Abstract: This chapter discusses cognitions in compulsive hoarding. Hoarding refers to the stocking or amassing of possessions, a phenomenon encountered commonly throughout the community. Compulsive hoarding is a serious psychiatric problem that disrupts the lifestyle of hoarders and often the lives of friends, family, and the community in general. Hoarding behaviors have been observed in a range of non-clinical populations, including students, community controls, and the elderly. Hoarding is closely associated with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). A great deal of research evidence is cited in support of biological models of compulsive behavior. Biological models of hoarding are extensions of OCD research and animal studies. But Biological and ethological theories fail because the majority of cases of human compulsive hoarding involves non-food stuffs, considered by most people to be useless or of limited value. However, newly devised measures of hoarding cognitions are developed to be used in conjunction with the Obsessive Compulsive Cognitions Working Group for the identification of cognitive patterns relevant to individual patients presenting hoarding in the presence or absence of OCD.
Publication Year: 2002
Publication Date: 2002-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 16
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