Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-3-2011
Publication Title
Depression and Anxiety
Abstract
Recent research has highlighted the prevalence and harmful consequences of hoarding,1 and investigators have proposed inclusion of hoarding disorder in DSM-5.2 An unanswered question about the proposed disorder is whether people who hoard animals would meet diagnostic criteria for it. This article discusses the similarities and differences between object and animal hoarding. People who hoard animals appear to meet the basic diagnostic criteria for hoarding disorder. Their homes are cluttered, disorganized, and dysfunctional. They have great difficulty relinquishing animals to people who can more adequately care for them, and they form intense attachments (urges to save) that result in significant impairment. However, they differ from people who hoard objects in several ways. These differences are significant enough to warrant comment in the text description accompanying the diagnostic criteria and consideration as a subtype of hoarding disorder. More research is necessary to determine the exact relationship between object and animal hoarding. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Keywords
animal hoarding, DSM-5, hoarding disorder
Volume
28
Issue
10
First Page
885
Last Page
891
DOI
10.1002/da.20826
ISSN
10914269
Rights
© the authors
Recommended Citation
Frost, Randy O.; Patronek, Gary; and Rosenfield, Elizabeth, "Comparison of Object and Animal Hoarding" (2011). Psychology: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/psy_facpubs/50
Comments
Peer reviewed accepted manuscript.