Hoarding has been the subject of considerable media interest in recent years. Remarkably, until the early 1990s very little research has been devoted to the topic. Since then, however, a considerable body of research has been published. This research culminated in the inclusion of hoarding disorder in the 2013 revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). The DSM-5 is the classification scheme for emotional and psychiatric disorders. For hoarding disorder the diagnosis focuses on the saving or difficulty letting go of so many possessions that living areas of the home are difficult or impossible to use because of the clutter.
The general features of hoarding include excessive acquisition, difficulty discarding or letting go of possession (e.g., selling, donating, etc.), and the inability to keep the possessions organized. The result it that most of them end up in a cluttered pile in the middle of the room. The consequences of this behavior can be quite severe. From a safety standpoint, there are risks of fire, falling, and difficulties for emergency personnel in reaching someone with a health emergency. The most serious of these are the risks and consequences of fire. A recent study of hoarding-related fires done through the Melbourne Fire Brigade found that despite a low frequency of such fires (less than 1% of residential house fires), these fires account for nearly one quarter of fire-related deaths. In addition, the costs of such fires were substantially greater than non-hoarding related ones.
A recent study of hoarding-related fires done through the Melbourne Fire Brigade found ... these fires account for nearly one quarter of fire-related deaths.
Beyond safety risks, hoarding is associated with other negative consequences. It is associated with considerable family burden. Social service agencies have removed children, elders, and pets from homes that are so severely cluttered that they are unsafe or unhealthy. Children growing up in such environments show considerable negative consequences later in life, especially if they lived in the cluttered home before the age of 10.
It is difficult for most people to understand the inability to discard what appears to be useless or unneeded possessions. No amount of cajoling or pressure seems to reduce the hoarding. Sometimes family members resort to getting rid of loved ones’ possessions without their knowledge. The resulting interpersonal conflict is usually very intense. Consequently, family members of people with hoarding disorder develop high levels of frustration and hostility toward their hoarding loved one.
It is no surprise that hoarding is associated with more broken families and more hoarding individuals living alone. Unfortunately, when someone with hoarding disorder lives alone, the clutter gets worse. Hoarding also increases the risk of homelessness. People suffering from HD sometimes have just enough money to store their possessions and not enough to house themselves.
Hoarding has other financial consequences as well. Recent research suggests that hoarding interferes with work performance. Difficulty finding things in the clutter often results in financial difficulties when bills are not paid and income tax forms are not filed. Beyond the impact on the person with hoarding disorder, hoarding cases involve considerable costs to agencies dealing with them. In our research, nearly 80% of hoarding cases investigated by health departments also included involvement by other agencies. The San Francisco Task Force on Compulsive Hoarding, published in 2009, estimated the costs of hoarding to the city agencies and landlords to exceed 6 million dollars annually.
Support services attempt to help a hoarder clean their home. Source: Insight
Quality of life is severely impaired for most people with HD. The normal activities of daily living such as being able to sit on a couch or eat at a table, are severely curtailed. When squalid conditions occur, as they do in a small number of hoarding cases, they can interfere with personal hygiene and create significant health problems.
We have seen examples of hoarding in all cultures, regardless of the level of materialism in that culture.
Studies of the prevalence of hoarding have uncovered remarkable findings. Serious hoarding problems occur in between 2 and 5% of the population. My own beginning in this area in 1990 reflected this. I placed an ad in the newspaper looking for someone who considered him or herself to be a “packrat” or “chronic saver”. My intention was to find one person to interview for a new project on this behavior. I was shocked when I received over 100 phone calls. Though none of the prevalence studies have been done in under-developed countries, we have seen examples of hoarding in all cultures, regardless of the level of materialism in that culture.
Hoarding seems to influence men and women at about the same rate. It is more apparent among the elderly, though the excessive saving behaviors appear to start early in life. Exactly what causes it is the subject of considerable research at the moment. We know some things about why it occurs, but much of it still remains a mystery.
Prof. Randy Frost is a guest on Insight's Hoarders, looking at why we attach meaning to our things | Catch up online now:
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