Severe Domestic Squalor

This is the first book to comprehensively consider reasons why some people live in squalor and how best to intervene.

John Snowdon (Author), Graeme Halliday (Author), Sube Banerjee (Author)

9781107012721, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 September 2012

223 pages, 50 b/w illus.
24 x 16 x 1.7 cm, 0.52 kg

'Anyone working in old age psychiatry or geriatric medicine will encounter people who live in squalor and must have access to this excellent text.' David Ames, Journal of International Psychogeriatrics

Should you intervene in the life of the 48-year-old woman whose dwelling is stuffed with accumulated rubbish and who will not let anyone help get rid of it – or the 78-year-old surrounded by putrescent food and filth – or the 'animal accumulator'? Cases of severe domestic squalor (sometimes called Diogenes Syndrome) are among the most complex and difficult faced by community agencies. Local councils, housing officers, health professionals, social services, animal welfare agencies, public guardians and of course relatives and neighbours often feel powerless and lack confidence about what to do when faced with such situations. The guidelines, recommendations and case examples in Severe Domestic Squalor will help concerned people to understand what can be done and how, by providing an understanding of the causative factors and who should take the lead in dealing with them.

Preface
1. Defining squalor and hoarding
2. A review of the literature on squalor
3. Hoarding: its relevance to severe domestic squalor
4. Animal hoarding
5. Assessment of squalor and hoarding
6. Interventions in cases of squalor
7. Use of the law when intervening in cases of squalor
8. Guidelines for intervention
9. Ethics of intervention
10. There is much to be done
Appendix
Index.

Subject Areas: Clinical psychology [MMJ], Medical sociology [MBS]