The distinctiveness of compulsive hoarding from obsessive-compulsive disorder

The present study investigated the relation of compulsive hoarding to other obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms in a sample of 162 patients with OCD. Obsessions and compulsions reported on the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV were submitted to an exploratory factor analysis. Results suggested a four-factor model: “Certainty,” “Contamination,” “Obsessions,” and “Numbers/Ordering.” Hoarding did not load on any factor. The sample was divided into three groups: pure hoarding, nonhoarding OCD, and mixed OCD and hoarding. The hoarding group endorsed significantly less anxiety, worry, stress, and negative affect on self-report measures than the mixed and nonhoarding groups. Although hoarding sometimes functions as a compulsion among individuals with OCD, hoarding in the absence of other OCD symptoms may be a clinically distinct syndrome.