant form of expression.

A recent study by Sue Ellen Brown ( Companion animals as self-objects. Anthrozoos 2007; 20:329 – 343 .) explored how the human-animal bond could be understood through the lens of self- psychology. She used interviews with animal rescuers to explore the relationship with animals in this highly-bonded, mission-driven sample. Her findings were that animals were perceived as intensely focused on the person; were adept at reading non-verbal cues; unable to judge, criticize, or give advice; and could not disagree with the person’s interpretation of how the animal felt or what it wanted. This information is similar to information gleaned from clinical assessments and structured interviews of animal hoarders, and may help to illuminate the entry point to their worldview.

Research has demonstrated that, in normally functioning families, pets can play important supporting roles as confidants for children, with whom they can share secrets, learn nurturance, and derive emotional support. It is easy to envision how this positive relationship could be exaggerated and distorted if circumstances forced the animal as the primary form of support for a child in a dysfunctional family. Not surprisingly, it is quite common for animal hoarders to report very dysfunctional childhoods, characterized by inconsistent and absent parenting, and sometimes outright abuse, with animals as the only stable fixture.

It is well established that a history of an abusive, traumatic or dysfunctional childhood is correlated with a disordered attachment style, which, in turn, can result in a controlling pattern of relationships. One way control can be manifested in adult relationships is through compulsive caregiving. In this behavior pattern, a person selects someone with a sad or difficult life, and provides care obsessively, irrespective of whether the care is wanted or needed. This kind of behavior often characterizes the caregiving style of animal hoarders. Other forms of control in hoarding include refusal to adopt, rejection of expert opinion about proper animal care and the legitimate interest of authorities, refusal of help, and sometimes the saving of dead bodies. Control over health, and even life itself, can be expressed through pseudo ‘hospice’ efforts, in which animals with terminal medical conditions are sought and hoarded in lieu of euthanasia.

Intervention

Intervention in animal hoarding cases has been described in much more depth elsewhere ( http://www.tufts.edu/vet/cfa/hoarding/pubs/AngellReport.pdf ). In most cases, it would be wise for caseworkers to involve either the Animal Rescue League of Boston (ARL) or the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA) at the earliest possible stage, since these organizations have both the statutory authority to investigate complaints of animal abuse or neglect, as well as the expertise and resources to intervene. Both are very experienced with animal hoarding cases, and both are comfortable with a multi-disciplinary approach that includes counseling.

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Increasingly, mental health counseling or assessment is likely to be part of either pre- trial proceedings, negotiated settlements, or post-trial sentencing for animal hoarding. There are a number of pitfalls that must be recognized and overcome in order for this approach to be successful and productive.

First, there must be some provision for payment of the therapist. Animal hoarders have little motivation to seek or comply with treatment, therefore willingness to pay is low. There also must be some verifiable procedure for monitoring adherence, and it is important that the type and duration of therapy be prescribed. Thus, there must be good communication with the therapist, so s/he fully understands the scope of the problem, the centrality of the animals to the situation, and the high likelihood of recidivism. There have been cases where therapists assumed that, once the animals were removed (e.g., after prosecution), then the problem (filth and compromised living spaces) was solved; failing to appreciate that the problem of filth and compromised living spaces was the result of the obsessive need to accumulate animals, and not the cause. Jane N. Nathanson, LCSW, LRC, CRC, a social worker with extensive experience working with animal hoarders, has suggested that for successful counseling, the following steps are essential:

• Specify the individual(s) involved in monitoring treatment • Provide information about the role of animals in the situation • Specify the length and frequency of counseling • A summary report provided to the probation of officer or court • Stipulate terms for monitoring during the probationary period • Identify resources for payment

Summary

Our most recent experience does suggest that the OCD model we have previously postulated is not sufficient to explain animal hoarding behavior or guide treatment and intervention. In particular, it falls short with respect to the caregiving aspect, aspects of interaction with a living being, and the high frequency of complicating co-morbid psychological disorders associated with animal hoarding. There is, however, significant symptomatic overlap with dissociative symptoms which, are common secondary to trauma, including major dysfunction in work, social, and daily activities, reduced awareness of surroundings, and impaired ability to form close relationships with people.

Circumstances during intervening years between childhood trauma and deterioration into animal hoarding remain to be clarified, as most of our data are cross-sectional in nature, generally only from around the time of discovery. However, two recurrent themes surrounding onset in our case series include triggering events (such as a loss of a stabilizing relationship, economic hardship, major health issues or other trauma) and a response of complicated grief. Animal hoarding likely results from a complex interaction of disordered attachment, addictive behavior patterns, compulsive caregiving, dissociation, self-regulatory defects, and orbito-frontal dysfunction arising out of early childhood experiences. How this milieu is expressed is likely influenced by adult coping styles with respect to loss and the unpredictable effects of triggering events. Given these uncertainties, intervention and treatment require a highly individualized approach.