Hoarding

This article is about the general gathering and storing of goods . For other uses, see Hoarding (disambiguation).

A Thule culture food cache near Cambridge Bay, Nunavut Canada.

Hoarding or caching is a general term for a behavior that leads people or animals to accumulate food or other items in anticipation of future need or scarcity.

Animal behavior

Main article: Hoarding (animal behavior)

Hoarding and caching are common behaviors in many bird species as well as in rodents. Most animal caches are of food. However, some birds will also stingily collect other items, especially if the birds are pets. Magpies are famous for hoarding items such as money and jewelry, although research suggests they are no more attracted to shiny things than other kinds of items.

Human hoarding

Civil unrest or natural disaster may lead people to hoard foodstuffs, water, gasoline, and other essentials which they believe, rightly or wrongly, will soon be in short supply.

Mental illness

Apartment of a person with compulsive hoarding

Main article: Compulsive hoarding

Some hoarding in humans may be a form of mental illness, specifically obsessive-compulsive disorder, where the perceived importance of the hoarded items far exceeds their true value. In severe cases, houses belonging to such people may become a fire hazard (due to blocked exits and stacked papers) or a health hazard (due to vermin infestation, excretia and detritus from excessive pets, hoarded food and garbage or the risk of stacks of items collapsing on the occupants and blocking egress paths).

See also

• Hoard (archaeological)
• Hoarding (economics)
• Compulsive hoarding
• Collyer brothers—rich eccentrics, famous for compulsive hoarding
• Plyushkin—fictional Russian hoarder

Further reading

• Tolin, David; Frost, Randy; Steketee, Gail (2007). Buried in Treasures: Help for Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195300581. 
• Neziroglu, Fugen; Bubrick, Jerome; Yaryura-Tobias, Jose (2004). Overcoming Compulsive Hoarding: Why You Save & How You Can Stop. California: New Harbinger. ISBN 978-1572243491. 
• Steketee, Gail; Frost, Randy (2006). Compulsive Hoarding and Acquiring: Workbook. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195310559. 
• Steketee, Gail; Frost, Randy (2006). Compulsive Hoarding and Acquiring: Therapist Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195300253. 

External links

• Boston University School of Social Work
• "If I Were A Hoarder" , the daughter of a compulsive hoarder writes about hoarding.