Early Research Into Compulsive Hoarding

Hoarding has been recognised in human behaviour for a very long time, yet systematic research into it developed surprisingly late. The modern understanding of Hoarding Disorder emerged gradually through decades of observation, theory and empirical study.

Early ideas about hoarding

It is striking how little formal research was carried out on hoarding for much of the twentieth century, despite the behaviour having been observed for centuries.

One of the earliest well-known psychological interpretations came from Sigmund Freud.

In 1908, Freud linked hoarding behaviour with his theory of the anal stage of human development. He suggested that difficulties around control, possession and loss during development could later influence an individual’s relationship with possessions.

Freud’s interpretation belongs to an early psychoanalytic framework and should be understood in that historical context. Modern research into hoarding has developed considerably beyond these early theories.

The first use of the term “compulsive hoarding”

The term compulsive hoarding was used in the scientific literature by Bolman and Katz in 1966 in a study discussing collecting behaviour in humans.

At this stage, hoarding was still largely being described through observation and anecdotal evidence rather than through the structured assessment methods that would emerge later.

Early thinking about attachment to possessions

In 1978, researcher Lita Furby explored the psychological meaning of possessions and ownership.

Her work drew attention to the idea that attachment to objects can begin early in life and that particular possessions may take on emotional significance.

This was important because it encouraged researchers to look beyond the monetary or practical value of an object and consider what that object represents to the person keeping it.

That idea remains highly relevant to modern discussions of hoarding.

The first major research papers

One of the earliest major papers specifically examining compulsive hoarding was published in 1987 by D. Greenberg.

However, it was during the early 1990s that systematic empirical research began to expand significantly.

Researchers including:

• Randy O. Frost
• Gail Steketee
• David F. Tolin
• Tamara L. Hartl

became closely associated with the development of modern hoarding research.

Their work helped move the subject away from being treated simply as unusual collecting or a minor feature of another disorder and toward understanding hoarding as a distinct pattern of behaviour with measurable characteristics.

The 1996 definition of compulsive hoarding

A major milestone came in 1996, when Randy O. Frost and Tamara L. Hartl published an influential definition of compulsive hoarding.

Their work described three broad features:

• the acquisition of and failure to discard a large number of possessions
• living spaces becoming sufficiently cluttered that they can no longer be used as intended
• significant distress or impairment caused by the hoarding behaviour

This framework became highly influential in later research and helped researchers describe hoarding in a more consistent and measurable way.

You can read more about the modern understanding of hoarding on our What Is Hoarding Disorder? page.

From “compulsive hoarding” to Hoarding Disorder

For many years, compulsive hoarding was discussed primarily in relation to obsessive-compulsive disorder.

As the research base grew, evidence increasingly suggested that hoarding had its own characteristic pattern.

Researchers examined areas such as:

• difficulty discarding possessions
• excessive acquiring
• emotional attachment to objects
• decision-making difficulties
• organisation and categorisation
• avoidance
• clutter and loss of usable living space
• the effect on daily functioning

This expanding research eventually contributed to Hoarding Disorder being recognised separately in modern diagnostic systems.

For more on the historic relationship between the two conditions, see Hoarding and OCD: What Is the Difference?

Why the early research mattered

These early studies changed the way hoarding was discussed.

Rather than treating someone with a severely cluttered home simply as eccentric, untidy or unwilling to throw things away, researchers began looking at the psychological processes behind the behaviour.

Questions began to include:

• Why does discarding feel so difficult?
• Why do apparently ordinary objects carry such importance?
• Why does someone continue acquiring possessions despite having limited space?
• What role does decision-making play?
• How does clutter affect relationships and everyday functioning?

Those questions formed much of the foundation for later hoarding research.

The development of hoarding assessment

As researchers became more interested in hoarding, they also needed reliable ways to measure it.

This led to the development of tools looking at different aspects of the problem, including:

• visible clutter
• difficulty discarding
• acquiring behaviour
• distress
• interference with everyday life

Visual approaches also emerged to help people compare the amount of clutter in a room against a series of reference images.

You can read more about this on our Hoarding Rating Scale 1–9 page.

Research continues to evolve

The early researchers helped establish hoarding as a serious subject for scientific study, but they did not provide the final word.

Modern researchers continue to investigate:

• how hoarding develops
• why some people are more vulnerable than others
• the role of emotions and beliefs about possessions
• how decision-making affects discarding
• the relationship between acquiring and clutter
• how hoarding affects families
• which forms of support are most effective

For a broader look at the evidence, visit our Hoarding Disorder Research page.

Further reading

• What Is Hoarding Disorder?
• Hoarding Disorder Research
• Hoarding and OCD
• Hoarding Rating Scale 1–9
• Hoarding Disorder: Signs, Symptoms and Assessment