So, what exactly is compulsive hoarding (CH)?
CH is usually defined as the excessive acquisition of possessions which may be worthless, hazardous and even unsanitary; and an inability to use or discard them. The compulsive hoarders have long been described by lay people as ‘pack-rats’, a term which, in my opinion, should be abolished as it is demeaning and also distracts from the fact that CH is a neurobiological condition. Heidi, the hoarder Heidi, 42 and divorced, had been under my care for about two years for depression, when she got fired from her job. Shortly thereafter, when I saw her for a scheduled visit, she was in a panic. With tears flowing down her face, she said, “Doctor, how am I going to afford all the storage space I have?!” I was baffled as the topic of her renting storage space had never come up before in our sessions. When I asked her what the storage was all about, she cried harder and, in an embarrassed tone, described how she began hoarding items discarded by other people. She would go around her neighborhood
