Publication (142 pages).

others, for example due to
fear of contamination. Those
five cases did not report that
their possessions had a special
meaning or held a great
significance to them, generally
an indicator of hoarding
behaviour, thus they were all
classified as hoarding due to
OCD. The other five cases
reported accumulation due
to a feeling of incompleteness
if they were to discard their
possessions. This was also
linked to symmetry or ordering
obsessions, wherein items
are stored or positioned in a
particular manner and cannot
be disturbed without causing
extreme anxiety. This type of
symptom is sometimes found
in hoarding, but the relation
is yet to be examined.From
the results the authors suggested
a few definitional aspects
that distinguish hoarding
from OCD. This includes
factors such as the severity of
the hoard, the items being
hoarded (OCD hoarders tend
to hoard more ‘bizarre’ items
such as trash, feces, urine,
nails, hair, etc.), and the presence
of psychiatric psychopathy
as opposed to squalor or
unsanitary conditions (Pertusa
et al. 2010). These aspects differ
from the symptoms recorded
in hoarding behaviours,
including emphasis on acquisition
and differing reasons
for the inability to discard.
This draws attention to the
present nature of attachment
in hoarding that is absent in
OCD, and differentiates the
two behaviours. Due to the
above studies, much of the
debate on hoarding as a facet
of OCD has been resolved.
DSM-VThe research supporting
the distinction between
hoarding and OCD prompted
further investigation into
the placement of hoarding in
the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders
(DSM).
The fourth edition of
the DSM listed hoarding
as a facet of OCD;
The fourth edition of the
DSM listed hoarding as a facet
of OCD; it places “the inability
to discard worn-out or
worthless objects even when
they have no sentimental value”
in the eight criteria for obsessive
compulsive personality
disorder (OCPD)6 (Pertusa
et al. 2010:1012). With the
increasing research on the differentiation
between hoarding
and OCD, medical professionals
believed hoarding
required a separate entry in
the DSM, to be listed among
other anxiety disorders. The
placement of hoarding in the
DSM required a clarified definition.
Frost and Hartl (1996)
originally began with a diagnostic
criteria that included:
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