What is Hoarding Disorder? | Is it different than OCD and Autism?

This video answers the questions: What is Hoarding Disorder? How can Hoarding Disorder be differentiated from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD), and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)?

Hoarding Disorder Criteria from DSM-5:

A: persistent difficulty discarding possessions, regardless of value
B: the difficulty we see with criterion A is due to a perceived need to save the items and to distress associated with discarding those items
C: the difficulty results in the accumulation of possessions that congest and clutter active living areas and substantially compromises their intended use. If living areas are uncluttered it’s only because of third-party intervention, like family members
D: clinically significant distress
E: not attributable to a medical condition like a brain injury
F: not explained by the symptoms of another mental disorder like OCD, MDD, schizophrenia, or autism
specifiers: with excessive acquisition, with good or fair insight, with poor insight, with absent insight/delusional beliefs

References:

Raines, A. M., Oglesby, M. E., Allan, N. P., Short, N. A., & Schmidt, N. B. (2016). Understanding DSM-5 Hoarding Disorder: A Triple Vulnerability Model. Psychiatry, 79(2), 120–129.

DOBRIAN, J. (2015). HOARDING DISORDER: The TEN TON PROBLEM & THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM. Journal of Property Management, 17–21.

Behaviour Research and Therapy 44 (2006) 1503–1512Shorter communicationThe hoarding dimension of OCD: Psychological comorbidityand the five-factor personality modelV. Holland LaSalle-Riccia,b,, Diane B. Arnkoffa, Carol R. Glassa,Sarah A. Crawleya,b, Jonne G. Ronquilloa,b, Dennis L. Murphyb

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[alicefielding]

This stuff runs in my family like crazy. I'm glad your introduction to it is accurate and non-sensationalized.

[LL-ljkq]

I had this with my mother for years. Dear God it was a constant source of argument since she lived with me.she would verbally accuse me of being all manner of evil. At 81 she went in to nursing home care. The freedom I felt was unbelievable. Tragic waste .

[budster]

I am a sentimental hoarder. My husband died at 53 and I kept his stuff and really was shopping a lot. I have decided to declutter. Thousands of pictures, baby clothes, a box of school work for every year for 4 kids, (52 boxes) so I just started tossing things. I feel better, but furniture and antiques are harder to donate.. I think depression and traumatic loss increased my hoarding, now I take pictures of things I am getting rid of and I feel better. Dr. Grande is awesome!!

[MultiCappie]

Dear Dr. Grande: but is it hoarding if I just don't go through my stuff because I'm too busy watching scientifically informed insider looks at mental health topics online?

[charliecharlton]

Thank you! My husband has this and it's highly annoying. I can throw nothing away unless it's in his absence. He hoards things he buys in charity shops, electronic items that are not working, plastic containers and glass jars. Clutters everywhere. 🙈 I had to move out of his room because of all the trash.

[autumnedwards]

I have watched several episodes of hoarders and this is a very sad disorder. I felt that the show was exploiting these poor people. But your analysis Dr Grande is much appreciated. I've always found this topic to be interesting so thanks for the breakdown!❤

[bricy]

My grandmother had some hoarding tendencies, her house was fairly clean but she would always hold on to half-eaten food, fast food containers and cups, napkins, plastic forks and stuff like that. Her basement was filled with old stuff that had accumulated through the years. Now even in her retirement home she holds all the food she doesn't eat and tries to give it to us when we visit.


I always thought that she was like this because of her growing up in the Great Depression (she was born in 1930). I wonder if childhood poverty has anything to do with Hoarding Disorder?


I know that trauma can cause hoarding like a coping mechanism, when they lose someone or feel empty they start to hold on to physical items to fill that void.


Interesting video as always Dr. Grande!

[alih]

If you ever want to do a video about the trauma and other psychological implications that entail from having and living with a parent who had hoarding disorder then I'd love to share my own experience with you! My childhood was fairly messed up but I believe a huge part of feeling like an outsider, embarrassment and even shame from a young age was due to the state of the home I grew up in, and ultimately not having any control over it. Please feel free to get in touch if you'd like to discuss anything around this subject :)

[franmellor]

A great breakdown of this interesting disorder

[fthighgetlifted]

my grandma has this problem. People give her stuff all the time because she can't afford a lot but then she doesn't throw stuff away. I think trauma is a factor

[ethorii]

My mom buys dozens and dozens of clothing items from QVC and catalogs, and let them pile up around her house without opening. She always justifies and deflects and won't stop. It's a waste of thousands of dollars and there isn't any way we can see to stop it. I suggested to my dad that he get a separate bank account, as he earns 90%of the money, and she overheard me and physically assaulted me. Seriously. This sounds trashy, but both my parents are university grads and live in a good neighborhood.

