Family patterns in hoarding behavior

Estimated to affect 5% of the United States population, with similar prevalence rates in Europe, hoarding disorder causes significant difficulty with discarding, managing clutter, and acquiring possessions – leading to impairment and distress. On a local level, public health departments are severely taxed by situations where hoarding creates a public health risk – one Massachusetts town reporting a cost of $16,000 for clearing a single home. Hoarding can cause problems with health, relationships, and employment. With the anticipated addition of Hoarding Disorder as a distinct diagnosis to the DSM-5, understanding and treating this disorder will take on even greater importance. Previous studies have indicated that hoarding may have genetic and familial linkages. Data collected in a NIMH-funded study of the psychopathology of hoarding revealed significant familial patterns. About 440 adult participants were stratified into Hoarding Disorder (HD, n=215), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD, n=102), and Healthy Controls (HC, n=123). The HD group reported significantly higher rates of parental problems with clutter and difficulty discarding than did the OCD or HC groups (ps<.001). Within the HD group 46.8% of mothers and 35.5% of fathers were reported to have problems with clutter, compared to 20% / 15.2% for OCD and 18.5% / 10.9% for HC participants. For difficulty discarding, 43.6% of HD mothers and 37.6% of fathers were implicated, versus 23% / 23.2% for OCD and 18.6% / 15.1% for HC members' parents. These and additional study findings indicate that interventions addressing inter-generational patterns may be necessary for prevention.