Abstract
Hoarding is defined as the “acquisition of, and failure to discard, possessions which appear to be useless or of limited value”. Since the 1990s, in the fields of clinical psychology and psychiatry, many studies on hoarding have been conducted with the perspective that hoarding and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are closely linked. On the other hand, however, there is also an insistence that hoarding is a normal act likely to become a habit for anyone, i.e. non-clinical individuals.
This article therefore focuses on two types: the more serious compulsive hoarding by clinical individuals and hoarding by non-clinical individuals who make it part of their everyday life. The paper then summarizes various research tasks for understanding hoarding based on previous studies. More practically, this study covers the relevant factors of hoarding, such as other mental diseases and the home environment during the childhood period, characteristics of hoarders, reasons behind the hoarding habit, and various problems caused by hoarding. Finally, preventions and countermeasures regarding hoarding are discussed.
