Hey guys, first of all, I'm not sure if this is the right sub. But I feel like a family member of mine has been struggling mentally and I want to help him.

Like the title says, my uncle haven't showered in months. I live with him so I know it's not because of lack of access or fear of water. I ended up researching [articles](https://themighty.com/2018/01/depression-personal-hygiene-not-showering-five-years/) and found out that not bothering to keep up good hygiene is a common habit of people with mental illness (specifically depression but I'm not sure) so here I am...asking help on how to approach this sensitive subject.

**Brief background:** He has been like that for around five years. He can go from a month to four months (the longest record so far) without bothering to take a bath.

I really find it odd because he also has this tendency to clean other parts of his body excessively (e.g. he washes his hands and brushes his teeth for around 30 minutes to an hour) but he REFUSES to take a shower every time we dropped "hints" to him. I guess, he is oblivious to his smell and he doesn't really care.

Besides not showering, he also tends to be **irritated** most of the time. His mood will suddenly change for no reason and he ends up shouting at the other people in the house. Part of the reason that we just can't say "take a shower" to him.

I also noticed that my uncle might have **hoarding issues**. He spends most of his time online shopping and he does not want to throw away boxes or packaging of the things he bought. In fact, around ten years ago, he abandoned his bedroom and decided to sleep on the living room instead. This is because his room is already full of stuff that he does not want to get rid of. He doesn't even want us anywhere that room + he kept the key hidden so there is no real way to open that room and clean up. Every time we bring up this topic to him, he just shouts at us and refuses to answer.

I wanted to share more details but this post will be too long already.

Anyway, I just don't have a clue anymore on how to approach my uncle. I want to help him but I don't know where to start because he always shuts me and other relatives down.

If you have any advice, please share them below. I want to talk to a professional regarding his condition but I don't really know how much of a help is that. I just noticed all these patterns in his behavior and I have no way of knowing for sure what goes inside his mind. Any help will be appreciated, thanks!