Hi there I'm Dr Ellen Hendrickson. Welcome back to the savvy psychologist.

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Think about your most valued possession, the thing you'd want with you when stranded on the proverbial desert island.

Your laptop, that box of precious family photos?

Now imagine feeling that way about every single item in your house. Welcome to the mindset of hoarding disorder.

No one knows the true prevalence of hoarding, but a 2013 study in the British Journal of

psychiatry estimates a minimum of 1.5% of the population

which equals 4.5 million Americans. And because hoarding disorder is

isolating and often hidden you can bet the number is much higher.

In fact, the International OCD Foundation estimates up to 5% of us that's 1 in 20 are hoarders. And you can't tell for sure without going

inside a house or apartment of course but there are outward signs that stuff may be

overloading a life. The backseat of the car filled to the windows, her yard filled with

junk, or the overflowing shopping bags he carries everywhere he goes. So what is hoarding exactly? Put simply, collecting, saving, or being a pack rat crosses the line into

hoarding disorder when all those possessions cause distress to the individual or interfere

with living a normal life.

Hording often makes a home unable to be used as intended, which spirals into wrecking

hoarders' lives in other ways.

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