Hoarding

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Individuals with the OCD subtype called "Hoarding" compulsively acquire things that seem to be of little use to the average person. Patients who hoard have great difficulty discarding these objects. This compulsive acquisition results in major impairment to the sufferer due to the massive amount of clutter that physically builds up around them in their home, office, or car. Hoarding can ever take over a person's ability to function normally with computer and other media equipment (e.g. ten drives of storage on a home computer).

Common things that may be hoarded:

• stacks of newspaper
• old magazines
• used food containers
• expired food
• mail
• animals
• phone and email messages
• text messages, web pages, computer files, pictures

It is common for sufferers to use places like showers, bathtubs, or ovens as extra storage space.

Obsessional fears reported by hoarders

• fear of losing items which may be needed later
• beliefs about the importance of material possessions
• difficulties with decision making and organization
• procrastination and avoidance
• perfectionism

Hoarding as a Separate Disorder

Many researchers have concluded that "Hoarding" is a separate disorder from OCD. Hoarders tend to have fewer intrusive thoughts and fewer urges to perform rituals than sufferers of different OCD subtypes experience. They are typically content with living with their hoarded possessions until family and friends attempt to intervene. They may only become anxious when faced with the possibility of losing their things.