A qualitative analysis of emotion and emotion regulation in hoarding disorder

Abstract

Objective: The role of emotion regulation (ER) has been receiving increased attention in relation to various forms of psychopathology including hoarding disorder (HD). However, questionnaire designs are limited to finding associations of ER with symptoms or symptom groups, without finding out how such constructs might be involved in the disorder.Methods: This study was a qualitative investigation of ER in a clinical HD sample (N = 11).Results: Prominent themes provided support for ER difficulties in hoarding. In particular, difficulties with identifying and describing feelings, unhelpful attitudes toward the emotional experience, the use of avoidance-based strategies, and a perceived lack of effective ER strategies were prominent themes. Furthermore, emotional factors were identified as being associated with the onset and/or exacerbation of hoarding behavior, and possessions and acquiring behavior appeared to serve an ER function. Conclusion:The current paper provides a nuanced account of the role of ER in hoarding difficulties. K E Y W O R D S alexithymia, emotion regulation, emotional dysregulation, experiential avoidance, hoarding disorder J. Clin. Psychol. 2019;75:520-545. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jclp 520 |In summary, this investigation revealed a nuanced picture, with evidence for ER difficulties in HD, with regard to difficulties identifying and describing feelings, EA, unhelpful attitudes towards emotions, and a perceived lack of effective ER strategies. Aspects of hoarding behavior (i.e., acquiring and emotional attachment to possessions) appeared to serve an ER function for some participants. It is hoped that these findings serve to increase the detail in individual psychological formulations for individuals with hoarding, as well as improving overall models of the disorder. ORCID Maja Nedeljkovic

Coping associated with compulsive buying tendency

“…This potential cyclic relationship bridge onto emotion regulation and modulation theories that have been explored briefly in CB, where CB reporting broad emotion regulation dysfunction (Williams, 2012;Williams & Grisham, 2012). Such emotion regulation relationships have been recently suggested for hoarding, including consideration of dialectical behaviour therapy or acceptance and commitment therapy principles (Lawrence & Elphinstone, 2019;Taylor, Moulding, & Nedeljkovic, 2018;Taylor, Theiler, Nedeljkovic, & Moulding, 2019).…”

The Relationship Between Affective and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in Internet Use Disorder

“…Of note, despite Hoarding disorder is included among Obsessive-compulsive-related disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ), its appetitive aspects, e.g., the pleasure related to the inanimate objects to be hoarded, is thought to be more akin to behavioral addictions (Yap and Grisham, 2019 ). Moreover, similarly to behavioral addictions, hoarding seems to arise from the anticipation of pleasure and impaired self-regulation (Taylor et al, 2019 ). Quite recently, “digital hoarding” has been described as a subtype of hoarding disorder, characterized by the accumulation of digital information to the point of loss of perspective, eventually resulting in stress symptoms, with adverse consequences on the individual's functioning in daily life (van Bennekom et al, 2015 ).…”

Exploring emotions and cognitions in hoarding: a Q-methodology analysis

“…Emotion regulation is the process of changing the experience (or the expression of) feelings via situation selection/modification, attentional focus, cognitive change and response modification and therefore has obvious potential influence on hoarding behaviour. A recent qualitative study conducted by Taylor et al (2019) has added to the hoarding and emotion regulation evidence by highlighting that people prone to hoarding have problems with naming feelings, harbour unhelpful attitudes towards feelings, avoid feelings and carry a personal sense of being deficient in their emotion regulation strategies. Further use of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (Gratz and Roemer, 2004) is indicated to explore the manner in which individual Q-statements may correlate with the five scales (acceptance, goals, impulsivity, strategy and clarity).…”

“…Tolin et al (2018) reported that even after controlling for baseline depression, anxiety and stress, people prone to hoarding had greater general emotion regulation difficulties compared with controls. Taylor et al (2019) used qualitative methods to suggest that difficulties with emotion regulation were associated with both the onset and maintenance of hoarding, with the acquisition and possession of objects having a role in the management of emotion.…”