Mental Health Conditions: Hoarding Disorder
Introduction
Hoarding disorder, or also known as hoarding disorder, is a behavioral mental disorder characterized by excessive acquisition of and persistent difficulty or unwillingness to discard large quantities of possession within the living areas or the homestead (Frost, Steketee, and Tolin, 2015).
Risk factors
The personality of a person such a temperament that includes indecisiveness can be a risk factor to the condition. Family history strongly associated with hoarding disorder is also a risk factor for the condition. Traumatic events such as difficulty in coping with death or accident can also increase the risk of hoarding disorder (Frost, Steketee, and Tolin, 2015).
Clinical manifestations
A person having hoarding disorder will undergo disturbing experiences of distress in the thought of disposing of the possessions regardless of the value of the objects, dare feeling to save things, tendency to build up clutter, and in unused house room among other symptoms. People with this condition will deny this mental condition.
Diagnosis
MRI screening and DSM-5 can be used for age-specific diagnosis for the condition. According to (Fouche et al.,2017), the prefrontal cortex of the brain is involved in controlling the collecting behavior, and MRI findings on the damage of this region can be used to diagnose the condition. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), published by the American Psychiatric Association, can be used as a tool for Hoarding diagnosis at different ages.
Treatment
Non-pharmacological intervention for hoarding disorder is cognitive-behavioral therapy. Children Family accommodation therapy for children with hoarding disorder can be given where the parent can warn and keep the child from the piled up environment (Morris et al., 2016). Psychotherapy during adults to encourage them to resist the behavior and learn to organize their property. A management activity can be done to clean the pilled objects and isolate the patient from the piled environment. Medications such as antidepressants can be given as pharmacological interventions, especially for patients with anxiety or depression.
Treatment by Age
Hoarding usually starts at age 11 – 15. It starts worsening with increasing age, and hence the teen’s desire to possess and hold objects can be identified and corrected by behavioral therapy at a tender age. However, as age increases, the behavior tends to become more permanent to be controlled and can only be managed.
Conclusion
Hoarding disorder presents an array of symptoms which may be clinically challenging to identify and may require different therapy treatment for children and adults.
References
Frost, R. O., Steketee, G., & Tolin, D. F. (2015). Comorbidity in hoarding disorder. Focus, 13(2), 244-251.
Fouche, J. P., Du Plessis, S., Hattingh, C., Roos, A., Lochner, C., Soriano-Mas, C., … & Jung, W. H. (2017). Cortical thickness in obsessive-compulsive disorder: multisite mega-analysis of 780 brain scans from six centers. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 210(1), 67-74.
Morris, S. H., Jaffee, S. R., Goodwin, G. P., & Franklin, M. E. (2016). Hoarding in children and adolescents: a review. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 47(5), 740-750.