Insecure attachment as a factor in hoarding behaviors in a non-clinical sample of women.

Hoarding is linked to ambivalence and uncertainty about one's self and others. These notions are close to those constituting attachment representations. Hoarding is also linked to seeking support from objects. Studies concerning attachment and hoarding suggest that attachment representations may impact seeking or possessing objects. Acquiring objects may give people momentary support, normally provided by the attachment figure in cases of stress. This study aims to better understand the links between attachment and hoarding. One hundred and ninety-seven non-clinical women (M = 30.58) completed two self-report questionnaires on attachment and hoarding behaviors. The results show a link between insecure attachment (preoccupied and fearful) and hoarding. Preoccupied and fearful attachments are characterized by a fear of loss and abandonment. Possession and accumulation of objects in hoarding could help insecure people to deal with these fears. Therefore, insecure attachment appears to be a vulnerability factor in the development of hoarding behaviors.

Hoarding Behaviors and Alcohol Use: The Mediating Role of Emotion Dysregulation.

BACKGROUND: Despite recent research establishing high rates of comorbidity between hoarding disorder and alcohol use disorders (AUD), no studies have systemically examined the associations between symptoms of hoarding and alcohol use. Moreover, no studies have explored potential mechanisms that may help to explain these relations. OBJECTIVES: Thus, the current study was designed to examine the associations between hoarding and AUD symptoms, as well as the mediating role of emotion dysregulation. METHODS: Self-report measures of hoarding, depression, anxiety, alcohol use, and emotion regulation were collected in a sample of 574 adults (M age = 35.43, SD = 12.57; 62% female). RESULTS: Even when controlling for depression and anxiety, AUD symptoms were associated with overall hoarding severity (ß =.23, p <.001) as well as acquiring symptoms (ß =.16, p =.03). Further, the relation between hoarding symptoms and AUD symptoms was mediated by difficulties regulating emotions (B =.04, 95% CI [.02,.06]). Conclusions/Importance: Results of the current study suggest that increased alcohol use may be one way in which individuals with hoarding symptoms attempt to regulate their emotions.

Hoarding in Children With ADHD.

OBJECTIVE: Although evidence suggests that hoarding may be associated with symptoms of ADHD, no study has examined this relationship in children. METHOD: Participants included 99 youth diagnosed with ADHD (and a parent) seen in a general outpatient psychiatry clinic. Children completed the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Child Version, the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Parents completed the Children's Saving Inventory and Vanderbilt ADHD Diagnostic Rating Scale-Parent Version. RESULTS: Inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive symptoms were the only indicator that differentiated those with and without clinically significant hoarding. Symptoms of ADHD, but not nonhoarding obsessive-compulsive symptoms, significantly predicted hoarding. Inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity were uniquely associated with individual hoarding features. Hoarding symptoms mediated the relationship between ADHD and oppositionality. CONCLUSION: These findings contribute to the growing literature about the association between hoarding and ADHD.

Acquiring Things: Strange Cases of Compulsive Hoarding.

Why has compulsive hoarding recently captured the American imagination? To what extent is hoarding a subtype of OCD or a discrete "disorder" in its own right? Can a cultural-studies and philosophical assessment of hoarding complement the medical model that has recently been offered by clinicians and the DSM IV? This essay tracks these and related questions in order to offer a theory of compulsive hoarding that pays particular attention to the sometimes distorted representation of hoarding in literature and the mainstream media.

An evaluation of procedures to increase cooperation related to hoarding in an older adult with dementia.

The prevalence of hoarding (collection of and refusal to discard unneeded items) is higher in older adults than the general population and has been correlated with dementia. Treatments to increase cooperation with discarding hoarded items have not been systematically evaluated. This study evaluated two procedures for increasing cooperation with handing over hoarded items in an older adult with dementia. The antecedent-based intervention effectively increased cooperation.

Phenomenology of squalor, hoarding and self-neglect: an Australian aged care perspective.

Aged care health professionals in Australia are increasingly referred patients whose standard of cleanliness and self-care has deteriorated to levels resulting in public health concern. This paper describes three illustrative case studies of people referred to an Australian Aged Care Assessment Service who present with 'Diogenes Syndrome'. The diversity and complexity of these cases reflect variable underlying diagnoses. Symptoms of self-neglect, hoarding and domestic squalor and combinations thereof may provide a more useful classification system of the older person who presents in such circumstances than the frequently used term Diogenes syndrome. Practical guidelines are required for appropriate assessment and management of these conditions.

Increased feeding and food hoarding following food deprivation are associated with activation of dopamine and orexin neurons in male Brandt's voles.

Small mammals usually face energetic challenges, such as food shortage, in the field. They have thus evolved species-specific adaptive strategies for survival and reproductive success. In the present study, we examined male Brandt's voles (Lasiopodomys brandtii) for their physiological, behavioral, and neuronal responses to food deprivation (FD) and subsequent re-feeding. Although 48 hr FD induced a decrease in body weight and the resting metabolic rate (RMR), such decreases did not reach statistical significance when compared to the control males that did not experience FD. During the first 2 hr of re-feeding following 48 hr FD, voles showed higher levels of feeding than controls. However, when permitted to hoard food, FD voles showed an increase in food hoarding, rather than feeding, compared to the controls. Further, both feeding and food hoarding induced an increase in neuronal activation, measured by Fos-ir, in a large number of brain areas examined. Interestingly, feeding and food hoarding also induced an increase in the percentage of tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactive (TH-ir) cells that co-expressed Fos-ir in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), whereas both FD and feeding induced an increase in the percentage of orexin-ir cells that co-expressed Fos-ir in the lateral hypothalamus (LH). Food hoarding also increased orexin-ir/Fos-ir labeling in the LH. Together, our data indicate that food-deprived male Brandt's voles display enhanced feeding or food hoarding dependent upon an environmental setting. In addition, changes in central dopamine and orexin activities in selected brain areas are associated with feeding and hoarding behaviors following FD and subsequent re-feeding.