Hoarding disorder is a mental health condition that causes kids to collect random things like rocks, papers and even food. Children with hoarding disorder become emotionally attached to their things and get very upset when asked to throw them away.
We found that children who grew up with parents who hoard often lived in environments tainted by high conflict, poor problem solving, and low support. As a result, parent-child relationships in these homes were often negatively affected.
Those most often associated with hoarding are obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and depression.
Some researchers believe hoarding can relate to childhood experiences of losing things, not owning things, or people not caring for you. This might include experiences like: Money worries or living in poverty in childhood. Having your belongings taken or thrown away by someone.
Conclusions: Hoarding symptoms are associated with increased emotional contagion and decreased cognitive empathy. Empathy may be an avenue for understanding and treating interpersonal difficulties in hoarding disorder.
Mental health conditions most often associated with hoarding disorder include: Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
People with hoarding disorder have persistent difficulty getting rid of or parting with possessions due to a perceived need to save the items. Attempts to part with possessions create considerable distress and lead to decisions to save them.
The initial start of hoarding symptoms is thought to happen in childhood or adolescence (typical onset is around age 16) and it is chronic and progressive. Hoarding is more common in older than younger age groups. Below are some early signs that an individual may have hoarding behaviors.
Don't refer to their possessions as 'junk' or 'rubbish'. This shows that you don't understand their connection to the objects or why they want to keep them. They will be less likely to open up to you if you talk about their things this way. Don't focus on a total clean-up.
They just won't find their way out. It's for these reasons, in part, that hoarding is extremely difficult to treat. And hoarding is almost always accompanied by a comorbid condition--depression, anxiety, and borderline personality disorder are among the most common--which complicates matters even further.
Friends and family members of those who hoard can find it difficult to control their feelings of anger and helplessness. “Hoarding can cause profound distress for family members,” Chasson said. “Lots of frustration, lots of anger, lots of just completely not understanding what's going on and how to help.
People with hoarding disorder may not see it as a problem, so getting them to take part in treatment can be challenging. But intensive treatment can help you understand how your beliefs and behaviors can be changed so that you can live a safer, more enjoyable life.
“In addition, hoarders exhibit a need for control over their possessions, which echoes the efficacy and effectance motivation in psychological ownership. Thus, hoarding may be an extreme form of psychological ownership when viewed through the lens of consumer behavior.”
Two of the most common forms are cat hoarding and dog hoarding. However, a person can hoard any animal.
Many factors may play a role, including personality traits and stressful life events. It is important to rule out dementia, depression and other mental health conditions that may be contributing to their hoarding behaviors.
Hoarders generally experience embarrassment about their possessions and feel uncomfortable when others see them. Their clutter often takes over functional living space, and they feel sad or ashamed after acquiring additional items.
Hoarding is an anxiety disorder. A person with this disorder is unable to get rid of things, even things of no value. These could include newspaper clippings, old receipts, containers, even trash.
They cringe at the prospect of being judged as broken, flawed, or inadequate by others. They already believe it is probably true. How could it not be when they tell themselves the very same things? This leaves them in a chronic state of feeling overwhelmed.
Research shows that while many people who are compulsive hoarders have attention deficit disorder (ADHD or ADD), the reverse is not true. People with ADD are not typically hoarders. Nor are they on some kind of disorganization spectrum that ends up in the mental disorder called hoarding.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin/norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) are most commonly used to treat hoarding disorder. A recent meta-analysis shows that treatment response to pharmacotherapy is similar to the response in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
The first-choice treatment for hoarding, as with OCD, is a form of therapy called exposure with response prevention, or ERP. Children bring in things they have been saving (or have collected in their pockets on the way to therapy) and rate them, on a scale from zero to 10, by how much they feel they need them.
Hoarding often runs in families and can frequently accompany other mental health disorders, like depression, social anxiety, bipolar disorder, and impulse control problems.