What is Hoarding? Why Do People Hoard?

Hoarding, characterized by the excessive accumulation of items and an inability to discard them, often transforms homes into cluttered, hazardous spaces that disrupt daily life. This behavior, far from mere disorganization, reflects complex psychological, emotional, and social dynamics. But why people hoard? What causes this behavior? Does it qualifies as a mental illness? and is there a unique connection to natural disasters, particularly the rise of hoarding in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.¹

Why Do People Hoard?

People hoard for deeply rooted psychological and emotional reasons. A key driver is emotional attachment to possessions, where items like old letters or broken furniture carry sentimental value, making disposal feel like losing a loved one. For example, a hoarder might keep a worn-out sweater because it belonged to a deceased parent. Another factor is perceived utility, where individuals believe items will be needed later, leading to stockpiles of newspapers or expired goods. The distress of discarding items—often triggering intense anxiety or grief—reinforces retention. Research shows 2-6% of the population exhibits hoarding behaviors, with emotional attachment as a universal theme.²

An X user shared, “Hoarding isn’t about stuff—it’s about holding onto memories or safety,” capturing its emotional core.³

Types of Hoarding

Hoarding manifests in distinct forms, each driven by unique psychological motivations and posing specific challenges. Below are the primary subtypes, each with its own characteristics, causes, and consequences.¹⁰

Object Hoarding

Object hoarding, the most common type, involves accumulating physical items like clothes, books, or junk mail, often rendering homes unusable. Accounting for 80% of hoarding cases, it’s driven by fear of losing valuable items or believing they’ll be useful later. For instance, David, a 65-year-old from Birmingham, UK, filled his living room with thousands of Barbie dolls, yellowed newspapers, and soap bars, blocking his entrance until a doctor intervened.⁴¹⁰ This subtype creates fire hazards and social isolation.²

Animal Hoarding

Animal hoarding entails keeping excessive pets—sometimes 50 or more—beyond care capacity. Driven by a savior complex or viewing animals as family, it affects 1,500-2,000 U.S. cases annually. A 2025 case in Ogden, Utah, saw 168 dogs and cats rescued from squalid conditions, with adopters like Brandi Hysell noting the animals’ slow recovery.⁵¹⁰ This risks animal neglect and public health crises.¹⁰

Digital Hoarding

Digital hoarding involves amassing digital files like emails or photos, often due to anxiety about losing data. With cloud storage enabling unlimited accumulation, it’s increasingly common and can overwhelm devices or exacerbate stress. For example, a hoarder might retain 10,000 unread emails, fearing they contain critical information.²¹⁰ This disrupts productivity and mental clarity.

Food Hoarding

Food hoarding focuses on stockpiling perishables, driven by fears of scarcity. Hoarders might amass expired canned goods or rotting produce, creating pest infestations or health hazards. Often tied to past deprivation, it leads to unsafe living conditions.¹⁰

Porn Hoarding

Porn hoarding, explored later, involves compulsive collection of pornographic materials, often digital, driven by emotional regulation needs or compulsive behavior. It’s distinct for its psychological and social implications, such as shame or isolation.⁷¹⁰

The following table summarizes the types of hoarding and their primary psychological reasons, providing a quick reference for understanding these behaviors.¹⁰

What Causes Hoarding?

Hoarding behavior emerges from a complex interplay of psychological, neurobiological, and environmental factors that drive individuals to accumulate possessions excessively. These include:

• Traumatic experiences: Significant life events, such as loss or abuse, trigger hoarding in up to 50% of cases, as individuals use possessions as a coping mechanism to manage emotional distress. For example, Jayne, a UK woman, began hoarding after her husband’s death, stacking boxes so high she could only sleep on half her bed.⁶⁴
• Early behavioral patterns: Approximately 25% of hoarders exhibit behaviors in childhood, often influenced by family environments filled with clutter or experiences of early loss.⁴
• Neurobiological factors: Impaired decision-making and categorization skills, linked to dysfunction in the prefrontal cortex, make it difficult for individuals to sort or discard possessions.²
• Co-occurring mental health conditions: Depression, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) affect 75% of hoarders, though hoarding remains a distinct condition.⁴
• Environmental influences: Societal factors, such as consumerism, encourage over-acquisition, exacerbating hoarding tendencies.⁸

Is Hoarding a Mental Illness?

