If you have a pet at home, you will surely understand that the love it awakens makes you consider it another member of your family. But, To what extent could love for animals become a pathology? The accumulation of animals without any order and without being able to satisfy their basic needs for food, health and hygiene, is what we know as Noah’s syndrome. Join us on Supercurioso to find out what this little-known disorder is all about.
The Noah Syndrome: the excessive accumulation of animals
Although at first glance it may seem harmless and even funny, Noah’s syndrome deserves to be taken seriously. In psychiatry it is called Animal Hoarding Disorder and basically consists of the accumulation of a large number of animals at home, mainly dogs and cats. Noah’s syndrome is a disease and constitutes a little-known public health problem.
This pathology has been compared in its characteristics with object accumulation disorder, known as Diogenes syndrome. In this case, the person stores objects in an unlimited way, in the belief that at some point they may need them. The Noah syndrome, on the other hand, is based on an idea of mutual need. The person feels that the animals need him to survive (they are mostly animals collected from the street) and, in turn, feels an enormous emotional dependency. Generally, a person suffering from Noah’s syndrome also exhibits behaviors typical of Diogenes syndrome.
1.Studies on Noah’s syndrome
The first findings related to the accumulation of animals date back to 1981. Other studies carried out by the Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil, reflected an alarming result: The study subjects accumulated in their homes 915 dogs, 382 cats and 50 ducks in the city of Porto Alegre. The average number of animals per house was 41. However, the atrocious case of a man who lived with 170 dogs and 30 cats was recorded.
Other research, published in PsychiatryResearchexplores a population of study subjects in southern Brazil. 33 people of both sexes came to collect 1,400 animals. Also in Spain there was an outstanding case: a study carried out in 2012, in which the situations of 24 people were analyzed, who had accumulated a total of 1,218 dogs and cats.
2. What is the profile of the people who suffer from it?
Noah’s syndrome is a psychiatric pathology that generates multiple problems, both to the person who suffers from it and the animals that it accumulates, as well as to the social environment that surrounds it. The person suffering from this disorder presents certain characteristics or typical behaviors:
- According to data obtained by Brazilian researchers, approximately 73% of individuals with Noah’s syndrome are women, with a mean age of 61 years. There is also reference that the beginnings of the disorder occur at least twenty years before its peak manifests itself.
- 90% of people with Noah’s syndrome live alone and have conflicting, sporadic or non-existent family relationships. It is also common that they have developed the disorder after a traumatic event, such as the death of a loved one, or an accident that has caused some disability.
- Lack of hygiene is another of the recurring characteristics of people with Noah syndrome. As this pathology is generally associated with object accumulation disorder (Diogenes syndrome), their houses are usually full of objects and animals in an anarchic way. The animals are malnourished and in poor hygiene conditions. It is common to see cases of fights, cannibalism, sick animals and even deaths, without the owners knowing about it.
- When a person with animal hoarding disorder is approached, he or she usually exposes a need for each other as a justification for their behavior. Animals need your presence and protection to survive, and for your part, caring for children is exposed as a life mission for the person affected by the syndrome. It is a psychological condition that needs to be treated professionally, as people are rarely aware of the real health status of animals, and they refuse help.
3. How does it affect public health?
Noah’s syndrome is not only a problem for the person who suffers from it. The environment also directly suffers the consequences. Health is the first aspect that can be affected. There are fire risks due to the excess of objects that are usually piled up next to the animals. This same excess damages electrical networks and can cause flooding.
Another of the direct consequences of the accumulation of animals is infestation by insects or rodent pests.. This contributes to the danger of zoonoses (diseases transmitted from animals to people). On the other hand, the accumulation of feces and urine generates terrible odours, and involves the release of toxic bioaerosols, which can lead to respiratory diseases.
4. How to recognize a person with Noah syndrome?
To recognize a person suffering from Noah’s syndrome, it is important to pay attention to some warning signs:
- Has an unusual and excessive number of petsand insists on continuing to pick up other animals from the street, even when the situation is unsustainable.
- Negligence in the possession of animalswhich is exposed in an inability to offer them food, health care and adequate shelter, basic issues for the well-being of the creatures.
- constant denialboth from its inability to keep the animals in good condition, and from the consequences that the impact of accumulation has on the social environment.
Our pets are an important part of families, and we offer them unconditional love. But when affection takes on pathological dimensions, we no longer speak of love for animals, but of a disease that only results in the extreme damage of the victim creatures and the social environment.
Noah’s syndrome is a disorder that requires treatment to be overcome, as it has highly complex psychological edges, and its main and cruelest consequence is the deterioration in health, and even the death of the most innocent, the animals. If you are also one of the pet lovers, we invite you to discover the best animal phrasesto remember how much we love them.
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