Hoarding Disorder

COVID and the cost-of-living crisis have significantly impacted how the condition manifests. Here’s why.

- Rosalind Moran

Clutter. Acquisition. Compulsion. Marie Kondo. Hoarding has many popular connotations, but hoarding disorder itself is far more complex than is often acknowledged and is frequently misunderstood.

Hoarding disorder can be hard to identify, not least because its manifestations evolve in response to changing external stimuli. Common perceptions of hoarding range from jokes about having "shopping problems" to dragons encircling treasure on the silver screen; however, such simplistic understandings and representations of this behaviour do an injustice to those living with hoarding disorder. This is especially so in 2023 as individuals worldwide grapple with challenges like climate anxiety, the coronavirus pandemic, and the cost of-living crisis.

So, what is hoarding disorder, and how are current global events impacting the ways individuals understand and experience it?

What is hoarding disorder? 

Hoarding is a disorder where a person accumulates items and stores them in a typically chaotic manner, often to the extent that their environment grows cluttered and overwhelming or begins to impede the person’s ability to live their life. Imagine a house so filled with objects that inhabitants can no longer access certain rooms; or alternatively, collections of items, physical and digital, so extensive that even when out of sight, their presence and sheer volume provoke stress in their owner.