Obsessive-compulsive disorder death.....

[Dr Mordrid]

Very sad that this woman went undiagnosed....

http://www.local6.com/news/5917330/detail.html

Woman Suffocates Under Piles Of Clutter In Home

A woman in Shelton, Wash., who was reported missing by her husband, was found dead under piles of clutter in their home, where she suffocated to death, according to police.

Authorities found the body of 62-year-old Marie Rose buried under clothes after 10 hours of searching. She reportedly suffered from a condition known as hoarding.

Rose's husband believes she fell while looking for the phone in the house this week and suffocated. There were so many piles of items that the man did not realize she was dead in the home.

Shelton Police Chief Terry Davenport said the home was so cluttered that police officers' heads touched the ceiling as they climbed over the clutter.

And the home was so cluttered that police didn't see the woman until their second search of the home.

"This is without a doubt the most cluttered residence I've ever been to," Davenport told KIRO-TV.

It was estimated that several tons of debris remained piled up inside the house.

Authorities said Rose collected items for 15 years -- and because it went undetected -- it ultimately cost her life.

Hoarding is a symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder, according to the report.

Dr. Mordrid

[Brian Ellis]

The BBC recently ran a short series of programmes on various types of OCD (hoarding, protection of children, cleaning house, cleaning body, locking up house etc.). It is very difficult to treat severe cases.

[Jon P. Inghram]

I wonder if the "crazy old lady with 5.3e43 cats in a 6 sq.ft apartment" disorder is another type of OCD?

[Dr Mordrid]

Depends on the exact behavior.

People who don't want to go out have agoraphobia;

http://pages.infinit.net/drnayman/agorapho.htm

but if she goes out and still has the cats and a ton of stuff in the house then she likely has OCD.

Typical OCD symptoms;

http://www.ocfoundation.org/ocf1010a.htm

How common: 1 person in 50 at any one time; 2 in 50 have had it at some time in their lives.

Comic character with OCD: Elektra (counting)

Dr. Mordrid

[KvHagedorn]

This reminds me.. can anyone recommend a good home/small office shredder, or one to stay away from?

[Dr Mordrid]

Fellowes Powershred PS80C-2. Can do a s***load of paper plus CD's, credit cards, paper clips, staples etc. etc. using a confetti cut. Haven't tried car parts yet, but....

Expensive at a street of ~$175, but worth it.

Dr. Mordrid

[KvHagedorn]

Thanks, Doc.. sounds like you own one. My dream is to chunk the whole envelope in when I get those credit card offers and have the thing go right through in a second or less.

[Dr Mordrid]

Oh yeah, it'll do that and all the ones received by your family and several of your neighbors

Posted another one (the wifes) first, but this one is the hard-ass of the two and just remembered hers isn't made anymore.

Take it from someone who's been there: cheap ones aren't worth getting.

Also important is the confetti cut. Paper cut by linear shredders can be rather easily re-assembled by dumpster-divers and the account info retrieved if they're willing to put some time into it. This is much harder to do with a confetti shredder.

Dr. Mordrid

[KvHagedorn]

yup.. been there too. I have an old cheapie that needs to be fed no more than two pages and takes about 10 seconds to do them. Bleh. Seems like there are only about a million choices out there, though. I'd spend even more than $150.00 to get one that was really trouble free and shredded everything without complaint. Seems like these small-office shredders are a bit bigger than I have room for though.

[Dr Mordrid]

It has a 7 gallon bucket, which isn't that big. Most trash cans are that large or larger.

If that fails then put it in a closet. The exercise will do you good

Dr. Mordrid

[KvHagedorn]

It would be cool to have a shredder so voracious it would scare small children.