Publication (142 pages).

Medications are thus
intended to treat the anxiety,
OCD or depressive condition
rather than the
hoarding condition.
The intention is to rehabilitate the individual by reinforcing low
acquisition habits while practicing regular discarding through
self-talk. Discussions of treatment involving medications have
recently become a potential option, however these cases often
describe the presence of a comorbid condition. Medications are
thus intended to treat the anxiety, OCD or depressive condition
rather than the hoarding condition. Rehabilitation without
relapse is the end goal. The claims made for hoarding in a
medical sphere have combined to produce a medicalized definition
of hoarding behaviour. Mentioned at the beginning of
this publication, the definition by Frost and Gross emphasizes
distress and impairment on the part of the hoarder and suggests
an unliveable space. This definition reinforces the progression
in the medical sphere to list hoarding not only as a problem but
as one that requires help or assistance, in this case by medical
professionals. Although the Frost and Gross definition came
early in the process of establishing hoarding as a medical behaviour,
it has been continually used in the literature and most
recently was included in the definition of hoarding behaviour
in the 2013 publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
of Mental Disorders (DSM). The 17-year lapse between
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