Yes, hoarding behavior that significantly impacts daily life is recognized as Hoarding Disorder (HD), a distinct mental illness, though it often co-occurs with other conditions like depression or anxiety, and can sometimes stem from other issues like dementia or trauma, but it's a complex condition not always solely linked to one diagnosis. It involves persistent difficulty discarding possessions and excessive acquiring, causing distress or functional impairment, and it's now a standalone diagnosis in the DSM-5.
Many people who hoard have strongly held beliefs related to acquiring and discarding things, such as: "I may need this someday" or "If I buy this, it will make me happy". Others may be struggling to cope with a stressful life event, such as the death of a loved one.
Some people develop hoarding disorder after experiencing a stressful life event that they had difficulty coping with, such as the death of a loved one, divorce or losing possessions in a fire.
Treatment of hoarding disorder can be challenging but effective if you keep working on learning new skills. Some people don't recognize the negative impact of hoarding on their lives or don't believe they need treatment. This is especially true if the possessions or animals offer comfort.
If you're supporting someone who's hoarding, whether they agree or not, you should try to keep these important points in mind:
Hoarding can be related to difficult experiences and painful feelings. You may find these hard to express, face or resolve. Some people say hoarding helps them cope with other mental health problems. Or that it distracts them from feeling very anxious, upset or afraid.
Assemble A Support Team
Cleaning a hoarder's house is not a one-person job. Assemble a team of friends, family members or professional cleanup services to help with the task. Having multiple people involved can make the process faster and less overwhelming.
However, hoarding behaviors appear relatively early in life (usually between the ages of 15 and 19 years) and then follow a chronic course. If you notice signs of hoarding in your child or someone you know, early recognition, diagnosis and treatment are essential to improving outcomes.
Don't say “If we don't clean up this apartment and get rid of all these things, I'm going to leave.” Don't say “We have too much stuff! We have got to get rid of some or else we'll never be able to move again!” Don't say “I can only stay here if we start throwing away all our junk.”
The idea behind the 10-10 decluttering method is refreshingly simple—which ups the chances that you'll be able to stick to it! Over the course of 10 days, you'll declutter 10 items a day from 10 different areas or rooms of your home. Not hardcore enough? Try limiting each day's decluttering session to only 10 minutes.
In fact, if it's done without their consent, discarding the hoarder's possessions usually does more harm than good. The hoarder will likely be angry and resentful—damaging the relationship between you—and their process of accumulation will simply begin all over again.
A novel mechanism by which childhood trauma impacts hoarding tendencies in adulthood is explored. In a large non-clinical sample, emotional abuse and physical neglect predicted hoarding symptoms. Hoarding symptoms were positively correlated with attachment anxiety and ambivalence.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a type of therapy that helps individuals to examine the way they think and behave, and to change the thought processes or behaviors that may be problematic.
Neurocognitive Functioning
Deficits in decision making may increase the distress felt by hoarding patients when forced to choose whether to keep or discard an object. Hoarding may also be linked to inattentiveness and a lack of inhibition [14].
Cluttering does not typically result in severe daily living impairment or pose significant health or safety risks. In contrast, hoarding disorder is a recognized psychological condition classified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).
Hoarding is more common in older age groups than younger age groups. Below are some early signs that an individual may have hoarding behaviors. These behaviors are typically mild and progress over years. They may develop into a severe problem in adults around their 50s.
If the 5x5 method is as new to you as it was to me, allow me to explain. Coined by Steph of The Secret Slob, this technique requires nothing but a timer and twenty-five free minutes. Pick five rooms or zones and dedicate five minutes per area. In twenty-five minutes, Steph promises a cleaner, less cluttered home.
A key factor behind hoarders' anger lies in their emotional attachment to possessions. The mere suggestion of parting with items can trigger profound feelings of loss, intensifying frustration and anger. These possessions often hold sentimental value, security, or a connection to the past.
The International OCD Foundation reports the following common reasons for hoarding items: not wasting things, fear of losing important information, emotional meaning of objects, and the characteristics of objects.
Similar to SIBs, hoarding behaviors have also been strongly associated with autism (Storch et al., 2016), while not being part of the autism diagnostic criteria.
Five key warning signs of mental illness include significant mood changes (extreme highs/lows, persistent sadness), withdrawal from friends/activities, major changes in sleep or eating habits, difficulty coping with daily problems or stress, and thoughts of self-harm or suicide, alongside other indicators like substance abuse, confusion, or changes in hygiene. These signs often represent a noticeable shift in behavior, functioning, and emotional state that impacts daily life.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): One of the most common mental disorders, GAD is characterized by excessive worry about issues and situations that individuals experience every day. Any worrying that is out of proportion to the reality of the situation may fall under this disorder.
In a hoarder's home, every inch is packed with stuff. It's like walking through a maze, with paths narrow and winding through piles of items. Finding your way or even finding important things is hard because of all the clutter. The look of a hoarder house is very different from tidy, minimalist homes we often see.
The 20-minute cleaning rule is a simple, effective method to keep your home tidy by setting a timer for 20 minutes of focused cleaning, often followed by a short break (the 20/10 method), preventing messes from overwhelming you by tackling small, consistent tasks daily instead of big, daunting clean-ups. It's about progress, not perfection, breaking down chores into manageable sprints to reduce stress and maintain order.
The 50% rule for clutter is a decluttering method that challenges you to remove half the items from any given space (closets, drawers, rooms) to create instant space, reduce overwhelm, and achieve a more organized, functional environment by keeping only what truly adds value. It's a powerful technique for making significant progress quickly, forcing intentional decisions about what to keep versus what to let go of, making finding and using items easier.