One Man’s Trash as Another Man’s Treasure

What is Hoarding?

1. Hoarders have an obsessive need to acquire and save many objects, and tremendous anxiety about discarding them, because of a perceived need for the objects for their apparent value. Sometimes an excessive emotional attachment to them develops. A compulsive hoarder will have thoughts like “I will need this later on” or “this should not be wasted” but the frequency and the importance attached to them are clearly excessive in compulsive hoarders. If they have any doubt at all as to the value of an object, compulsive hoarders will keep it.

2. Living spaces sufficiently cluttered so as to prevent activities for which those spaces were originally designed. It becomes impossible to use many areas of the house for their original purpose.

3. Significant distress or impairment in functioning is caused by the hoarding. An excessive amount of time may be spent "churning,” or moving items from one pile to another but never actually discarding any item nor establishing any consistent organizational system. Many compulsive hoarders have limited social interactions since hoarding may make them socially isolated. Sometimes they are too embarrassed by their clutter to have people come to their home, sometimes for many years.

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