Actual and perceived memory deficits in individuals with compulsive hoarding

Abstract

Memory problems have been hypothesized to underlie compulsive hoarding behavior [Frost and Hartl, 1996: Behav Res Ther 34:341-350]. This study examined memory performance, memory confidence, and memory beliefs in 22 individuals with severe hoarding symptoms and 24 matched normal control subjects. Participants were administered two measures of learning and memory that required strategic planning and organization for successful performance: the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (RCFT) and California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT). Self-reports of memory confidence, perceived consequences of forgetting, importance of remembering, and need to keep possessions in sight also were assessed. In comparison to controls, participants with compulsive hoarding recalled less information on delayed recall of the RCFT and CVLT and used less effective organizational strategies on the RCFT but not the CVLT. Hoarders also reported significantly less confidence in their memory, more catastrophic assessments of the consequences of forgetting, and a stronger desire to keep possessions in sight. Results provide initial evidence of learning and memory impairment and poor memory confidence in subjects with compulsive hoarding.

To discard or not to discard: the neural basis of hoarding symptoms in obsessive-compulsive disorder

“…Clearly, more research is needed to understand the precise functional significance of these findings but the negative correlations with dorsal prefrontal-striatal and parietal regions could reflect deficient emotional regulation mechanisms in compulsive hoarding 48 and would also be consistent with difficulties in planning, 49 another important feature of this syndrome. 50 Interestingly, only nonhoarding patients activated regions of the basal ganglia during symptom provocation and the degree of provoked anxiety correlated inversely with activation in this region in the entire sample (n = 29). Because the basal ganglia have been consistently implicated in non-hoarding OCD, our finding adds to the idea that the neural systems underlying compulsive hoarding are distinct from those implicated in other forms of OCD.…”

The role of attachment style and anthropomorphism in predicting hoarding behaviours in a non-clinical sample

“…The aim of this current study was thus to investigate the roles of attachment styles, attachment to objects, and anthropomorphism in predicting hoarding tendencies in a non-clinical population. As research has revealed sex differences in hoarding behaviours (Grisham et al, 2009;Hartl, Frost, Allen, Deckersbach, Steketee, Duffany et al, 2004), anthropomorphism (Neave et al, 2015) and in attachment styles (Del Giudice, 2011), the sample comprised males and females.…”

An open trial of cognitive-behavioral therapy for compulsive hoarding

“…Research on beliefs about possessions suggests that these beliefs cluster into four basic subtypes: emotional attachment to possessions, poor memory confidence, exaggerated sense of responsibility for possessions, and desire for control over possessions (Frost, Hartl, Christian, & Williams, 1995;Hartl et al, 2004;Steketee, Frost, & Kyrios, 2003).…”