- Acquiring too many possessions by shopping, stealing or collecting free items
- Difficulty discarding or giving away possessions even when they are not needed, not useful and, often, of little or no real value to themselves or anyone else
- An inability to organize possessions.
Compulsive hoarding can lead to excessive amounts of clutter, which severely limits the use of living spaces.
Compulsive hoarding also poses safety and health risks, including the inability to live safely in one's home.
People with compulsive hoarding disorder often avoid inviting people to their homes, which increases feelings of isolation.
For older adults who have age-related health issues, the isolation that comes with compulsive hoarding may mean that medical problems go undiagnosed or untreated.
Compulsive hoarding can create significant mental distress, anxiety and depression in people who have the disorder.
How Compulsive Hoarding Different from Collecting
We all have hobbies, mementos or items that are important to us, things we can't bear to discard or give away even though they might be meaningless to other people. As the late comedian George Carlin said in one of his most famous routines, "You gotta take care of your stuff. That's what life is all about: trying to find a place for your stuff."
But when routine clutter, collecting, or a passion for old issues of National Geographic crosses the line into compulsive hoarding, it's no joke. Compulsive hoarding is a serious disorder and people who have it require medical treatment that may include counseling and medication.