Compulsive Hoarding Video Analysis

Hoarding is not currently considered an illness on its own right. Compulsive hoarding has been treated as symptom or subtype of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (Cluttergone).

Compulsive Hoarding also known as hoarding disorder, syllogomania, and disposophobia dates all the way back to a Smith College psychology laboratory. One reference of hoarding

As hoarding appears in a variety of fashions, the actual items being hoarded are also variable. Items that a normal person may collect out of sport are typically hoarded in excessive amounts, such as stamps or tax records. Commonly hoarded items of compulsive sufferers include excessive amounts of papers or documents, such as brochures, junk mail, newspapers, wrappers, and shopping lists. More often than not, these items are of very little realistic importance (Claiborn). Because hoarding is often either directly or indirectly associated with a person’s inability to let go, items such as food products, clothing, books, craft materials, or even broken items that need to be fixed are commonly stockpiled. In the reality-warped mind of a hoarder, each of these items is of significant value and could be put to future use in some way. Therefore, it is absolutely imperative that the items be saved and never discarded (Claiborn).

With that being said, this study also found that the participants who have a hoarding disorder, took a lot more time to make a decision about throwing out their possessions than did the others. They felt the feelings of distress and anxiety when faced with the decision making

Black DW, Monahan P, Gable J, et al (1998) Hoarding and treatment response in non-depressed subjects with obsessive compulsive disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry ; 59:420–5.

Hoarding has been associated with health risks, impairment in functioning, and economic burden (e.g. see Diefenbach, DiMauro, Frost, Steketee & Tolin, 2013). Hoarding has been related to increased occupational impairment, such as cluttered work environment, increased psychiatric work impairment days, and an elevated risk of employment termination (Tolin, Frost, Steketee, Gray & Fitch, 2008a). Hoarders and their family members are approximately three times as likely to be overweight or obese, more likely to report an increased range of chronic and severe medical issues, and used mental health services five times more often than the general population (Tolin et al., 2008a). Hoarding has also been linked with family distress, strained relationships, and dysfunction (Tolin, Frost, Steketee & Fitcha, 2008b). Moreover, non-hoarding children who experienced a severely cluttered environment during early childhood have been associated with increased childhood distress, such as difficulty making friends, reduced social contact in the home, less happiness, and embarrassment about the condition of the home (Tolin et al., 2008b). Furthermore, hoarding has been linked to increased risk of fire, falls, poor hygiene, infestation, and eviction (Diefenbach et al., 2013;

There have been assumptions and conclusions made that led to the addition of hoarding disorder in the DSM-5. Hoarding was originally a part of the diagnostic criteria for Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, yet frequently linked to Obsessive- compulsive disorder because people with OCD may have experienced symptoms of hoarding. The association between these two can be explained by the relationships between obsessions and compulsions, and the purpose of hoarding. In terms of hoarding, obsessions are described as the fear or feelings of anxiety that results from losing sentimental value of an object. Compulsions are meant to ease the anxious feelings with hoarding behaviors, in which a person will save nonsense objects and attach sentimental

Thirty-eight percent reported disposing of toys and children’s clothes, but this was virtually all of those households with children. Only 17% of respondents had disposed of records, CDs, and tapes. ‘Other-type’ goods cited included soft furnishings, white goods, ornaments, crockery, and cutlery—none of which was cited by any more than 2% of the sample.

The effects of hoarding can include “severe clutter threatens the health and safety of those living in or near the home, causing health problems, structural damage, fire and even death; expensive and emotionally devastating evictions or other court actions can lead to hospitalizations or homelessness; and conflict with family members and friends who are frustrated and concerned about the state of the home and the hoarding behaviors (Bratiotis, Otte & etc., 2009).

Ever since getting a credit card, online shopping has become a bit of an unhealthy habit of mine. For hours, I could browse Amazon and Ebay, craving for an amazing, life-changing deal. Despite this initial desire to obtain new material objects like clothing and vinyl records, often the luster of the purchase and affection towards the items wears off quickly over time, creating another void for the online purchasing cycle to fill again. Hence in the reading of Randy O. Frost’s and Gail Steketee’s book Stuff, I found the section pertaining to the difference between materialism and hoarding to be immensely interesting, as a fairly materialistic person myself.

The most distinctive characteristics of individuals with compulsive hoarding is when they begin to collect an abnormal amount of a particular item or items because they are unable to get rid of them. “These behaviors result in an accumulation of possessions that clutter the active living areas of the home, workplace, yard, or vehicles, preventing normal use of the space (Murphy, 2014 p.21)”. These individuals may suffer severe distress when struggling to throw items away or have a hard time deciding whether or not to keep them. They may suffer from paranoia, believing that others are touching their possessions or that they might have discarded it by accident. Depending on the item they are having a hard time departing with, they will have obsessive

or wash and fear of germs, and cases of hoarding are examples of OCD behaviour. Throughout

According to the psychologist Christian Jarrett, who wrote the article, “Why do we collect things?” in November of 2017, some of the reasons can be because of love, anxiety, or desire. An explanation for collecting is that unloved children learn to seek comfort in accumulating belongings; another is that collecting is motivated by existential anxieties- the collection, becomes an extension of our identity, lives on, even though we do

ased on all the information that I’ve learned in the class and in the texted book. Now understanding more about mnemonics was difficult for me, but being in class and watching the video, explains it better for me. Putting meaning to word or sentences that I can relate to will help me remember things better in the long-term. For explain when the Ron White the memory champion, talking about the man with the big nose, I thought it was funny. It reminded me a friend of mind and now I can relate to that. Watching him pick out things that he saw in people like the color of their outfit or a small detail in their appearance. I will be able to use the same tricks in my studying for the next exam.

Hoarding is defined as the acquirement of, and inability to discard worthless items even though they appear to have no value. Hoarding behaviors can occur in a variety of psychiatric disorders and in the normal population, but are most commonly found in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Those people who report compulsive hoarding as their primary type of OCD, who experience significant distress or functional impairment from their hoarding, and who also have symptoms of indecisiveness, procrastination, and avoidance, are classified as having compulsive hoarding syndrome (www.ocfoundation.com). An estimated 700,000 to 1.4 million people in the United States are thought to have compulsive hoarding syndrome.