Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Hoarding Disorder: A Systematic Review

Although hoarding has been considered as a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder before, some differences that were found lead to reclassify hoarding as a separate disorder under obsessive-compulsive disorder and related disorders in DSM-5. Patients with hoarding disorder have negative feelings like strong fear when considering getting rid of items and exaggerate the importance of possessions. Different CBT protocols including individual, group and self-help treatments are used for treating hoarding disorder. The aim of this study is to review empirical studies that were carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy for the treatment of hoarding disorder. For this aim, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO and MEDLINE databases were searched to identify articles in English that were published using the following keywords: “(1) hoarding disorder and cognitive behavioral therapy, (2) hoarding disorder and cognitive behavioral treatment”. The articles that were not related to therapy effectiveness and have a sample who are younger than 18 years were eliminated. The remaining 12 studies fitting the search criteria were included in this review and were summarized in terms of their methods used and their therapy characteristic. The studies included in this review suggested that cognitive behavioral therapy for hoarding disorder is effective in decreasing the symptoms of the disorder and/or the accompanying problems like depression and anxiety