In a second study, Abramowitz et al15 found that hoarding was correlated weakly with depression, but not with anxiety. Other OCD symptoms showed at least a moderate association with anxiety. Due to these recent findings, there is a growing consensus that hoarding should not be considered as a symptom of OCPD or OCD, but as a separate clinical syndrome. Several researchers have also examined whether there are important differences between hoarding behavior seen in the context Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of OCD and hoarding that occurs without any other OCD symptoms.3,4,16

A recent study conducted by Petrusa et al3 compared individuals with severe compulsive hoarding who met criteria for OCD (OCD plus hoarding group) with individuals with severe

hoarding who did not meet criteria for OCD (monosymptomatic hoarding). Individuals in the OCD plus hoarding group differed from the monosymptomatic hoarding group in several important ways. For example, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical OCD plus hoarding participants were more likely to hoard bizarre items and more likely to report other obsessions and compulsions related to their hoarding than those in the monosymptomatic hoarding group. In addition, the OCD plus hoarding group endorsed more cluster C personality traits than the monsymptomatic hoarding group. Given that Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical hoarding can occur in the absence of OCD and that it shares some similarity to impulse control disorders (ICDs) such as pathological gambling, pyromania, and kleptomania, it may have a place within behavioral addiction. Although hoarding behavior is sometimes motivated by a desire to reduce anxiety, it also sometimes appears to be driven by anticipation Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of pleasure and impaired self-regulation.16 Since both anxiety and approach behaviors may play a role in compulsive hoarding, a common diathesis may underlie both hoarding and certain impulse control disorders. Samuels et al14 reported a greater frequency of trichotillomania and skin picking among hoarding compared Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical with nonhoarding individuals with OCD. In addition, Frost et al17 found that pathological gamblers reported significantly more hoarding symptoms than light gamblers.

Although Grant et al18 found a low prevalence of ICDs overall among individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder, obsessive-compulsive not disorder participants with a lifetime and current impulse control disorder were more likely to report hoarding symptoms. In a recent study, Hayward and Coles19 examined the relation of hoarding to OCD and ICDs in an undergraduate sample, and found that hoarding behaviors were related moderately to symptoms of compulsive buying, and more weakly related to pathological gambling, trichotillomania, and kleptomania. The possible association between hoarding and ICDs is consistent with McElroy and colleagues’ conceptualization of a compulsive-impulsive spectrum,20 but requires INCB018424 further exploration.