Compulsive Hoarding Disorder

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a psychological condition which is characterized by persistent thoughts and feelings which is accompanied by abnormal and repetitive behavior and actions. Obsessive compulsive disorders are mostly seen in people who suffer from other psychotic disorders like anorexia nervosa, schizophrenia, dementia or other anxiety disorders. Compulsive hoarding, compulsive cleaning and compulsive shopping are some of the important types of obsessive compulsive disorder types. In this article, we will see more on compulsive hoarding disorder.

Obsessive Compulsive Hoarding Disorder
As the name suggests, people suffering from compulsive hoarding disorder have a habit of gathering and storing large number of things which may or may not be useful to them (most often they are not useful). The second part of it is that compulsive hoarders find it difficult to discard things that are useless. Compulsive hoarders are found to hoard different types of things ranging from clutter like papers, newspapers, letters, books to animals or even food. Some of them are also found to hoard a combination of any of the above mentioned things.

It is still not clarified whether compulsive hoarding is a symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder or a major disorder in itself. But the latter can be true as not all patients having obsessive compulsive disorders suffer from mania for amassing things. Compulsive hoarding disorder is believed to be seen in people who have greater inability of indecisiveness. They cannot decide whether a certain thing is useful to them or not, whether it should be kept or thrown away. Hence, they end up accumulating things and become compulsive hoarders. On the other hand, it is also believed that abnormally inability to organize things can be a cause of compulsive hoarding disorder. But, the major reasons for compulsive hoarding disorder is that the person believes he may need certain object in the future and hence, will never discard it (even if he may not need it at present or in near future!).

Symptoms
The following are the symptoms of compulsive hoarding disorder. They are commonly seen in all the people suffering from this disorder, only the things that are hoarded differ.

• Shopping excessively and constantly buying stuff that is not immediately needed.
• Buying useful things and storing them for future use.
• Total inability to organize and discard things.
• Constantly retrieving things from thrash.
• Hoarding broken, torn and even useless things.

As years pass, the hoarding reaches to such a level that the room and later the entire apartment is filled with clutter making it very difficult to even move around. The effects of compulsive hoarding disorder is that these people have problematic relationships as others cannot adjust to their nature and behavior and vice versa. It can also lead to embarrassment in public and hence, complete withdrawal. In one rare case, it was found that a compulsive hoarder had rented a new apartment as he did not find space to store things in his own apartment (it was already full of multitude of things). It is also dangerous if a person has a disorder of hoarding animals as it can be equally life-threatening to the person as well as the animal.

Treatment
Just like any other psychological disorder, compulsive hoarders do not realize that they are suffering from a disorder. When they are told, they belie it as they think that hoarding is useful and harmless. Therefore, treating compulsive hoarding disorder is very difficult as the person is very reluctant to undergo treatment. There is no permanent cure for compulsive hoarding disorder, but it is found that certain anti-depressant drugs can be helpful up to some extent in controlling the abnormal behavior.

It is very important for the person to realize and understand if he is suffering from obsessive compulsive hoarding disorder. If he realizes, there can be chances of overcoming the disorder gradually. Remember, the help and support of the family and friends of the patient can be very helpful in controlling the disorder.