"If You Can't Throw Away Trash Piled to the Ceiling Because It's a Waste"… 'Hoarding Disorder' Increasingly Isolating from Society

Social Isolation and Depression Leading to Hoarding Disorder
"Broad Support Needed Not Only for Elderly but Also for Youth"

A suspected case of hoarding disorder reported on the 9th through the online community 'I Love Gosiwon'. Photo by 'I Love Gosiwon' capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] "I realized that the delivery food waste accumulated over a year was never thrown away."

This is a suspected case of hoarding disorder recently shared on an online community. A, who runs a goshiwon in Seoul, shared the condition of a room left by a tenant in their 20s on June 9th in the community 'I Love Goshiwon,' which shares information about goshiwons. A said, "The tenant always delayed paying rent and only paid after being pressured, but in summer, the smell around the room became unbearable," adding, "I opened the door to check the room and was horrified, so I immediately evicted the tenant regardless of the rent."

A explained, "There was an indescribable stench of urine and feces in the room, and it was swarming with fruit flies and maggots." He also said, "Pots and dishes that disappeared when placed in the shared kitchen were all found in this room," adding, "There were 10 pots and 20 rice bowls in the room, but they were all thrown away because they were infested with maggots."

Netizens who saw this speculated that the tenant might have hoarding disorder. Hoarding disorder involves compulsively collecting items without discarding them and can often occur in conditions such as dementia, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and depressive disorders. If left untreated, the symptoms can lead to accumulating items until the home is filled with trash. This results in social isolation and depression, to the extent that personal hygiene is neglected.

Professor Lim Myung-ho of Dankook University’s Department of Psychology said, "It is often difficult to explain with just obsessive-compulsive disorder, so nowadays it is also called hoarding disorder," and added, "Hoarding disorder looks very messy on the outside, but inside there is anxiety and fear about discarding items." He continued, "The biggest reason people with hoarding disorder cannot throw things away is because they feel it is wasteful," explaining, "They think they might use the items again in 5 or 10 years, which leads to compulsion, fear, and anxiety."

Hoarding symptoms are often found not only in the elderly but also in young adults. Photo is unrelated to specific expressions in the article. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Professor Lim explained the recent discovery of hoarding cases among young people, saying, "Young people devote their time to work or social life to achieve economic success, so they lack the time or energy for self-care," adding, "As items accumulate, they keep postponing cleaning, and when it exceeds a certain limit, they may move out or sleep outside the home."

He also suggested that broad social support for hoarding disorder is necessary. Currently, hoarding disorder support projects operated by local governments mainly focus on elderly single-person households. Professor Lim emphasized, "Elderly single-person households are socially vulnerable, and elderly people have difficulty managing themselves due to mobility issues," but added, "There are quite a few cases of hoarding disorder even among those who are not elderly or single-person households, so support projects should be expanded." He further noted, "Looking at overseas cases, when many items accumulate in a house, there is a higher risk of fire caused by minor incidents," adding, "This is a problem that can also harm others."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.