While hoarding disorder is classified as being part of the obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) spectrum, which is an anxiety disorder, hoarding disorder is a distinct condition.
Many people with hoarding disorder also experience other mental disorders, including depression, anxiety disorders, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder or alcohol use disorder.
Hoarding disorder is a mental health problem that a doctor can diagnose. But you might also experience hoarding as part of another mental or physical health problem. If you hoard, you might: Feel the need to get more things, even if you have a lot already.
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.
Health problems include falls or accidents and inability of emergency personnel to enter or remove an ill person. Clutter, garbage, animal or human feces and resulting mold or infestation can also cause respiratory and other health problems.
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.
Background: Hoarding symptoms have been described in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Furthermore, individuals with hoarding disorder (HD) may display some ASD-like features.
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. A person diagnosed with this disorder goes to an extreme to save things.
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.
Hoarding disorder often begins during adolescence and gradually worsens with age, causing significant issues by the mid-30s. Hoarding disorder is more likely to affect people over 60 years old and people with other mental health conditions, especially anxiety and depression.
Touching Items Without Permission: Hoarders have an unnatural attachment to the things that they have gathered. If a person tries to move the possessions without the hoarder's consent, the hoarder can become emotionally upset or angry.
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).
More than 70% of hoarders are women, many are elderly, and recidivism is nearly universal. Some hoarders are sociopaths indifferent to the concerns or needs of either people or animals, driven by a need to accumulate and control animals. Sometimes the hoarder calls her collection a shelter or animal refuge.
Collecting and hoarding behaviour by people with Asperger syndrome may reflect such underlying difficulties in their sense of self rather than being symptoms of comorbid mental illness.
As many as 1 in 5 adults with ADHD could have significant hoarding symptoms. Summary: New research has found that people with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are significantly more likely to also exhibit hoarding behaviors, which can have a serious impact on their quality of life.
Does hoarding disorder run in families? Yes, hoarding disorder is more common among people who have a family member who has hoarding disorder. The cause of hoarding disorder remains unknown.
Two of the most common forms are cat hoarding and dog hoarding. However, a person can hoard any animal.
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 behaviors can begin as early as the teenage years, although the average age of a person seeking treatment for hoarding is about 50. Hoarders often endure a lifelong struggle with hoarding. They tend to live alone and may have a family member with the problem.
Signs of compulsive hoarding include always having clutter, showing emotional distress disposing of items, not inviting others over, having a shopping addiction, not allowing others to touch or borrow their possessions, having multiple pets, and constantly talking about their collection.
People may begin to hoard when they are dealing with the loss of a loved one, going through a divorce, being evicted or losing one's possessions in a fire or flood. Other risk factors include social isolation, withdrawal from society and family, and being lonely and wanting to keep personal items around them.
Parents might feel glued to their "stuff." But hoarding can become child abuse. Children growing up with an alcoholic parent may feel neglected. When they get older, they may be furious that they had to live with a shameful secret.