What Turns People Into Hoarders?

We've seen it on TV for years, but only now is hoarding being recognized as a real disorder. Anthony looks at what this could mean for the estimated 15 million (!) hoarders across the United States.

Read More:

The Scientific Reason You Won't Throw Your Stuff Away
"Emerging research on hoarding classifies it as its own distinctive disorder, separate from OCD."

Why Do You Hoard?
"Most of us have a friend, a relative, or a neighbor who seems to pack his or her home with unnecessary stuff. Researchers are just beginning to understand why."

Brain Scans of Hoarders Reveal Why They Never De-Clutter
"Jill, a 60-year-old woman in Milwaukee, has overcome extreme poverty."

Brain Hubs Boil When Hoarders Face Pitching Their Own Stuff
"In patients with hoarding disorder, parts of a decision-making brain circuit under-activated when dealing with others' possessions, but over-activated when deciding whether to keep or discard their own things, a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded study has found. NIMH is part of the National Institutes of Health."

Neural Mechanisms of Decision Making in Hoarding Disorder
"Hoarding disorder (HD), previously considered a subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), has been proposed as a unique diagnostic entity in DSM-5."

The Newest Edition of Psychiatry's "Bible," the DSM-5, Is Complete
"The APA has finished revising the DSM and will publish the manual's fifth edition in May 2013. Here's what to expect."

Course and Causes of Hoarding

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[TheRusscarr]

I took 4 pick up loads to the dump, 2 days later I could not recall what I threw away, liberating to free yourself from stuff.

[vermilliongecko]

I am bordering on being a hoarder, and I think it's because I've lost an awful lot of people that I love in my life, so I hold onto things to remind me of people in case I lose them.

[vkushima]

The scary thing is, if hoarding is categorized as a disability, hoarders will be protected in that a landlord will not be allowed to evict a hoarder when they are destroying their house. Cities will be barred from prosecuting hoarders when they destroy entire neighborhoods with their garbage that attracts rats and bugs.

[matthewcraig]

I have a friend who is a hoarder- worried keeper. He has numerous storage units filled to the brim of random stuff he thinks is important for the future. I've tried to confront him many times. But he won't listen. It gets especially frustrating when I get up in the morning and have to see him in the mirror.

[briepruett]

I just cleaned up my house and threw away about 5 years of mail. it's just harder parting with clothes. I was homeless when I was a teenager so I get sentimental with some stuff. The mail was because I was lazy.

[richardtallent]

It's hell being married to a hoarder! Plus married into a family of them!

[Original_Tenshi_Chan]

My "mom" drives me INSANE with her hoarding tendencies! She hoards EVERYTHING! She bought a box fan 15+ years ago, and she kept the box it came in, all the packing materials it came with AND the receipts, "Just in case". She's kept junk mail, old bills, old store flyers, etc in boxes in a spare walk in closet for 10 years! She even hoards medicine. She has 8 year past expiration inhalers and pills. Basically, she lives in a 2000 square foot, 3 bedroom house, and only has about 5 feet of "living" space because of all her junk. Even the yard of her house is jam packed with trash, to the point the county has threatened to condemn her house if she doesn't clean it up.
And god forbid if you touch any of her trash or try to throw it away. She will actually try to stab you! O_O
And I would like to say, if it's genetic, I'm glad it skipped me, because I am the exact opposite. I live minimally- If I've gone a year without using something (with exceptions of course) then I throw it out, because obviously, I don't need it. -_-

[cloudsplitter]

I believe it's related to depression and the connection with self esteem.

[SingPrayPaint]

My husband is a hoarder & I'm ready to file for divorce! He had a nominal amount of (tools/auto parts) when we married & swore that he was in the process of dumping (selling) it, but instead, he has increased his "treasures" exponentially. He gets angry when I tell him, "I need space in the garage, for..." & cannot understand why. Well, because It's nice to have a surplus pantry, a place for our folding tables, chairs, bicycles, Christmas deco, gardening tools, etc. If I remain silent for any amount of time, he thinks I've forgotten about it & does nothing; if I get upset (after weeks of silence), he flips out & says he's tired of me & he's tempted to leave & never come back! (I'm tempted to let him...maybe I could throw out a lot) After 25 years, I've had it! I gave up painting pictures, playing the piano & guitar & having visitors because I cannot clean the house because his crap has overflowed from the another 10 acres in another town...into our home! My stress brought on a horrible case of shingles 3 years ago & I have suffered from chronic pain since. Any suggestions? Ahem.

