Hostname: page-component-6587cd75c8-6qszs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-24T06:04:23.402Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Family and social functioning in adults with hoarding disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2020

Eliza J. Davidson Open the ORCID record for Eliza J. Davidson [Opens in a new window] ,
Mary E. Dozier ,
Tina L. Mayes ,
Kylie A. Baer  and
Catherine R. Ayers
Eliza J. Davidson
Affiliation:
Research Service, VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego, CA, USA
Mary E. Dozier
Affiliation:
Research Service, VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA Department of Psychology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA
Tina L. Mayes
Affiliation:
Research Service, VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, CA, USA Mental Health Care Line, VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA
Kylie A. Baer
Affiliation:
Research Service, VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA
Catherine R. Ayers*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, CA, USA Mental Health Care Line, VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Catherine R. Ayers, Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Hoarding is associated with problems engaging in social activities, lower social support, increased isolation and poses substantial challenges to family functioning. The aim of this investigation was to explore the relationship between hoarding severity and family and social functioning variables in 60 treatment-seeking adults with hoarding disorder (HD). Participants completed a battery of self-report measures during a baseline assessment completed prior to treatment. Forty-seven percent of participants reported they live alone. Forty-eight percent of participants reported that family and friends never visit them in their home, and 33% indicated they never had visitors to their home, not even service workers or repair people. Twelve percent of participants indicated they never visit with family or friends outside of their home; however, 55% of participants endorsed phoning family or friends more than 9 times each month. Increased clutter and hoarding severity was associated with a lower frequency of family and friends visiting in the home. Family competence and conflict were both positively associated with hoarding severity. Our results shed light on family and social impairment in HD and their relationship with symptom severity; however, additional research should examine social dysfunction among non-treatment-seeking individuals who may be more impaired or isolated.

