What is Hoarding?
Hoarding is a term that is widely used to refer to a broad number of behaviors ranging from mere messiness to extreme clutter that prohibits daily functioning. In severe cases, the amount of clutter poses a threat to health and safety.
While non-clinical hoarding refers to what most people would consider your average "pack-rat" or "clutter bug," clinical or compulsive hoarding is the term that is typically used in reference to a specific mental health condition.
Many researchers believe that compulsive hoarding is connected to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), though hoarding behaviors can be associated with other conditions, as well.*
According to Frost and Hartl (1996), the definition of compulsive hoarding is threefold:
-The excessive accumulation of a large number of possessions that appear to others to be useless or of limited value, coupled with the failure or inability to discard them;
-The amount of clutter in living spaces is so extensive that it prevents or severely limits the intended uses or functions of the spaces;
-The clutter, acquiring, or difficulty discarding causes significant distress or impairment in functioning.
Check out my new photos "Extreme Makeover" project - hoarding.
Living room before
me in action
Living room after