[PoseidonJeus]

I'm a hoarder who is trying to live a minimalistic life

[Xarr]

My mom threatened me saying she would call the police when she found out we threw away a ziplock full of wrapped capri sun straws...
A year later I moved out and when I went back for vacation she had taken over my room, was sleeping on the side of my bed since she filled it with stuff, and her old sleeping place, the couch, had an avalanche of stuff over it. The house is practically unlivable now; getting from a room to the kitchen feels like an obstacle track.

[DigitalKurono]

I only hoard items that have sentimental value to me...problem is, I get emotionally attached fairly quickly

[ColemanOutdoors]

My wife is a hoarder. It sucks living with a hoarder.

[dlewis]

I am reading a lot of "I am not a hoarder in the responses. If you need to say "but" then you are. You may not be extreme, you may be a 2 or 4 on the scale compared to a 9/10 in those shows. Anyway in order to get better you have to accept it the label and fight hard to free yourself from stuff.

[Tina]

Everyone in my family of origin is a hoarder, including myself, to one degree or another. It gets worse with age, both because you have so much more “history” attached to the things in your house, and eventually because you become too old and weak to actually shift the really obviously worthless stuff into the trash and off of the property.

[purplefriendz]

I'm a bit of a hoarder. My room is excessively messy. It's not food messy, but clutter messy. I have tons of childhood books and toys. I also have tons of books that I can't bring myself to part with or want to read. I must have gotten this from my dad. He has so many bookcases that they take over rooms. He'll regularly be building a bookcase and I'll ask him where it's going. He'll say, "I don't know." He cannot give up books....

[kirkinfleffer]

I have hoarding tendencies along with my paternal grandfather, my maternal grandmother, and probably my dad. We all attribute sentimental value to our things but we justify it because it'll be useful later. Hilariously enough it has it just took us ten years for it to come in handy.

[morriswilburn]

Most of the hoarders who are featured in the TV series seem to me to be of two types. One is people who are psychologically depressed and have given up. The others actually are compulsive hoarders. These are people for whom hoarding gives them a feeling of control over their lives. Many of these people began hoarding after the death of a loved one or some other loss. But I am puzzled by how surrounding themselves with junk and trash gives them a feeling of control over their lives.

[stephanieinthewild]

Hoarding can happen when one loses control of their life, feels helpless or forgot how to survive, or seriously depressed. It can also start from collecting then works up to finding things for free then hoarding of things one doesn't need and/or trash thinking it can be recycled yet does not recycle it and keeps it. I have lived in a situation with people who had big enough house but just couldn't see the mess they were piling them self in. I'm disabled. Have herniated disk, tumor behind eye history, sleep disorder and another disorder. I am in pain everyday. I helped even in pain and got barked at after injurying myself further trying to clear some of it. Wanted to feel useful and do good but it was not seen as that. I was left to feel like criminal basically because I went on side of the house after dumping endless pounds of trash and put recyclables out to be recycled. I was questioned what I was doing. The hoarder feels embarrassed. How am I supposed to help if I can't be trusted near even trash that has been sitting outside for months on end, probably even up to a few years? The littlest thing gets questioned or they'd get frustrated over it. Two adults in the house that are hoarders!!! You can't win this situation for their sake. I was told they needed help but it turns into drama series. Obviously this is family and it hurts knowing their stuff more important than family!!!

[PeekaPeep]

My mother is one of those "impulsive acquirers" that guy in the vid brought up, except she took it to such a level that if you put a collective price tag on EVERYTHING she ever bought just on sheer impulse (aka "The High of the Buy") she could've easily put me and my two brothers through college without us having to take out a SINGLE student loan. Yeah, what she did was absolutely atrocious and my father equally shares the blame for allowing it to go on for so damn long. That's really the worst thing you can do to a hoarder, aside from cleaning up behind their back (they REALLY go off when you do that, lol). NEVER support a hoader's habit by taking a passive stance! Either cut the cord with them or force them to get professional help. It's a mental health disorder, meaning it's imperative they get medical treatment ASAP!