The realities of hoarding disorder

With popular reality shows like Hoarders and Hoarding: Buried Alive, this issue has come into focus.

The viewer peeks into the lives of people who are overwhelmed with belongings; every room of a hoarder's house contains piles of seemingly unrelated items, often described as clutter and junk, that the average person would easily toss.

The spectrum from clutter to hoarding is wide, but people can become emotionally attached to their piles of ‘stuff’, not willing, or able, to let anything go.

Hoarding can cause someone to amass a variety of things. It may disrupt someone’s day-to-day life or ability to maintain a clean and safe living space.

Hoarding is a consistent inability to discard or part with belongings, whatever their usefulness or value. Attempts to part with possessions can create considerable distress and lead to decisions to save them. Compared to clutter, hoarding is more extreme.

At a certain stage of hoarding it is a diagnosable mental health condition, known as ‘Hoarding Disorder’. A common presentation is the living space/s can be so cluttered that it is almost impossible to carry out the functions of everyday living such as showering/bathing, cooking and cleaning up afterward, with amassed items and obscured lighting creating trip and falls hazards in the living spaces. In short, hoarding disorder severely affects personal safety and quality of life.

Estimates are that around 2% – 6% of the population have diagnosable hoarding disorder. More men than women are diagnosed. It is recognised as a universal phenomenon with consistent clinical features in all races, ethnicities, and cultures around the world.

In some instances, the hoarding creates an environment that gets contaminated with decaying food and other items. This can attract rodents into the living space. If the individual is oblivious to rodent infestations, and/or makes no effort to correct this high health and safety risk to themselves, and anyone else living in the same space, they may have the diagnosable condition of ‘hoarding and squalor’.      

If you, or a family/whānau member show any of the above levels of hoarding behaviours, talk to a GP or social worker to discuss the matter. With the right diagnosis and treatment, hoarding disorder can be managed to improve the health, safety and quality of life of the individual and those around them.

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Published:  September 2024

To be reviewed: August 2027