What is Hoarding Disorder?

Hoarding disorder is type of Obsessive compulsive disorder. It is a mental health condition in which a person have difficulty to discard his or her possessions. Person is unable to discard the things regardless of their definite value. Despite of collecting ordinary things, hoarding disorder often leads to collect clutter or untidiness’s that sometime interferes with his or her daily life and relationships. Individuals having hoarding disorder experience significant distress when attempt to dispose such items.

How to Diagnose Hoarding Disorder?

Hoarding disorder is recognized in obsessive compulsive disorders it has separate diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). According to DSM 5 TR the diagnostic criteria of Hoarding Disorder is:

Diagnostic Criteria A.

Person have persistent difficulty in discarding or parting his or her possessions, regardless of their actual value.

Diagnostic Criteria B.

This difficulty of discarding his or her possessions is due to a apparent need to save the items. The parting difficulty is due to distress associated with discarding these items.

Diagnostic Criteria C.

The difficulty in discarding old possessions regardless of their need results in the accumulation of old possessions. This accumulation congest and clutter active living areas of a person and significantly compromises their intended use.

Diagnostic Criteria D.

The hoarding disorder causes clinically substantial distress or impairment in social and occupational life areas of a person.

Diagnostic Criteria E.

The hoarding disorder is not attributable to any other medical condition like brain injury and cerebrovascular disease.

While common people associate hoarding disorder with gathering of newspapers, clothing, or old household items. But this disorder can also extend in other areas, including digital item related hoarding. For example, a porn hoarder is someone who instinctively collects adult material. A por hoarder is unable to organize and discard this material even when it creates problems in his or her personal and professional life.

What are Unique Challenges of a Porn Hoarder?

A porn hoarder sometime experiences many of the same struggles like others having hoarding disorder are experiencing. But the struggle for him involves the nature of additional secrecy and stigma. Person struggling with this disorder may spend countless hours of their time in saving videos and digital files. This behavior of pilling up such type of digital material often leading to social isolation. But as this is ethically, religiously and morally a wrong practice so person have consistent fear of embarrassment. This prevent a porn hoarder from seeking help, making his or her disorder harder to treat.

Just like any other person having hoarding disorder who fill their home with heaps of paper or old possessions, a porn hoarder will fill his or her hard drives and entire spaces with adult content. This unethical and unnecessary accumulation can interfere and effect the relationships and occupational life of such person. This is a mental health issue which can be treated by professional support and treatment.

How to treat Hoarding Disorder?

Effective method to treat hoarding disorder which is also helpful to treat porn hoarder, includes cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and medication for co-occurring conditions as well. CBT and other therapies focuses on helping such individuals to change their thought patterns. Therapists are focused to improve the decision-making skills of their patients and to develop healthier relationships with possessions.