Hoarding disorder
Hoarding disorder (HD) or Plyushkin's disorder, is a mental disorder characterised by persistent difficulty in parting with possessions and engaging in excessive acquisition of items that are not needed or for which no space is available. This results in severely cluttered living spaces, distress, and impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. Excessive acquisition is characterized by repetitive urges or behaviours related to amassing or buying property. Difficulty discarding possessions is characterized by a perceived need to save items and distress associated with discarding them. Accumulation of possessions results in living spaces becoming cluttered to the point that their use or safety is compromised. It is recognised by the eleventh revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5).
| Hoarding disorder | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Compulsive hoarding |
| Compulsive hoarding in an apartment | |
| Specialty | Psychiatry, clinical psychology |
| Symptoms | Excessive acquisition, Perceived need to save possessions, Persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions, regardless of their actual value, Intense urge to keep items and distress when getting rid of them. |
| Usual onset | Ages 11–15 |
| Duration | Chronic |
| Causes | Not clear, possibly genetic, and stressful life experiences |
| Risk factors | Traumatic events |
| Diagnostic method | ICD-10-CM Code F42.3, DSM-5 300.3 (F42) |
| Treatment | Psychotherapy |
| Prognosis | Progressive |
| Frequency | UK: 2–5% of population US: Up to 6% GER: c. 1.8 million |
Prevalence rates are estimated at 2% to 5% in adults, though the condition typically manifests in childhood with symptoms worsening in advanced age, at which point collected items have grown excessive and family members who would otherwise help to maintain and control the levels of clutter have either died or moved away.
People with hoarding disorder commonly live with other complex and/or psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Other factors often associated with hoarding include alcohol dependence and paranoid, schizotypal and avoidance traits.