The treatment of compulsive hoarding: A case report
Gabriele Melli, Claudia Carraresi
The term «hoarding» refers to a behavior consisting in the collection and accumulation of a great
quantity of items considered useless by others. Little is still known about this phenomenon and
literature data appear to be conflicting as regards to both its relation to obsessive-compulsive
disorder, and response to psychotherapy and pharmacological treatment. Different researchers agree in
considering hoarding as a distinct form of psychopathology, debilitating for the patient and costly for
the community.
This paper presents a hoarding case, treated both with medication and cognitive-behavioural therapy,
with the aim to offer new food for thought on the therapy of these difficult patients. The efficacy
observed in other research on hoarding treatment through exposure and response prevention
techniques, cognitive restructuring and decision making training is confirmed by the positive outcome
of this case, also taking into consideration the patient’s poor compliance to pharmacological
prescription. However, the results obtained from a single clinical case do not allow reaching to
conclusions and generalizations on the prognosis of patients affected by hoarding; further research
on wider samples and controlled empirical studies would be required to compare different types of
psychological treatment.
Keywords
Obsessive-compulsive disorder, OCD, hoarding, cognitive-behavior therapy.
