Yes, Hoarding Disorder (HD) is considered a chronic and progressive mental health condition, meaning it tends to worsen over time if untreated, often starting subtly in childhood/adolescence and becoming more severe in adulthood, especially impacting older adults. Symptoms usually build up, leading to significant clutter, difficulty discarding items, and distress, but while it's chronic, complete remission is rare, though management and improvement are possible with targeted treatment.
The prognosis (outlook) for hoarding disorder is often poor. While some people with the condition greatly improve after treatment with cognitive behavioral therapy, many people still have symptoms after treatment that impact their day-to-day life.
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.
The medicines most commonly used are a type of antidepressant called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Research continues on the most effective ways to use medicines in the treatment of hoarding disorder.
12 Tips to Overcome Hoarding
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.
Compulsive hoarding is a progressive and chronic condition that begins early in life. Left untreated, its severity increases with age.
obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
Anti-anxiety medications help reduce the symptoms of anxiety, such as panic attacks or extreme fear and worry. The most common anti-anxiety medications are called benzodiazepines. Benzodiazepines are a group of medications that can help reduce anxiety and make it easier to sleep.
Now, a pilot study by Stanford Medicine researchers suggests that a virtual reality therapy that allows those with hoarding disorder to rehearse relinquishing possessions in a simulation of their own home could help them declutter in real life.
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.
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].
When a person seems willing to talk about a hoarding problem, these guidelines may be useful to follow:
The emotional impact can be profound. Stress, shame, and anxiety are common experiences, and hoarding disorder often co-occurs with other mental health conditions. The accumulation of items can interfere with daily routines. It can also create serious safety and health risks, making everyday life more difficult.
The Bible warns against placing too much importance on material wealth, and this principle goes hand in hand with hoarding. In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
But try to remember that the items they hoard feel important to them – even if they don't seem valuable to you. Don't take over their space. It's understandable to want to help them improve things. But if you try to take charge, they might not want to accept any help at all.
Propranolol is a beta blocker first approved by the FDA in 1967 to treat heart conditions and high blood pressure. Today, many clinicians also prescribe it off-label for short-term, situational anxiety because it calms the body's stress response.
Such conditions are currently treated with cognitive and dialectical behavioral therapy, as well as medications such as benzodiazepines and buspirone. It has recently been discovered that taking high doses of vitamin B6 supplements significantly reduces feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression.
The most common type used to treat generalised anxiety are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as:
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.
The main talking therapy used to treat hoarding disorder is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). This focuses on how your thoughts, beliefs and attitudes affect your feelings and behaviour. Evidence suggests that both individual and group CBT can help.
Decluttering Tips For Hoarders With Checklist
Hoarding tendencies can emerge at any age, but research indicates that older adults are more susceptible to this disorder. As they age, they may experience significant life changes, such as the loss of loved ones, retirement, or declining health, which can trigger feelings of loneliness, loss, and nostalgia.
The 40-70 rule for aging parents is a guideline for adult children to manage care and support as their parents age. It suggests that children typically spend 40% of their time providing direct support, 70% of their time overseeing care and planning for their parents' needs, and the remainder managing their own lives.
Yet some people take their keepsakes to the extreme, holding onto decades' worth of receipts, newspapers, and other seemingly useless items. They have hoarding disorder—a mental health condition characterized by a compulsive need to acquire and keep possessions, even when they're not needed.