Hoarding - Wikipedia 11/7/16, 8(28 AM

Hoarding
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hoarding is a general term for a behavior that leads

people or animals to accumulate food or other items
during periods of scarcity.

Contents
1 Animal behavior
2 Human hoarding
2.1 Anxiety disorder and hoarding
3 See also
4 References
5 Further reading
6 External links A Thule culture food cache near Cambridge Bay,
Nunavut Canada.

Animal behavior
Hoarding and caching are common behaviors in many bird species as well as in rodents. Most animal caches
are of food. However, some birds will also stingily collect other items, especially if the birds are pets.
Magpies are infamous for hoarding items such as money and jewelry. (Contrary to popular belief, research
suggests magpies are no more attracted to shiny things than other kinds of items.) One theory suggests that
human hoarding may be related to animal hoarding behavior, but at this time, substantial evidence is
lacking.[1]

Human hoarding
Civil unrest or natural disaster may lead people to hoard foodstuffs, water, gasoline and other essentials
which they believe, rightly or wrongly, will soon be in short supply. Survivalists, also known as preppers,
often stockpile large supplies of these items in anticipation of a large-scale disaster event.

Anxiety disorder and hoarding

Hoarders are people who lose the desire to throw away unneeded items because of a feeling of attachment to
these items. Compulsive hoarders will equate certain, usually mundane, objects to their own personal
identity or even give them certain human characteristics. Hoarding is different from obsessivecompulsive
disorder (OCD) because their thoughts about hoarding are in their natural stream of thought, not unwanted
or distressed thoughts that people with OCD feel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoarding Page 1 of 3
Hoarding - Wikipedia 11/7/16, 8(28 AM

In severe cases, houses belonging to such people may become a fire hazard (due to blocked exits and stacked
papers) or a health hazard (due to vermin infestation, excreta and detritus from excessive pets, hoarded food
and garbage or the risk of stacks of items collapsing on the occupants and blocking exit routes).[2]

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition,[3] the symptoms for
hoarding disorder include:

A. Persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions, regardless of their actual value.
B. This difficulty is due to a perceived need to save the items
and to distress associated with discarding them.
C. The difficulty discarding possessions results in the
accumulation of possessions that congest and clutter active
living areas and substantially compromises their intended use.
If living areas are uncluttered, it is only because of the
interventions of third parties (e.g., family members, cleaners,
authorities).
D. The hoarding causes clinically significant distress or
impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of
functioning (including maintaining a safe environment for self
Apartment of a person with
and others).
E. The hoarding is not attributable to another medical compulsive hoarding
condition (e.g., brain injury, cerebrovascular disease, Prader-
Willi syndrome).
F. The hoarding is not better explained by the symptoms of another mental disorders (e.g., obsessions
in obsessive-compulsive disorder, decreased energy in major depressive disorder, delusions in
schizophrenia or another psychotic disorder, cognitive deficits in major neurocognitive disorder,
restricted interests in autism spectrum disorder).

Specify if:

With excessive acquisition: if difficulty discarding possessions is accompanied by excessive

acquisition of items that are not needed or for which there is no available space.

Specify if:

With good or fair insight: The individual recognizes that hoarding-related beliefs and behaviors
(pertaining to difficulty discarding items, clutter, or excessive acquisition) are problematic.
With absent insight/delusional beliefs: The individual is completely convinced that hoarding-related
beliefs and behaviors (pertaining to difficulty discarding items, clutter, or excessive acquisition) are
not problematic despite evidence to the contrary.

[4]

See also
Hoard (archaeological)
Hoarding (economics)
Compulsive hoarding
Collyer brothers, rich eccentrics who were noted for compulsive hoarding

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoarding Page 2 of 3
Hoarding - Wikipedia 11/7/16, 8(28 AM

Plyushkin, fictional Russian hoarder

Digital hoarding

References
1. Andrews-McClymont, Jennifer G.; Lilienfeld, Scott O.; Duke, Marshall P. (Dec 2013). "Evaluating an animal model
of compulsive hoarding in humans". Review of General Psychology. 17 (4): 399419. doi:10.1037/a0032261.
Retrieved 16 April 2014.
2. "Hoarding" (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hoarding/DS00966), Mayo Clinic, 2012. Retrieved 2013-05-19.
3. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric
Association. October 3, 2013.
4. Nolen-Hoeksema, Susan (2014). Abnormal Psychology (6th ed.). New York City, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

Further reading
Tolin, David; Frost, Randy; Steketee, Gail (2007). Buried in Treasures: Help for Acquiring, Saving,
and Hoarding. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-530058-1.
Neziroglu, Fugen; Bubrick, Jerome; Yaryura-Tobias, Jose (2004). Overcoming Compulsive Hoarding:
Why You Save & How You Can Stop. California: New Harbinger. ISBN 978-1-57224-349-1.
Steketee, Gail; Frost, Randy (2006). Compulsive Hoarding and Acquiring: Workbook. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-531055-9.
Steketee, Gail; Frost, Randy (2006). Compulsive Hoarding and Acquiring: Therapist Guide. Oxford:
Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-530025-3.
Steketee, Gail; Frost, Randy (2011). Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things. Oxford:
Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0547422558.
Nolen-Hoeksema, Susan (2014). (ab)normal Psychology. Penn Plaza, New York: McGraw Hill
Education. ISBN 978-0-07-803538-8.

External links
Boston University School of Social Work (http://www.bu.edu/ssw/research/hoarding/)
National Hoarding Resources Listed by State (http://www.HoardingCleanup.com/)
International OCD Foundation Hoarding Center (http://www.ocfoundation.org/hoarding/)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hoarding&oldid=742910039"

Categories: Collecting Consumer theory Compulsive hoarding Economic problems

Abnormal psychology

This page was last modified on 6 October 2016, at 15:48.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may
apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered
trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoarding Page 3 of 3