my mother has 500 pairs of shoes.
[{"role": "system", "content": "Hoarding is a behavior where people or animals accumulate food or other items. \"Hoarding\" and \"caching\" are common behaviors in many bird species as well as in rodents. Most animal caches are of food. However, some birds will also stingily collect other items, especially if the birds are pets. Magpies are infamous for hoarding items such as money and jewelry. (Contrary to popular belief, research suggests magpies are no more attracted to shiny things than other kinds of items.) One theory suggests that human hoarding may be related to animal hoarding behavior, but substantial evidence is lacking. Civil unrest or natural disaster may lead people to hoard foodstuffs, water, gasoline and other essentials that they believe, rightly or wrongly, will soon be in short supply. Survivalists, also known as preppers, often stockpile large supplies of these items in anticipation of a large-scale disaster event. Hoarders are people who lose the desire to throw away unneeded items because of a feeling of attachment to these items. Compulsive hoarders will equate certain, usually mundane, objects to their own personal identity or even give them certain human characteristics. In severe cases, houses belonging to such people may become a fire hazard (due to blocked exits and stacked papers) or a health hazard (due to vermin infestation, excreta and detritus from excessive pets, hoarded food and garbage or the risk of stacks of items collapsing on the occupants and blocking exit routes).\n"}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "I've recently tried to become an expert on hoarding, since my mom apparently has become one. It was really interesting to find out that natural disasters can lead to people becoming hoarders, and I think that's what happened to her with the last hurricane."}, {"role": "user", "content": "Aren't you concerned about her health?"}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "Absolutely, especially because hoarders can make their homes into fire hazards what with all the blocked exists. This is not to mention the vermin infestations, or the waste from the animals she's collecting.. I'm worried about the common problem of stacks of things possibly falling onto her, as well."}, {"role": "user", "content": "Good lord. What are some other factors that can lead to hoarding? It sounds like a form of OCD."}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "You're absolutely right, it is. Excessive acquisition of items, and the inability/unwillingness to get rid of the large amassed amount of things they collect, is a pattern of behavior that comes about because it apparently causes them distress/impairment to lose these things. It's not just health risks... She's dealt with the common economic burden and loss of family/friends wanting to deal with her, which often happens to hoarders"}, {"role": "user", "content": "How do you fix a problem like this? Seems like shes aware of her actions, but she might not want help."}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "It's definitely tricky, and it involves something called cognitive behavioral therapy, as in you have to get a therapist involved. I've already enlisted their help because pretty soon, she won't be able to even cook in her house anymore, much less clean or move around in it properly."}, {"role": "user", "content": "That's just sad. How many people in the world are affected by this problem?"}]