Severe Domestic Squalor

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 coun...