Keywords

Hoarding disorderfamily functioningsocial functioning
Type
Articles
Information
Children Australia , Volume 45 , Special Issue 3: Special Issue: Hoarding , September 2020 , pp. 159 - 163
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental health disorders: DSM-5 (5th ed.). American Psychiatric Publishing.Google Scholar
Ayers, C. R., & Dozier, M. E. (2015). Predictors of hoarding severity in older adults with hoarding disorder. International Psychogeriatrics, 27, 1147–1156. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610214001677 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ayers, C. R, Dozier, M. E, Taylor, C. T., Mayes, T. L., Pittman, J. O. E., & Twamley, E. W. (2018). Group Cognitive rehabilitation and exposure/sorting therapy: A pilot program. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 42, 315–327. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-017-9878-1 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayers, C. R., Saxena, S., Golshan, S., & Wetherell, J. L. (2010). Age at onset and clinical features of late life compulsive hoarding. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 25, 142–149. https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.2310 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beavers, W. R., Hampson, R. B., & Hulgus, Y. F. (1990). Beavers systems model manual. Dallas, TX: Southwest Family Institute.Google Scholar
Cath, D. C., Nizar, K., Boomsma, D., & Mathews, C. A. (2017). Age-specific prevalence of hoarding and obsessive compulsive disorder: A population-based study. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 25, 245–255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jagp.2016.11.006 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chasson, G. S., Carpenter, A., Ewing, J., Gibby, B., & Lee, N. (2014). Empowering families to help a loved one with hoarding disorder: Pilot study of family-as-motivators training. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 63, 9–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2014.08.016 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Diefenbach, G. J., DiMauro, J., Frost, R., Steketee, G., & Tolin, D. F. (2013). Characteristics of hoarding in older adults. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 21, 1043–1047. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jagp.2013.01.028 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dozier, M. E., Porter, B., & Ayers, C. R. (2016). Age of onset and progression of hoarding symptoms in older adults with hoarding disorder. Aging & Mental Health, 20, 736–742. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2015.1033684 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Drury, H., Ajmi, S., Fernández de la Cruz, L., Nordsletten, A. E., & Mataix-Cols, D. (2014). Caregiver burden, family accommodation, health, and well-being in relatives of individuals with hoarding disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 159, 7–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2014.01.023 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Epstein, N., Baldwin, L., & Bishop, D. (1983). The McMaster family assessment device. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 9(2), 171–180. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-0606.1983.tb01497.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frost, R. O., Steketee, G., & Grisham, J. (2004). Measurement of compulsive hoarding: Saving inventory-revised. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42, 1163–1182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2003.07.006 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frost, R. O., Steketee, G., Tolin, D. F., & Renaud, S. (2008). Development and validation of the clutter image rating. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 30, 193–203. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-007-9068-7 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frost, R. O., Steketee, G., & Williams, L. (2000). Hoarding: A community health problem. Health and Social Care in the Community, 8, 229–234. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2524.2000.00245.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grisham, J. R., Frost, R. O., Steketee, G., Kim, H. J., & Hood, S. (2006). Age of onset of compulsive hoarding. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 20, 675–686. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2005.07.004 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hahn, E. A., DeWalt, D. A., Bode, R. K., Garcia, S. F., DeVellis, R. F., Correia, H., & Cella, D. (2014). New English and Spanish social health measures will facilitate evaluating health determinants. Health Psychology, 33, 490. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000055 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
IBM Corp. (Released 2019). IBM SPSS Statistics for Mac OS, Version 26.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp Google Scholar
Medard, E., & Kellett, S. (2014). The role of adult attachment and social support in hoarding disorder. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 42, 629–633. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352465813000659 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nedelisky, A., & Steele, M. (2009). Attachment to people and to objects in obsessive-compulsive disorder: An exploratory comparison of hoarders and non-hoarders. Attachment & Human Development, 11, 365–383. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616730903016987 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olson, D. (2011). FACES IV and the circumplex model: Validation study. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 3(1), 64–80. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-0606.2009.00175.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, J. M., Lewin, A. B., & Storch, E. A. (2014). Adult offspring perspectives on parental hoarding behaviors. Psychiatry Research, 220, 328–334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2014.07.061 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Postlethwaite, A., Kellett, S., & Mataix-Cols, D. (2019). Prevalence of hoarding disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 256, 309–316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.06.004 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sampson, J. M., Yeats, J. R., & Harris, S. M. (2012). An evaluation of an ambiguous loss based psychoeducational support group for family members of persons who hoard: A pilot study. Contemporary Family Therapy, 34, 566–581. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-012-9214-6 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saxena, S., Maidment, K. M., Vapnik, T., Golden, G., Rishwain, T., Rosen, R. M., … Bystritsky, A. (2002). Obsessive-compulsive hoarding: Symptom severity and response to multimodal treatment. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 63, 21–27. https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.v63n0105 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steketee, G. (1993). Social support and treatment outcome of obsessive compulsive disorder at 9-month follow-up. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 21, 81–95. https://doi.org/10.1017/S014134730001805X CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steketee, G., Frost, R. O., Wincze, J., Greene, K. A., & Douglass, H. (2000). Group and individual treatment of compulsive hoarding: A pilot study. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 28, 259–268. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352465800003064 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steketee, G., Kelley, A. A., Wernick, J. A., Muroff, J., Frost, R. O., & Tolin, D. F. (2015). Familial patterns of hoarding symptoms. Depression and Anxiety, 32, 728–736. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.22393 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thompson, C., de la Cruz, L. F., Mataix-Cols, D., & Onwumere, J. (2017). A systematic review and quality assessment of psychological, pharmacological, and family-based interventions for hoarding disorder. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 27, 53–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2017.02.020 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thompson-Hollands, J., Edson, A., Tompson, M. C., & Comer, J. S. (2014). Family involvement in the psychological treatment of obsessive–compulsive disorder: A meta-analysis. Journal of Family Psychology, 28, 287. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036709 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tolin, D. F., Frost, R. O., Steketee, G., & Fitch, K. E. (2008). Family burden of compulsive hoarding: Results of an internet survey. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46, 334–344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2007.12.008 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tompkins, M. A. (2011). Working with families of people who hoard: A harm reduction approach. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 67, 497–506. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20797 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilbram, M., Kellett, S., & Beail, N. (2008). Compulsive hoarding: A qualitative investigation of partner and carer perspectives. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 47, 59–73. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466507X240740 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed