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Acquiring Things: Strange Cases of Compulsive Hoarding

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Abstract

Why has compulsive hoarding recently captured the American imagination? To what extent is hoarding a subtype of OCD or a discrete "disorder" in its own right? Can a cultural-studies and philosophical assessment of hoarding complement the medical model that has recently been offered by clinicians and the DSM IV? This essay tracks these and related questions in order to offer a theory of compulsive hoarding that pays particular attention to the sometimes distorted representation of hoarding in literature and the mainstream media.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English, Lafayette College, Easton, PA, 18042, USA

    Paul Cefalu

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  1. Paul Cefalu
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Correspondence to Paul Cefalu.

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Cefalu, P. Acquiring Things: Strange Cases of Compulsive Hoarding. J Med Humanit 36, 217–230 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-015-9346-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-015-9346-4

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