While constantly acquiring new items, people also struggle to discard the vast quantities of useless possessions they've accumulated. Some even become unable to live normally because of it. Psychologists say this is actually a psychological disorder, formally known as compulsive hoarding disorder, colloquially called "hoarding mania."
Too Much Can Be a Problem
Janelle Aloka and Loran Brennan suffer deeply from compulsive hoarding.She lives with her father, son, and fiancé in a two-story house in Massachusetts. Most rooms are severely cluttered, with some rendered uninhabitable. The bedroom-cum-office she shares with her fiancé is a chaotic mess, overrun with possessions. Despite attempts to discard items, they consistently fail. Lorraine's wallet is stuffed with receipts.Hoarding has not only ruined Lorna's life but also affected her entire family. Her son cannot bring friends home to visit. Lorna and her fiancé have been engaged for eight years, but due to the chaotic living conditions, he still hasn't agreed to marry her.Janice said, "Ever since I can remember, I've constantly stored, saved, and hoarded things. Now I can only live surrounded by piles of items I should have thrown away. I have so much stuff that my house is completely uninhabitable. There's no place to sit in the rooms. I can't even enter the kitchen. Although I have everything related to tea drinking, I can't invite anyone over for tea. The things I hoard occupy every space in my daily life."
David Tolin, Director of the Anxiety Disorders Center at the Institute for Living in Hartford, Connecticut, states that research reveals the number of people with compulsive hoarding disorder in the United States is far greater than imagined, "approximately 15 million people, equivalent to 5% of the U.S. population."
In Torring's research on hoarding's dangers, researchers were surprised to find that compulsive hoarding poses greater risks than many other mental disorders. Many sufferers also face financial hardship due to their inability to work or live normally.
Not OCD
ABC News reported on March 26 that while hoarding disorder is commonly perceived as a subset of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), recent research indicates it is a distinct mental disorder unrelated to OCD.
Dr. Torin's primary research focuses on the brain mechanisms of compulsive hoarders. He stated: "The fields of psychiatry and psychology have yet to fully define compulsive hoarding. Our task is to uncover the brain mechanisms at work in hoarders."
To this end, Torin conducted an experiment to observe which brain regions become active when "hoarders" make decisions.Janice was one of Tolin's research subjects. After connecting her to a brain scanner, Tolin asked her to look at letters and decide whether she was willing to discard them. She then had to watch as the letter was shredded. During this process, the orbitofrontal cortex in Janice's brain—associated with decision-making—became active. Simultaneously, the hippocampus, which searches for memories related to objects, also showed heightened activity.Hoarders constantly strive to remember an object: what it is and why it was originally kept. In contrast, people without compulsive hoarding disorder don't dwell on the object as much.
"We found that when a compulsive hoarder accumulates items, their brain activity differs significantly from normal patterns," said Torin. "When this person tries to decide what to discard, it's as if they're enduring an extremely painful experience."
Torin explains, "Hoarders overthink everything. Before making a decision, they exhaustively search their memories, trying to recall every detail associated with the item. Only after this arduous process do they agonize over their choice."
Treatment Approaches
Compulsive hoarding has no cure, and no medication exists to treat it.Cognitive behavioral therapy is currently the only approach that helps hoarders make decisions and stabilize their emotions.
In a cluttered facility in Hartford, Connecticut, an organization assists compulsive hoarders in rebuilding normal lives. Here, hoarders practice "heartlessly" discarding items they find hard to part with.
Founder Beth Johnson also organizes "no-shopping trips" to train patients to resist buying unnecessary items, as many hoarders are also compulsive shoppers.
Beth explains, "I try to help them understand how ill-suited these possessions are for their lives. If you have a cluttered home and keep adding things weekly or daily, you're actually destroying yourself."
Dr. Randy Frost, a psychology professor at Smith College in Massachusetts, co-authored the book Buried by Your Possessions with Torin.
Frost explains, "We learned that hoarders' attachment to possessions is so intense that it's difficult to get them to avoid this irrational behavior. Asking them to discard items leaves them feeling depressed. But if you force them to do it repeatedly, eventually they won't have such extreme emotional reactions when letting go of things."
The Road Ahead
During Loran's treatment, Frost conducted one-on-one experiments with her. Within hours, Loran could discard receipts and trash. Yet like most hoarders, she still faced a long journey to lead a normal life.
A major motivation driving Loran to abandon her hoarding habit is the fear that she might lose her fiancé if she doesn't clean up her home. When asked by an ABC News reporter if she truly believed he would leave her, Loran replied, "I don't want to think about that. I don't want our relationship to end. I want to do better. I want my house to be clean and tidy. I don't want to live like this anymore. I really don't."
Janice noted that while "there's no magic pill, no one-size-fits-all solution," organizations dedicated to helping hoarders rebuild normal lives do offer significant support.
Though Janie's home remains filled with belongings, she remarked, "I can now clean the basement better than I ever imagined." She has rented the top floor to her nephew. "It's a challenge," she said, "a slow but steady process of progress."Janice says her biggest change is acknowledging and accepting her condition, though stress and mood swings still hinder further progress. (Guo Shuang)
Related Link: Compulsive Hoarding Disorder
Individuals with compulsive hoarding disorder often possess intense possessiveness, unable to discard even the most ordinary items despite their disruption to daily life.
Hoarders aren't merely creating clutter at home. Experts note that most hoarders are unable to discard excess items, preventing them from living normally or utilizing spaces like kitchens—despite feeling deeply troubled by the chaos themselves. (Guo Shuang)