Severe hoarding afflicts about one in every fifty people. 
Their compulsion causes the hoarders to suffer mentally, emotionally, physically, and financially. Relationships seem to suffer the most as families and friends struggle to cope with their condition.

Hoarding

Health

Hoarding is a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Hoarding is accompanied by varying levels of anxiety and often, depression as well. Peculiar commonalities among hoarders include severe emotional attachment to inanimate objects and extreme anxiety when making decisions.

Hoarding is a type of OCD

Hoarding can be just a personal preference, but it can be viewed as a disorder when that behavior starts to negatively impact daily functioning. Symptoms of a hoarding disorder:
<ul>
<li>There is difficulty getting rid of possessions, regardless of their value or lack thereof.</li>
<li>The difficulty in discarding possessions is due to distress associated with getting rid of them.</li>
<li>The difficulty in discarding possessions leads to clutter and compromise of living spaces.</li>
<li>Hoarding creates clinically significant distress or impairment in functioning, including the ability to maintain a safe space.</li>
</ul>

Symptoms of a hoarding disorder

There are known risk factors that cause someone to become a hoarder, such as experiencing a traumatic event, persistent difficulty making decisions, and having a family member that is a hoarder.
Hoarding tendencies often emerge in adolescence. Many hoarders are also socially withdrawn and may hoard to find comfort.

Hoarding tendencies

<div>
Recently, the phenomenon known as hoarding has come into greater public awareness, propelled by graphic scenes on television showing homes crammed floor-to-ceiling with an astonishing amount of stuff. <a href="http://www.aetv.com/hoarders">A&amp;E's Hoarders</a> has shown not only that hoarding is a relatively widespread affliction-the International <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/ocd">OCD</a> Foundation estimates that one in every 50 people struggles with severe hoarding-but also that the public is fascinated by it.
Programs such as Hoarders and <a href="http://www.tlc.com/tv-shows/hoarding-buried-alive">TLC's Hoarding: Buried Alive</a> have featured shocking scenes of safety personnel in hazmat suits scoping out all manner of refuse and garbage, while a distraught hoarder pleads that every last bit of it is necessary. At times, a home is filled with so many <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/animal-behavior">pets</a> that they have become unclean, uncared for, and ill. Their compulsion causes the hoarders' mental, emotional, physical, and financial health to suffer. Most tragically, their relationships unravel as families and friends struggle to cope with their condition.
Hoarding is a type of <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/conditions/obsessive-compulsive-disorder">obsessive compulsive disorder</a> (OCD); it's estimated that about one in four people with OCD are also compulsive hoarders. But this categorization is being reevaluated, and it is possible that hoarding will eventually be considered its own diagnostic category. In the meantime, it's very real, and more and more people are opening up about the difficulty hoarding presents in their lives.
Without exception, hoarding is accompanied by varying levels of <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/anxiety">anxiety</a> and, often, <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/depression">depression</a> as well. Neuroimaging studies have revealed peculiar commonalities among hoarders including severe emotional <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/attachment">attachment</a> to inanimate objects and extreme anxiety when making decisions.
Hoarding both relieves anxiety and generates it. The more hoarders accumulate, the more insulated they feel from the world and its dangers. But of course, the more they accumulate, the more isolated they become from the outside world, including family and friends. Even the thought of discarding or cleaning out hoarded items produces extreme feelings of panic and discomfort.
It can be difficult to determine whether someone is a hoarder or just a pack rat, someone who just likes to hang on to things. The main determinant of whether a behavior is just a personal preference or a disorder usually has to do with whether, and how much, that behavior has begun to negatively impact daily functioning.
According to <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/dsm">DSM-5</a>, the following symptoms are diagnostic of hoarding disorder:

<ul>
	<li>There is persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions, regardless of their value or lack thereof.</li>
	<li>The difficulty in discarding possessions is due to distress associated with getting rid of them.</li>
	<li>The difficulty in discarding possessions leads to clutter of living spaces and compromises the use of living spaces.</li>
	<li>The hoarding creates clinically significant distress or impairment in functioning, including the ability to maintain a safe space.</li>
</ul>

What causes someone to become a hoarder? That's not entirely clear, although there are known risk factors such as experiencing a <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/trauma">traumatic</a> event; persistent difficulty making decisions; and having a family member who is a hoarder.
There are, however, some commonalities among hoarders. While severe hoarding is most common in middle-age, hoarding tendencies often emerge in <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/adolescence">adolescence</a>. Many hoarders are also socially withdrawn or isolated, and may begin to hoard as a way to find comfort.
Researchers continue to search for effective treatments for hoarding, while Americans continue to be captivated by extreme accumulation on TV. In a culture awash in anxiety, worry, and <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/fear">fear</a>, if accumulating things becomes a way to deflect and manage those feelings, the stack is likely to get bigger and bigger.
</div>

Recently, the phenomenon known as hoarding has come into greater public awareness, propelled by graphic scenes on television showing homes crammed floor-to-ceiling with an astonishing amount of stuff. A&E's Hoarders has shown not only that hoarding is a relatively widespread affliction-the International OCD Foundation estimates that one in every 50 people struggles with severe hoarding-but also that the public is fascinated by it.

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Bite‑sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career