Hoarding disorder is classified as a mental illness in the DSM-5 and ICD-11, defined by persistent difficulty discarding items, excessive acquisition, and significant distress or impairment.² About 80% of diagnosed individuals face severe distress, impacting relationships or safety (e.g., fire hazards).⁴ For instance, Bernadette, a 72-year-old Pennsylvanian, stopped hosting guests due to her hoarding, feeling condemned by relatives.⁹ Hoarding can also be a secondary symptom in dementia or schizophrenia. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) yields a 40% symptom improvement.⁸

Porn Hoarding and Mental Causes

Porn hoarding involves the excessive and compulsive accumulation of pornographic materials, often to the point of overwhelming personal storage, living spaces, or daily life. Unlike casual consumption, this behavior becomes unmanageable, driven by deep-seated psychological, emotional, and environmental factors. It is closely linked to compulsive sexual behavior, with an estimated prevalence of 3-5% in the general population, and frequently co-occurs with mental health conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), depression, or social anxiety.⁷

• Compulsive behavior: Individuals often engage in porn hoarding as a repetitive, uncontrollable response to internal urges, similar to patterns seen in OCD or other impulse-control disorders.⁷
• Emotional regulation: Pornography serves as an escape from stress, loneliness, or negative emotions, providing temporary relief but reinforcing the cycle of accumulation.⁷
• Digital accessibility: The internet’s unlimited access to pornographic content enables unchecked acquisition, with streaming platforms and file-sharing sites making it easy to amass vast collections.⁸
• Shame and secrecy: Feelings of shame surrounding porn hoarding often lead individuals to hide their collections, increasing isolation and hindering help-seeking behaviors.

The impact of porn hoarding extends beyond personal distress, often straining relationships and contributing to social withdrawal. Partners may feel betrayed or neglected, while the time and resources devoted to managing collections can disrupt work or daily responsibilities. Treatment approaches, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), focus on addressing underlying triggers like anxiety or shame, helping individuals develop healthier coping mechanisms.⁷ Support groups, including 12-step programs tailored to sexual compulsivity, offer peer accountability and emotional support.

Emerging therapies, such as mindfulness-based interventions, are also showing promise in managing compulsive behaviors.⁸

Hoarding and Connection with Natural Disasters: Hurricane Katrina and the Rise of Hoarding in New Orleans

Natural disasters can trigger hoarding, as seen post-Hurricane Katrina (2005) in New Orleans, which displaced 400,000 residents.¹ Trauma and loss drove some to hoard for security, stockpiling food or mementos against scarcity. Research notes increased hoarding post-Katrina, with cluttered homes rising in affected areas.⁴ This underscores the need for mental health support in disaster recovery.¹

Conclusion

Hoarding spans diverse forms—object, animal, digital, food, and porn hoarding—driven by emotional, cognitive, and environmental factors. A mental illness when impairing life, it’s amplified by traumas like Hurricane Katrina. Understanding its types, causes, and clinical status through real-world cases and research fosters empathy and supports interventions like CBT.²

References

1. Frost, R. O., & Hartl, T. L. (1996). A cognitive-behavioral model of compulsive hoarding.
2. Tolin, D. F., Frost, R. O., Steketee, G., & Muroff, J. (2015). Cognitive behavioral therapy for hoarding disorder: A meta-analysis.
3. Posted by: @HoardingSupport
4. Steketee, G., & Frost, R. O. (2010). Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things.
5. Two Utahns who took in dogs from Ogden hoarding situation share their stories. Yahoo News, May 9, 2025.
6. Hoarding: ‘I was sleeping in a bed covered in boxes’. BBC News, March 9, 2025.
7. Kraus, S. W., et al. (2018). Compulsive sexual behaviour disorder in the ICD-11. World Psychiatry
8. Ayers, C. R., et al. (2018). Hoarding disorder in older adults: A review. Current Psychiatry Reports,
9. For seniors with hoarding disorder, a support group helps with stigma and isolation. NPR, December 30, 2024.
10. Mataix-Cols, D., et al. (2013). Hoarding disorder: A new diagnosis for DSM-5. Depression and Anxiety