What is the basis for hoarding behavior?

Question

is there a biological basis or is it learned behavior?
Is is linked to OCD. I have several family members who won't throw anything out (junk mail, newspapers, etc.) and it just piles up and it all over their house...plus I have heard of people who hoard animals too...is there medication or some kind of therapy they can take for it (if they were so inclined) or is it 'not a big deal' as I have been told

Answer 1

YES, it is a form of OCD -- and there is therapy and various medication routines that can help the condition -- only your Medical Doctor, in conjunction with the recommendations of the Therapist, can properly make that recommendation (for medication therapy too).

It is a 'big deal' when the person is so overwhelmed that they can no longer live safely in their home. That is why I would take it seriously and see that they get some help.

Answer 2

Hoarding behavior is pretty broad and can come from a variety of sources.

Some personality types are 'packrats' by nature. Because they don't want to get rid of something that might have some future value, they will simply save it all -- often never using it at all but at least feeling secure. [That's a biological basis.]

On the other hand, hoarding behavior can be learned as well. Two real-life examples:

* My great-grandmother lived through the Great Depression. When she died, they found tons of things that she had saved in case another period of deprivation would occur in her life. Much of it was stuff that we wouldn't find useful today -- spools and spools of twine, stacks of newspapers, jars of buttons, flattened out (but used) sheets of aluminum foil, etc. Her experience of need in the Depression primed her to save compulsively.

* When we adopted our daughter from China, another couple in our group was adopting a five-year-old girl. While our four-year-old daughter (at that time) did not show hoarding behavior, we were warned about it by the guides and the other girl DID exhibit the behavior.

She was known for swiping food, silverware, and other items whenever no one was watching and hiding them under her bed and pillow in the orphanage, creating her own little stockpile.

She sat next to me at a restaurant, and I caught her swiping the little decorative umbrellas from our drinks when no one was looking, and stashing them in her lap so no one could see them. She also took people's silverware and pretended it was hers, even though she already had some.

Basically, when someone is deprived and in what they perceive to be a "survival situation," they can develop hoarding behaviors in order to compensate. This girl had lived on the street for some time before entering the orphanage, so she had been forced to actively gather and protect her resources.

[Note: That was four years ago, and she doesn't hoard things anymore, as far as I know. It just took some time for her to relax.]


Besides being an understandable survival mechanism, hoarding behavior can be a sign of some illness. A distant relative's family exhibited the same behavior where stacks of newspapers filled the rooms, creating a real danger of fire. The compulsion spilled over into other areas as well -- people were careful not to eat any food there, because of the uncleanliness of the place, and no one was sure if it was safe.

The husband and wife came across as imbalanced -- I am not sure if there was definite mental illness, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that there was.

According to one link I found, there's a higher percentage of hoarding with OCD'ers (and vice versa). See below. It claims that Behavior Cognitive theory is the best solution to the problem.

[BC Theory is basically this: People are trapped in self-defeating behaviors without being aware of them; understanding the cycle allows the person to think about the problem and make new choices; new coping mechanisms can be actively learned and practiced and thus behavior can be changed.]

Answer 3

I don't know, but I sure would like to. I have several family members that are like that too. Maybe it's a learned behavior. My mother keeps everything too and I always thought it was because she grew up very very poor and this was her way of still living that way.