Treatment of hoarding

Abstract

In the past 5 years, hoarding has emerged as a serious, potentially debilitating and remarkably frequent form of psychopathology. Attempts to treat it have met with little success. Although the majority of studies using serotonin-reuptake inhibitors have shown a poor response among people with hoarding disorder, serious methodological problems limit the conclusions that can be drawn from these studies. The true efficacy of serotonin-reuptake inhibitors for hoarding is largely unknown. Cognitive–behavioral treatments for obsessive–compulsive disorder have also fared badly in the treatment of hoarding. However, therapy based on a cognitive–behavioral model of hoarding has shown considerable promise.

Keywords::

• clutter
• compulsive buying
• compulsive hoarding
• excessive acquisition

Financial & competing interests disclosure

Randy Frost received royalties from Oxford University Press for publication of the therapist guide and client workbook mentioned in this review (Steketee and Frost, Compulsive Hoarding and Acquiring). The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.