Comparison of object and animal hoarding Frost, Randy O.; Patronek, Gary; Rosenfield, Elizabeth
Depression and anxiety,
3 October 2011, Letnik:
28, Številka:
10
Journal Article
Two studies examined hypotheses about compulsive hoarding, compulsive buying and beliefs about saving and discarding derived from the cognitive-behavioral model of compulsive hoarding Frost, R. O. ...and Hartl, T. (1996). A cognitive behavioral model of compulsive hoarding.
Behaviour Research and Therapy,
34, 341–350.. Study 1 examined the hypotheses in a college student population, while study 2 compared members of a support group for hoarding and clutter-related problems with a nonclinical control. Across studies the hypotheses were supported. Compulsive hoarding was associated with compulsive buying and the frequency of acquisition of possessions discarded by others, suggesting that compulsive acquisition may be a broader construct than compulsive buying among people with hoarding problems. Regarding its association with OCD symptoms, hoarding was most closely associated with the impaired mental control features of OCD. Finally, in a hoarding-related task, hoarding was associated with a greater frequency of reasons to save, but was not associated with fewer reasons to discard a target possession.
The expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mRNA and the secretion of BDNF protein are tightly regulated by neuronal activity. Thus, BDNF has been proposed as a mediator of ...activity-dependent neural plasticity. Previous studies showed that dark rearing (DR) reduces BDNF mRNA levels in the primary visual cortex (V1), but the effects of visual experience on BDNF protein levels are unknown. We report that rearing in constant light or DR alters BDNF mRNA and protein levels in the retina, superior colliculus (SC), V1, hippocampus (HIPP), and cerebellum (CBL), although the changes in mRNA and protein are not always correlated. Most notably, DR increases BDNF protein levels in V1 although BDNF mRNA is decreased. BDNF protein levels also undergo diurnal changes. In the retina, V1, and SC, BDNF protein levels are higher during the light phase of the circadian cycle than during the dark phase. By contrast, in HIPP and CBL, the tissue concentration of BDNF protein is higher during the dark phase. The discrepancies between the experience-dependent changes in BDNF mRNA and protein suggest that via its effects on neuronal activity, early sensory experience alters the trafficking, as well as the synthesis, of BDNF protein. The circadian changes in BDNF protein suggest that BDNF could cause the diurnal modulation of synaptic efficacy in some neural circuits. The fluctuations in BDNF levels in nonvisual structures suggest a potential role of BDNF in mediating plasticity induced by hormones or motor activity.
The cognitive–behavioural model of hoarding disorder incorporates information processing difficulties, maladaptive attachment to possessions, erroneous beliefs about the nature of possessions, and ...mood problems as etiologically significant factors, although developmental experiences such as a compromised early family environment have also been proposed in an augmented model. This study examined the specificity and relevance of variables highlighted in the augmented cognitive–behavioural model. Various clinical participants (n = 89) and community controls (n = 20) were assessed with structured clinical interviews to verify diagnosis. Participants completed self‐report measures of hoarding severity, cognitions, meta‐memory, and early developmental experiences (e.g., memories of warmth and security in one's family). Hoarding cohorts (with and without obsessive–compulsive disorder) reported poor confidence in memory, but relative to other groups (obsessive–compulsive disorder without hoarding disorder, anxiety disorders, and healthy controls), hoarding‐relevant cognitions, need to keep possessions in view, and concerns about the consequences of forgetting were significantly higher. Hoarding groups reported the lowest recollections of warmth in their family, although no differences were found between hoarding and non hoarding clinical cohorts for uncertainty about self and others. Nonetheless, clinical cohorts reported generally higher scores of uncertainty than healthy controls. When predicting hoarding severity, after controlling for age and mood, recollections of lack of warmth in one's family was a significant predictor of hoarding severity, with hoarding‐related cognitions and fears about decision‐making being additional unique predictors. The study supports the augmented cognitive–behavioural model of hoarding, inclusive of the importance of early developmental influences in hoarding.
My possessions need me: Anthropomorphism and hoarding Burgess, Alexandra M.; Graves, Lucy M.; Frost, Randy O.
Scandinavian journal of psychology,
June 2018, 2018-Jun, 2018-06-00, 20180601, Letnik:
59, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Hoarding disorder (HD), a new DSM‐5 classification, is characterized by difficulty discarding and the excessive acquisition of possessions to the extent that living spaces are compromised by clutter. ...Individuals with hoarding difficulties have a variety of motivations for object ownership, including emotional attachment towards their possessions which sometimes manifests through imbuing possessions with human‐like terms. Limited extant evidence suggests that anthropomorphism, attributing human qualities to non‐human objects, is related to hoarding, possibly because of difficulties with interpersonal attachment and social isolation. The current study investigated the relationship between hoarding behaviors (i.e., difficulty discarding, excessive acquisition, and clutter), hoarding beliefs (i.e., motivations for ownership including responsibility, emotional attachment, memory, control), anthropomorphism (i.e., generally in childhood, generally in adulthood, and towards three different personally‐owned objects), and loneliness. Moderation analyses examined whether hoarding beliefs or loneliness impacted how anthropomorphism related to hoarding symptoms. Results suggested that all dimensions of anthropomorphism were related to hoarding behaviors. Regression analyses indicated that anthropomorphism in adulthood and of personally owned‐objects were the best predictors of hoarding behavior. Mixed evidence was found for hoarding beliefs and loneliness moderating these associations. Findings successfully replicated and extended previous literature and provide a novel measure of anthropomorphism specifically incorporating personal ownership.
