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Neurobiology and Treatment of Compulsive Hoarding

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

Sanjaya Saxena
Sanjaya Saxena*
Affiliation:
Dr. Saxena is professor of psychiatry and director of the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders Program at the, University of California, San Diego
*
UCSD Department of Psychiatry, 8950 Villa La Jolla Drive, Suite C-207, La Jolla, CA 92037. Tel: (858) 642-3472; Fax:, (858) 642-6442; E-Mail:, ssaxena@ucsd.edu
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Abstract

Compulsive hoarding is a common and often disabling neuropsychiatric disorder. This article reviews the phenomenology, etiology, neurobiology, and treatment of compulsive hoarding. Compulsive hoarding is part of a discrete clinical syndrome that includes difficulty discarding, urges to save, clutter, excessive acquisition, indecisiveness, perfectionism, procrastination, disorganization, and avoidance. Epidemiological and taxometric studies indicate that compulsive hoarding is a separate but related obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorder that is frequently comorbid with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Compulsive hoarding is a genetically discrete, strongly heritable phenotype. Neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies indicate that compulsive hoarding is neurobiologically distinct from OCD and implicate dysfunction of the anterior cingulate cortex and other ventral and medial prefrontal cortical areas that mediate decision-making, attention, and emotional regulation. Effective treatments for compulsive hoarding include pharmacotherapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy. More research will be required to determine the etiology and pathophysiology of compulsive hoarding, and to develop better treatments for this disorder.

Type
Research Article
Information
CNS Spectrums , Volume 13 , Issue S14 , 2008 , pp. 29 - 36
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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