Compulsive Hoarding Research Paper

Hoarding: The Obsessive Compulsion to Collect Anything and Everything

Many people might claim that they know of someone who can be classified as a “pack-rat.” This type of individual usually has an accumulation of seemingly unnecessary items and refuses to discard them. These items may be a pile of clothes that have not been worn in years or a stack of books that are unlikely to be read. When confronted, this type of individual might claim that these items cannot be thrown away due to their “sentimental value” and/or “potential usefulness”. In many instances, the accumulation of superfluous items by this type of individual isn’t a serious problem that inhibits him or her from living a normal functional life. However, for some individuals that

Many people that know compulsive hoarders lack understanding of the reasoning behind the hoarders’ rather perplexing behavior. There are many questions regarding the subject of compulsive hoarding: What is compulsive hoarding disorder? What causes compulsive hoarding? To what extent can compulsive hoarding disorder be treated? Compulsive hoarding is a type of behavior characterized by three main features: 1) the accumulation of and failure to discard a large number of seemingly useless objects, 2) extensive clutter in living spaces that prevents the initially intended use of the space, and 3) significant impairment caused by hoarding (Bratiotis et al. 4). There are a number of potential causes for hoarding; however, it appears to me that the primary cause for the disorder is traumatic events in an individual’s life, such as the sudden, unexpected death of a loved one, sexual and/or physical abuse, community violence, etc. These traumatizing life events can lead an individual to doubt their sense of security, thus causing him or her to resort to self-medication through excessive acquiring (Frost and Steketee

Experts on the disorder suggest that causes for compulsive hoarding include, but are not limited to: 1) difficulty processing information, 2) strong beliefs about the value of possessions, and 3) the emotional distress associated with discarding the possessions, possibly due to a traumatic life event (“Hoarding: A Compulsive Mental Disorder”). I believe that traumatic life events are the greatest cause of compulsive hoarding behavior. In most cases, hoarders’ claim that there was some type of trauma that triggered their compulsive behavior. Such events can include the death of a friend or family member, domestic violence, physical and/or sexual abuse, etc. These events cause hoarders a great deal of pain, instills trust issues in the individual and makes them doubt their sense of security. As a result, hoarders turn to excessive acquiring as a way of coping with unbearable pain they feel. Many hoarders claim that they experience a “rush” or a “high” when they acquire new items--especially if the item is free or on sale (Slanzi). This pleasurable feeling serves as a distraction from the bad thoughts associated with previous traumatic events: “Accumulating “stuff” fills the emotional hole left by the trauma and allows individuals to avoid dealing with the pain” (Slanzi). However, this form of self-medication is only a temporary fix and hardly serves a truly beneficial purpose; eventually,