Hoarding: A multifactorial understanding

The syndrome of hoarding has remained largely unaddressed by psychoanalysts. This is because grotesque forms of it do not appear at the clinician's door and the public focus on such gross pathology draws attention away from the subtler forms of hoarding in our patients. This paper delineates a thorough phenomenological profile of the hoarding disorder, distinguishing it from collecting and from obsessive-compulsive disorder with which it is frequently confused. It traces the phylogenetic basis of hoarding to animal survival techniques, the sociogenetic basis of the producers' induction of false needs in consumers, and ontogenetic basis to object-hunger consequent upon childhood loss. The paper recommends a large-hearted differential therapeutics to help individuals suffering from this syndrome.