Background
A cognitive‐behavioral model of hoarding posits deficits in information processing, maladaptive beliefs about and attachments to possessions that provoke distress and avoidance, and ...positive emotional responses to saving and acquiring that reinforce these behaviors. A 26‐session individual cognitive‐behavioral therapy (CBT) based on this model showed significant reductions in hoarding symptoms and large effect sizes (Steketee et al.1).
Methods
The present study presents findings at follow‐up (up to 12 months), as well as predictors of outcome at posttreatment (n = 37) and follow‐up (n = 31).
Results
Significant improvements at post‐treatment were sustained at follow‐up with large effects, and Clinical Global Impression‐Improvement (CGI‐I) ratings by clinicians and patients at follow‐up indicated that 62 and 79% of patients were rated “much improved” or “very much improved,” respectively. The most prevalent patterns of outcome were improvement followed by stable gains or little improvement across all time points. Pretreatment severity of hoarding, overall clinical status, gender, perfectionism, and social anxiety were all associated with worse outcome. Only perfectionism and gender emerged as significant predictors after controlling for initial hoarding severity.
Conclusions
The present findings suggest general stability of individual CBT outcomes for hoarding and indicated that gender, perfectionism, and social anxiety may affect outcomes. More research on larger samples is needed to direct efforts to improve treatment for hoarding.
Few instruments are available to assess compulsive hoarding and severity of clutter. Accuracy of assessment is important to understanding the clinical significance of the problem. To overcome ...problems associated with over- and under-reporting of hoarding symptoms, the clutter image rating (CIR) was developed. This pictorial scale contains nine equidistant photographs of severity of clutter representing each of three main rooms of most people’s homes: living room, kitchen, and bedroom. The psychometric properties of this measure were examined in two studies. Internal consistency, test–retest, and interobserver reliabilities were good and convergent validity with other questionnaire and interview measures was also good. The CIR correlated more strongly with measures of clutter than with other hoarding and psychopathology scales. The CIR’s very brief pictorial assessment method makes it useful in clinical and treatment contexts for measuring the clutter dimension of compulsive hoarding.
Twenty-five years ago, one of the first empirically validated measures of perfectionism, the Frost et al. Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (F-MPS) was published. Since that time, psychometric ...studies of the original F-MPS have provided a plethora of evidence to support the potential development of a shorter yet still psychometrically robust version of the measure. Using confirmatory factor analyses across community and clinical samples, the current study identifies an eight-item F-MPS-Brief with two dimensions (i.e., striving and evaluative concerns) that evidences good internal consistency, measurement equivalence across ethnicities, and concurrent and convergent validity. This new, short version of the F-MPS captures well the bidimensional model of perfectionism that has emerged across studies over the past two decades and is suggested for use when a short yet high-performing assessment tool for this model is desired.
Abstract Hoarding disorder (HD) is characterized by difficulty discarding, clutter, and frequently excessive acquiring. Theories have pointed to intense negative emotional reactions (e.g., sadness) ...as one factor that may play a critical role in HD's etiology. Preliminary work with an analogue sample indicated that more intense negative emotions following emotional films were linked with greater hoarding symptoms. Symptom provocation imaging studies with HD patients have also found evidence for excessive activation in brain regions implicated in processing emotions. The current study utilized a sample with self-reported serious hoarding difficulties to examine how hoarding symptoms related to both general and hoarding-related emotional reactivity, taking into account the specificity of these relationships. We also examined how two cognitive factors, fear of decision-making and confidence in memory, modified this relationship. 628 participants with self-identified hoarding difficulties completed questionnaires about general emotional reactivity, depression, anxiety, decision-making, and confidence in memory. To assess hoarding-related emotional reactivity, participants reported their emotional reactions when imagining discarding various items. Heightened general emotional reactivity and more intense emotional reactions to imagined discarding were associated with both difficulty discarding and acquisition, but not clutter, controlling for age, gender, and co-occurring mood and anxiety symptoms. Fear of decision-making and confidence in memory interacted with general emotional reactivity to predict hoarding symptoms. These findings provide support for cognitive-behavioral models of hoarding. Experimental research should be conducted to discover whether emotional reactivity increases vulnerability for HD. Future work should also examine whether emotional reactivity should be targeted in interventions for hoarding.
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