Studies are uncovering the associations between hoarding disorder and suicide. Key points Hoarding disorder involves compulsive accumulation of new items, keeping old ones, and clutter. Those with hoarding disorder report suicidal thoughts and behaviours, and 13 percent have attempted suicide. Hoarding disorder associated with depression and suicidality may be linked to isolation and poor functioning. Approximately 2 to 6 percent of the general population meet criteria for ho

A challenge to the assumption that hoarding is purely behavioral or rooted in indecision. Key points A recent study on hoarding points toward an interplay among emotion, perception, and social cognition. The mind’s need for connection, when unmet, may be rerouted toward the tangible, an adaptive strategy. The clutter that fills a hoarder’s home might be read as a neuropsychological footprint of loneliness. In Amanda Uhle’s recent book, Destroy This House (Summit Books, 2025),