Publication (142 pages).

understanding the behaviour,
there are important flaws and
limitations to the methodologies
employed that may have
implications for the medical
approach. Most if not all of
the studies note problems
with methodology, mainly
that all individual studies
rely on the self-reporting of
“Defining this disorder will help
[characterized] people with
persistent difficulty discarding
or parting with possessions”
noting that the behaviour includes “emotional, physical, social, financial,
and even legal” harmful effects (Association 2012).
hoarding behaviour. Access to
people with hoarding symptoms
is limited to the ability
of people to understand what
hoarding is and then to identify
themselves as hoarders.
The identification depends on
several outsidesources on what
constitutes hoarding, which
may encourage reporting due
to a negative association with
the behaviour. Self-reports
may be due to social pressures
that insist that hoarding is
wrong and must be ‘cured’;
many self-reports may come
from pressure for conformity.
Some authors recognize that
the problem with self-reporting
is the intentional seeking
of help, thus making the participant
hyper-aware of their
behaviour. Others mention
that self-reporting largely ignores
other people who may
display hoarding behaviours
but who have not self-identified
as hoarders. Locating
non-identified hoarders is
nearly impossible, limiting
the availability of data. These
people may exhibit different
sorts of behaviours and attitudes
that might alter the
results of a study and affect
reliability. Many studies attempt
to rectify this by first
sampling from a subset of the
general population and then
from a subset of self-reported
hoarders. Another concern
for samples involves the use of
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