Source: NAMI | By Talik Monroe

I experienced severe trauma as a child — trauma that I struggle with to this day. I wear the scars of my past; from being sexually abused as a child by two of my male cousins, to growing up with parents who battled drug addiction, to being physically abused for minor infractions.

Looking at children and teens from an evolutionary perspective shows us that, for thousands of years, they have spent most of their free time with peers. Our brains are hardwired to depend on these interactions for our overall mental well-being.

As hard as it may be to prioritize social time, the benefits greatly outweigh the costs.

I almost flinch at the pity in her gaze.

“So,” the therapist sighs, “I’m guessing you’re this way because your parents were tiger parents?”

“I’ve seen a lot of patients like you,” she continues, as she tells me what my story must be.

The Mayo Clinic defines hoarding as "... the excessive collection of items, along with the inability to discard them" and states that "compulsive hoarding and compulsive hoarding syndrome, may be a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)." We are not talking everyday household mess and clutter here, or collections of specific objects that may, in the opinion of other family members, be taking up too much space in the house.  True hoarding can be a sign of mental and/or physical illness that manifests itself in the obsessive accumulation of things—items that can range from mounds of clothing, unopened shopping bags, stacks of newspapers, magazines and mail, to piles of trash and rotting garbage that are dangerous to the health of an individual or a family.