[tuutts]

Another informative and scary video.

My mother is a hoarder and it’s causing a multitude of problems.

So much so that she may get evicted from her apartment.

Wish me luck y’all.

[asherspira]

I had to clean up someone's desk at work who may have had hoarding disorder. I found a sandwich in an envelope, inside a bigger envelope, inside an even bigger envelope etc etc 6 envelopes up allong with years of newspapers and real estate brochures. It was amusing when I was younger but now it's heartbreaking to think about.

[davidking]

The OCD in hoarding is in that they don't like the stuff being moved from the location that they first put it. If you move anything, they are distressed and put it back in it's correct position. The stuff is the center of their lives, but they don't seem to need to organize it or take care of it, it just is and needs to be. Their stuff somehow takes on an emotional connection.

[tobiwalker]

After having been homeless I had a very hard time throwing anything away. After losing so much that I valued it became hard to tell what had value. When my income stabilized and I became able to purchase what I needed, it seemed easier to throw away items of marginal value, like old clothes or plastic containers. But for a while there, it was very hard to discard anything at all.
My mother, who had been an excellent housekeeper for most of her life, began hoarding after her partner died -- they'd been moderate hoarders together but she no longer had the income to maintain outbuildings and her hoard took over her new, smaller house. My brother also hoarded and when he moved in with her, he hoarded vehicles. By the time she died and the house was foreclosed upon, it had been destroyed...

[SHurd-rcgo]

Tried to watch a TV program about hoarders, but couldn't get past a couple of episodes. I myself am definitely on the minimalist spectrum. But my heart goes out to the people who struggle with this illness. Thank you, Dr Grande.

[AntonSlavik]

No comment on the fear of death? I've watched a few of these hoarders shows out of morbid curiousity and they routinely made a note that the subject of the episode started hoarding after the loss of a loved one. I pair that with my own self-knowledge and I reckon this must be a consistent factor. Not that bereavement causes hoarding, but that it's a trigger for someone predisposed to it

[sciguy]

Another really thoughtful and interesting video. Both my parents have hoarding tendencies, especially my father; there tends to be hoarding on his side of the family. I'm autistic but fall into your definition of a collector. Perhaps in opposition to my parents, I like a Zen like atmosphere with very little clutter; it feels good to throw things out or give things away.

[lorimav]

I believe the factors that Dr. Grande dismissed regarding poverty are, in fact, relevant. I believe that I am a minor hoarder. The main level of this house as about an average amount of stuff but the basement is filled to capacity with stuff. I do not hoard old food, pets, magazines or plastic containers and am not a collector. Poverty can affect your amount of free time, your energy and your perceived ability to be able to just throw out or donate things. I grew up in an affluent family but of people who had been poor and they were mild hoarders, never throwing anything useful out, always selling or donating good stuff. I did learn from them always to donate good things because "someone could use them." Once I started to live on a fixed income because I am a widow who cares for an adult child with special needs my hoarding increased, not from trauma but from low income. At one time my garage and basement stored 4 washers and dryers and one refrigerator that relatives gave me when they moved and couldn't take theirs but in the course of 10 years I had to use everyone of them. This would have saved me at least $2000+ in replacement costs, more than a month of income. I wish I had more now because I just replaced a washing machine for $600. When you don't have money you look at stuff differently. When my sister in law offered me a set of china that she got from a neighbor I tried to give it away but no family wanted it. I went to check it's value. It is worth a few hundred dollars so down in the basement it will go after I take a picture for an ebay listing. I could have donated it but I need the money. I hoard all of my old clothes that are a size smaller. I have lost weight before and needed that size again if only for a year or two. People say just buy some new clothes when you loose weight. Clothes are expensive and I have neither the time nor the money to shop for a new wardrobe. My current wardrobe is probably a fraction of most people's. I hoard the old push mower because who knows when the riding mower will break down again and I may not have a couple thousand to replace it and might need to mow an 1 1/3 acres for a few years again with a push mower. If someone offered me a second working push mower I might even accept that in case the old push mower goes and I have to replace it that one for a couple of hundred. Low income can be a factor for more reasons than just trauma. I don't believe that I have suffered from much trauma, just lack of time and money. If you don't have the cash how do your afford to hire the organizational coach or the therapist or even the take out food that might save you an hour or so of cooking and clean up that might gain you some time for dealing with your hoard?

[RockawayCCW]

In my grandmother's case, I think her hoarding disorder was caused by living thru the great depression.