Self-neglect
Neglecting one’s personal hygiene, health or surroundings.
What is self-neglect?
The term self-neglect covers a wide range of behaviour neglecting to care for one’s personal hygiene, health or surroundings and includes behaviour such as hoarding.
Examples of self-neglect include:
A refusal or inability to cater for basic needs, including personal hygiene and appropriate clothing.
Neglecting to seek assistance for medical issues.
Not attending to living conditions – letting rubbish accumulate in the garden, or dirt to accumulate in the house.
Hoarding items or animals.
Lack of self-care – this may involve neglecting personal hygiene, nutrition and hydration or health. This type of neglect would involve a judgement to be made about what is an acceptable level of risk and what constitutes wellbeing.
Lack of care of one’s environment – this may result in unpleasant or dirty home conditions and an increased level of risk in the domestic environment such as health and safety and fire risks associated with hoarding. This may again be subjective and require a judgement call to determine whether the conditions within an individual’s home environment are acceptable.
Refusal of services that could alleviate these issues – this may include the refusal of care services, treatment, assessments or intervention, which could potentially improve self-care or care of one’s environment.
Poor diet and nutrition leading to significant weight loss or other associated health issues.
Self-neglect can result from any mental or physical illness that has an effect on the person’s physical abilities, energy levels, attention, organisational skills, or motivation.
Key to any support for self-neglect, is establish a trusting relationship.