Not Letting Go - PsycCRITIQUES Review of Behavioral Therapy Over Time

Compulsive hoarding, characterized by the acquisition of, and failure to discard, a large number of possessions that appear to be useless or of limited value, resulting in the taking over of living spaces and dysfunction or distress (Frost & Hartl, 1996), is a puzzling and often debilitating disorder. Compulsive hoarding aggregates in families, and recent research indicates that at least half of this familiality is due to genetic factors (at least in women), with the remaining variance accounted for by nonshared environmental factors and measurement error, as described by Iervolino et al. (2009). In this large, recent twin study, 4 percent of men and 2 percent of women met criteria for compulsive hoarding, indicating that it is not rare in the general population.