Stressful life events and material deprivation in hoarding disorder

Research highlights ▶ Traumatic life events and early material deprivation have been identified as potential environmental risk factors for the development of pathological hoarding behavior. ▶ This study retrospectively examined the occurrence of traumatic/stressful life events and material deprivation in four well-characterized groups: hoarding disorder without comorbid OCD (HD; n = 24), hoarding disorder with comorbid OCD (HD + OCD; n = 20), OCD without hoarding symptoms (OCD; n = 17), and non-clinical controls (Control; n = 20). ▶ Hoarders (regardless of the presence of comorbid OCD) reported greater exposure to a range of traumatic and stressful life events compared to the two non-hoarding groups. ▶ The total number of traumatic life events correlated significantly with the severity of hoarding but not of obsessive–compulsive symptoms. ▶ There was no link between levels of material deprivation and hoarding.