Yeah as someone who hoarded at a worse stage of her life and struggles with it still, the piles felt like safety and security, but they also felt overwhelming and unassailable. You have to deal with the mental health issues and nonjudgementally get the person to be ok with the cleaning bit by bit. To this day big cleans are mentally and emotionally exhausting for me, it’s just that I find messes to be also extremely stressful.