Compulsive hoarding (or pathological hoarding) is a term which
is used to describe extreme hoarding behaviour in humans. It
involves the collection or failure to discard large numbers of
objects even when their storage causes significant clutter and
impairment to basic living activities such as moving around the
house, cooking, cleaning or sleeping. Hoarding rubbish may be
referred to as syllogomania.
Whilst there is no definition of compulsive hoarding in accepted
diagnostic criteria (such as the current DSM), Frost and Hartl1
provide the following defining features:
the acquisition of, and failure to discard, a large number of
possessions that appear to be useless or of limited value
living spaces sufficiently cluttered so as to preclude activities
for which those spaces were designed
significant distress of impairment in functioning caused by the
hoarding
Case study
The following case study is taken from a published account2 of
compulsive hoarding:
The client, D, lived with her two children, aged 11 and 14, and
described her current hoarding behaviour as a 'small problem that
mushroomed' many years ago, along with corresponding marital
difficulties. D reported that her father was a hoarder and that she
started saving when she was a child. In addition to hoarding, she
reported several other obsessive-compulsive symptoms, such as fear
of hurting others due to carelessness, an over-concern with dirt
and germs, a need for symmetry and a need to know or remember
things. D also suffered from a handwashing compulsion and engaged
in lengthy cleaning rituals of household items. The volume of
cluttered possessions took up approximately 70 per cent of the
living space in her house. With the exception of the bathroom, none
of the rooms in the house could easily be used for their intended
purpose. Both of the doors to the outside were blocked, so entry to
the house was through the garage and the kitchen, where the table
and chairs were covered with papers, newspapers, bills, books,
half-consumed bags of chips and her children's school papers dating
back ten years