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Categorization in compulsive hoarding.

Jeffrey P Wincze1, Gail Steketee, Randy O Frost

  • 1Boston University, USA. jwincze@lifespan.org

Behaviour Research and Therapy
|March 15, 2006
PubMed
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People with compulsive hoarding exhibit under-inclusive categorization, especially with personally relevant items. This information processing difference impacts how they sort and organize belongings, contributing to hoarding behaviors.

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Clinical Psychology

Background:

  • Compulsive hoarding is linked to information processing deficits, specifically under-inclusive categorization.
  • Understanding categorization processes is crucial for explaining hoarding behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate categorization processes in individuals with compulsive hoarding.
  • To compare categorization in compulsive hoarding, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) without hoarding, and non-psychiatric controls.

Main Methods:

  • Three categorization tasks were administered to 21 participants with compulsive hoarding, 21 with OCD without hoarding, and 21 controls.
  • Participants sorted common household and personally relevant items.
  • Distress, time taken, and number of piles created were measured.

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Main Results:

  • Hoarding and OCD groups reported higher pre-task distress than controls.
  • On personally relevant items, hoarders took longer, created more piles, and reported more anxiety than controls.
  • Hoarding severity correlated with pile creation for personally relevant items.

Conclusions:

  • Results support the hypothesis of under-inclusive categorization in compulsive hoarding.
  • This effect is primarily observed with personally relevant objects.
  • Findings suggest targeted interventions focusing on categorization strategies may benefit individuals with compulsive hoarding.