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Recently, the need to save and accumulate items, known as hoarding, has been added to the American Psychiatric Association’s classification system: the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5).
People diagnosed with hoarding disorder persistently feel they must save items and experience great distress if they attempt to discard them. This results in an extreme accumulation of items that consumes their lives and living areas.
This obsessive-compulsive pattern causes the individual significant distress, and may greatly impair their personal, social or occupational functioning. (Frost et al., 2012; Mtaix-Cols & Pertusa, 2012) It is common for them to end up with large amounts of useless and valueless items, ranging from mountains of junk to broken objects to unused clothing. Portions of their homes may become inaccessible as a result of the clutter. For example, stacked sofas and kitchen appliances, or beds, televisions, autos and parts that are unuseable. In addition, the pattern often results in fire hazards, unhealthful sanitary conditions or other dangers.
The key task for people with hoarding disorder is to accept responsibility for themselves and to understand their distorted habits are dangerous, unhealthy and annoying. They should be encouraged to replace their hobby with new activities.
This report is not a diagnosis. We hope this information can guide you toward improving your life.
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