Motives for acquiring and saving in hoarding disorder, OCD, and community controls

• We examined the frequency of four motives for acquiring and saving among hoarding disorder, OCD, and community control participants.
• Each of four motives (information value, emotional reasons, avoiding waste, and aesthetic reasons) was more frequent among HD participants than OCD or community controls.
• The intention to avoid waste emerged as the most prominent motive in people with HD.

Hoarding disorder (HD) was classified as a separate disorder in DSM-5 (APA, 2013). However, only recently research on hoarding has begun in earnest, and as of yet, very little research exists on the motivation to acquire and save the excessive volume of possessions seen in patients with this disorder. This investigation examined the frequency of four motives for acquiring and saving possessions that are often reported anecdotally by people with HD (information, emotional reasons, avoid waste, and aesthetic reasons). Comparisons in a sample of 443 participants indicated that those with HD reported higher frequencies of each of these four motives for acquiring and saving compared to OCD participants and community controls. The intention to avoid waste emerged as the most prominent motive in people with HD. Understanding waste avoidance may be key to better understanding and treating HD.