Noah's Ark syndrome: accumulating animals at home

live with dogs, cats and other non-human animals is something perfectly normal and widespread in most of the existing cultures today. Enjoying their company can produce great satisfaction and even have therapeutic purposes., so it is not strange that many people decide to interact daily with all kinds of specimens offering them the roof of their house and the care they need.

However, when coexistence with forms of animal life becomes a simple accumulation of animals that come to share an increasingly reduced space, we are probably talking about cases in which the Noah's Ark Syndrome.

What is Noah's Ark Syndrome?

Someone experiencing Noah's Ark Syndrome can not cope with the uncontrollable desire to accumulate animals in your home. These new guests can be abandoned dogs or cats, purchased pets, etc.

Both the person and the animals see their quality of life diminished at the moment in which space and hygiene are scarce and the caregiver cannot provide the necessary care that these pets they need. It is important to take this into account, since this syndrome is not limited by the number of animals that are taken in, but rather by the fact of not being able to contain the desire to accumulate animals, with the result that they cannot be cared for in the way appropriate.

Thus, a person who takes in many pets does not have to present Noah's Ark Syndrome if they are perfectly aware that the means and resources that she has make it possible for the animals and herself to live better than if she had not taken them in (and this corresponds to the reality).

Some signs of Noah's Ark Syndrome

In this way, when a person presents this syndrome, it is very easy for the context in which he lives to present the following characteristics:

• The person tends not to let anyone else enter his house.

• Inside the house it is difficult to find free spaces that are not occupied by an animal.

• There are no delimited spaces or separations between the areas of the house dedicated to people and animals.

• The house is not very hygienic, and there are feces and hair in many of the common transit areas.

• The animals are not vaccinated and the caregiver does not comply with the legal measures that regulate pet ownership.

However, any situation can present peculiarities, so the fulfillment of these characteristics does not have to be synonymous with diagnosed Noah's Ark Syndrome.

Causes of Noah's Ark Syndrome

The concept of Noah's Ark Syndrome is relatively new and has not yet been agreed upon by the entire community of mental health professionals. That is why, among other things, that Its causes and the factors that influence it are still not well understood.

However, it is believed that on many occasions the Noah's Ark Syndrome is one of the ways in which the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, although it can also be expressed when the diagnostic criteria for this disorder are not met. Its origin can also be found in the dependence on a pattern of adverse social dynamics: maintenance of a Social isolation with respect to other people, the adoption of beliefs related to the misanthropy, etc.

In addition, based on the available data, it seems that the people most likely to meet the typical characteristics of Noah's Ark Syndrome are populations of old people, who often live alone and socially isolated and may seek companionship in animals. Hoarding pets uncontrollably has a negative effect not only on their health, but also on their social relations: these people are socially stigmatized due to their solitary habits, their lack of hygiene and the signs of anxiety and nervousness typical of those who live in poor conditions.

That's why the psychological intervention in these people it is oriented both towards the individual of the person who presents the syndrome and to the collective: their community of neighbors, their family, etc.

Noah syndrome treatment

This syndrome is a complex problem, so requires multidisciplinary treatment.

Individuals with Noah's syndrome will rarely seek help, as they are not aware of the problem they have. When they receive treatment it is usually thanks to the complaint of some neighbors or relatives, so they are patients who they go to psychological counseling referred by the medical and judicial services or by the pressure exerted by their families.

But the complexity of these patients is not only found in making them attend therapy sessions, but also in the lack of will makes them passive individuals in the face of treatment, something that greatly complicates therapeutic work.

Much of this treatment focuses on social skills training and in the need that these subjects have to be part of the community through different activities. Do not forget that they are patients with a high level of loneliness. As has been said, the support of family and neighbors is a key element for their recovery and to avoid isolation.