Compulsive Hoarding: A Stifled Chaos

Addiction can be a disorder filled with denial and regret, and is often sparked by one’s free will. Children are taught, as early as elementary school, to abstain from drugs and alcohol, which constitute the two of the largest culprits of addiction. Naturally, when one ponders addiction, his or her mind automatically travels to the realm of addictive substances, and does not consider what else may constitute as an addiction. What about an addiction affecting nearly a million Americans that does not involve choice? It is an addiction so mysterious that a significant percentage of sufferers go undiagnosed due to hidden mounds of unnecessary clutter. According to Randy Frost and Tamara Hartl, hoarding is medically defined as “the acquisition of, and inability to discard worthless items even though they appear (to others) to have no value” (Defining Compulsive Hoarding). Compulsive hoarding is a devastating disorder that affects an estimated 700,000 to 1.4 million people in the United States (Maidment).

Hoarding may appear in a variety of forms, including Clinical Compulsive Hoarding, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or ‘perfectionist’ hoarding, and Animal Hoarding. Clinical Compulsive Hoarding proves to be the most common type (Defining Compulsive Hoarding). Similar to many other addictions, a compulsive hoarder’s addiction exists both figuratively and literally behind closed doors. Merriam-Webster defines a hoard as “a supply or fund stored up and often hidden away”, or alternatively, “a secret store of valuables or money” (“Hoard”). OCD hoarding is a term that is applicable to most forms of hoarding in the sense that the act itself is one out of both obsession and compulsion. The afflicted person may have either a variant of Obses...

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...e entryway due to excessive amounts of what they defined to be “solid masses of debris” (Penzel). The Collyer residence was crammed to the brim with over two thousand dusty books, five pianos, dressmaking dummies, bundles of newspapers and boxes upon boxes of miscellaneous clutter (Penzel). It took police multiple attempts to even begin to locate the deceased body of Mr. Langley Collyer amongst the disorder. It was clear that his disorder had not only taken over Collyer’s life, but due to immense filth, reclusiveness, and secrecy, it had taken it as well.

Hoarding is an addiction that is both socially debilitating and alarmingly enigmatic. While compulsive hoarding is classified as it’s own respective disorder, it is also a rather extreme form of addiction. Often kept under wraps and undiagnosed, attention is seldom brought to the secret lives of hoarders.