Man and Object: A Phenomenological Study of Being a Hoarder

• Main Authors: Pang-Lan Chin, 金屏嵐
• Other Authors: Wei-Lun Lee
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/h78wnt

碩士 === 國立東華大學 === 諮商與臨床心理學系 === 107 === Adopting a phenomenological research method, this study closely examines three episodes from two American reality television shows, namely, Hoarder and Hoarding: Buried Alive, to understand lived experiences of hoarders. This research demonstrates the tendency of hoarders to accumulate material objects as a way of shielding unhealed wounds. An outsider’s gaze and intervention forces the hoarder to disclose some of these wounds, and at the same time, reveals the unwillingness and incapability of hoarders to manage their problem. Under the protection and comfort of their material things, hoarders turn to their experience with objects characterized by an ecstatic temporality structure, and choose to reside in the only place where they can relate themselves with the rest of the world. For a hoarder, the paradoxical nature of hoarding as both a problem and solution unwittingly maintains the status quo in an otherwise unusual life; for the outsider, the problem resides within hoarding itself and the push for decluttering often leads to dispute and conflict. These outcomes reveal hoarding as a relationship not only between human and object, but also between people, as well between the human and her/his world. Despite this being an exploratory study, a phenomenological inquiry of the hoarding phenomenon in this study provides a different perspective and treatment for hoarders for future related research and clinicians.