Hoarding OCD: Treatment/Signs/Symptoms
Hoarding obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an OCD subtype characterized by ongoing intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviors around acquiring possessions and having difficulty discarding them. Within this subtype, people may experience frequent intrusive thoughts around either acquiring/keeping possessions. Hoarding OCD is separate from hoarding disorder.
Hoarding disorder is its own diagnosis. What distinguishes hoarding disorder from hoarding OCD is the reason why someone is hoarding. Individuals with hoarding disorder accumulate items because they think they are valuable, while OCD-related hoarding is generally an unwanted response to an obsessive thought and anxiety.
Examples of Hoarding OCD Obsessions:
Thoughts of everything they have touched at the store is now contaminated. One may feel they have to buy all the items they touched and now have the urge to take them home or else everyone who touches them will get sick.
I might need this receipt one day. It could be a problem to throw it away.
I don’t think I need this greeting card from my co-worker, but what if something bad happens if I throw it away?
I should probably throw away the trash, but what if the trash room is contaminated?
I don’t need this book anymore, but what if I regret throwing it away in 10 years?
Six is my lucky number and apples are my favorite fruit. This means I need to buy apples in multiples of six or something bad will happen.
We can see from these obsessions how quickly and easily it would be for someone to collect items and have difficulty with letting them go. The thoughts and obsessions are present that are convincing and justifying to the individual as to why they should not let these items go. As a result of these obsessions, the individual may now collect these items leading to a hoard.
In OCD, a person might experience intrusive thoughts, images, feelings, or urges that cause distress. As a result of these obsessions, that person may engage in compulsions to try to neutralize, escape, or avoid these fears. Compulsions can be mental or physical rituals.
Hoarding OCD Compulsions:
Seeing reassurance.
Avoidance behaviors-topics/items.
Researching.
Just right behaviors.
Checking behaviors.
Confessing.
Rumination.
Examples of Compulsions in Real Time:
Buying certain foods in multiples of a significant number.
Buying items in sets.
Holding onto unnecessary items out of fear that one will need them in the future.
Holding onto possessions like items for fear of needing to use them in the future.
Hoarding items that would otherwise be considered trash.
Storing a surplus of specific items in one’s home for fear of running out.
Holding on to trash out of fear that discarding it will contaminate someone else.
Treatment for Hoarding OCD
Treatment for this type of OCD, like all forms of OCD is the gold standard of treatment, exposure and response prevention (ERP). Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) looks at the idea that triggering situations and thoughts are at the core of OCD. Ongoing exposure to these triggers without engagement in rituals can reduce the severity felt. As a licensed mental health therapist trained in ERP, I will assist you through the exposures and how to implement effective response prevention measures. If you feel that OCD has had a negative impact on your life, you might consider counseling and ERP to learn how to handle it more effectively. Please feel free to reach out for a free consultation, where we can discuss the impacts of OCD and benefits of counseling/ERP.
