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This is a pretty complex topic (as most disorders are), there is also a condition called Oniomania (greek onio (for sale) and mania (insanity). It involves uncontrollable urge to buy stuff (CBD compulsive buying disorder).
Not in the DSM but recognized as a disorder when it results in personal or financial difficulty. This condition is usually included in the Diagnosis of OCD NOS (not otherwise specified).
Spending a lot of money on unneeded things is a condition of bi polar ( 1 and 2) and the mania that goes with it. Like other have said, hoarding is complex and there is not one reason why people do it. As for me, all of my earthy possessions fit in one bedroom and it's closet. And actually, not all of the furniture in here is actually mine.
Again...having accumulated a lot of stuff over 40-50 years of living in a house isn't "a disorder." It's just that THIS generation doesn't value what THAT generation saved...
I would argue that one doesn't NEED a new phone every time they make it possible to upgrade, yet I don't see buying a new one every six months being labeled "a disorder."
It's not hoarding just because there's more stuff than someone else would have. I think it's hoarding when it's more than you can take care of, or it's in the way or you can't use the space for its intended purpose.
I don't personally get some women's obsession with shoes, especially pairs that are all but unwearable, but that doesn't make it a hoard.
This is a valid point. People used to collect coins or stamps, and no one considered this behavior hoarding. People who collect books or art are usually respected. Hoarding behavior causes harm to the hoarder, however. The hoarder cannot move safely around her house, or around his yard. Repair people cannot enter to do work. Emergency personnel cannot enter, if needed.
An example: there was a serious house fire at a rural property in this area, and the fire fighters could not approach the house because the family’s hoard surrounded it.
If some folks don’t understand why others keep holiday decorations, or books, or in my case, art supplies, that does not mean the accumulations are hoards. When an accumulation of items overwhelm one’s living space, I think it can legitimately be called a hoard.
what about people who hoard Garbage and expired food? If you watch the show hoarders you see some homes with empty pizza boxes, soda bottles, a rotted refrigerator with spoiled food. There is no excuse for that and I know Hoarding is a part of mental illness. I know that even with extreme hoarders they can't even get rid of a piece of paper.
Owning well-organized possessions and/or collections, even if the next generation doesn't understand why you value them, isn't "hoarding." Nor, really, are the piles of garbage you see on the floor in those shows; that's gotta be major depression.
These are the two extreme ends of the spectrum, and true hoarding (compulsive buying resulting in possessions piled up to the ceiling) is somewhere in the middle.
what about people who hoard Garbage and expired food? If you watch the show hoarders you see some homes with empty pizza boxes, soda bottles, a rotted refrigerator with spoiled food. There is no excuse for that and I know Hoarding is a part of mental illness. I know that even with extreme hoarders they can't even get rid of a piece of paper.
I think they cannot throw things away because of anxiety or depression or some other mental glitch. Possibly there is cognitive impairment, or low IQ. I also suspect that this condition starts and then balloons out of control.
Sometimes people place value on things that have no value. Or they associate something with a fond memory or treasured relationship. Sometimes people fear that they might need something in the future, and therefore fear disposing of it.
Buying things you do not need is not hoarding. People do that all the time. Keeping things you have obtained, that you are not using or are not useful, and losing track of those things to the point that your home is overwhelmed, is hoarding. And don’t forget that people can hoard animals, too.
I do think that hoarding is a symptom. And I think that severe sufferers live anxiety filled lives. I also think it exists in degrees. For me, it is psychologically important to be able to dispose of surplus without anxiety or regret. If I cannot do that, I have a problem. (I do not have this problem so far.)
Hoarding is two-part... Acquisition of items, and failure to dispose of them. If you never brought anything new into the house, it would be hard to get it "hoarded" unless it was the day you moved in.
That's why the "one in, one out" rule is so useful!
I think they cannot throw things away because of anxiety or depression or some other mental glitch. Possibly there is cognitive impairment, or low IQ. I also suspect that this condition starts and then balloons out of control.
Sometimes people place value on things that have no value. Or they associate something with a fond memory or treasured relationship. Sometimes people fear that they might need something in the future, and therefore fear disposing of it.
Buying things you do not need is not hoarding. People do that all the time. Keeping things you have obtained, that you are not using or are not useful, and losing track of those things to the point that your home is overwhelmed, is hoarding. And don’t forget that people can hoard animals, too.
I do think that hoarding is a symptom. And I think that severe sufferers live anxiety filled lives. I also think it exists in degrees. For me, it is psychologically important to be able to dispose of surplus without anxiety or regret. If I cannot do that, I have a problem. (I do not have this problem so far.)
I have an aunt who was a hoarder. Apparently she always had hoarding tendencies, but it got worse when my uncle died. She and her husband were on disability. I don’t think they ever bought things they did not need because they could not afford to do so. I don’t think it’s related to a cognitive impairment. I had a professor I asked to do a reference. She was happy to do it, but I don’t think she ever finished it. When I went to her office to talk about it, there was literally a small window between her seat and the other side of the desk and a small trail to her desk. The rest of the office was piled high with random stuff.
I once have a neighbor who has a PHD in English and was one time the dean of English dept in a small college,after a flood,I walked by her home on the first level of the house and saw what she has hoarded-
-16 years of Sunday newspaper,it was wet and moldy,she said she may read it some day.
-cheap plastic mini fan and cheap plastic hair curler clogged with dirt,she may need it some day?
I know she is retired and earning some money grading student papers from a local university so she is not senile,BUT she cant seem to smell the musty odor and the condition of the items she may used some day?
I have to walk away as the odor is too strong but it does not seem to bother her.
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