Compulsive Hoarding In The Inferno By Dante Alighieri

Compulsive Hoarding History

Dante Alighieri made the earliest reference to compulsive hoarding in the 14th century in The Inferno.

"Here, too, I saw a nation of lost souls,

far more than were above: they strained their

chests against enormous weights, and with mad howls

rolled them at one another. Then in haste

they rolled them back, one party shouting out:

“Why do you hoard?” and the other: “Why do you waste?”

“Hoarding and squandering wasted all their light

and brought them screaming to this brawl of wraiths.

You need no words of mine to grasp their plight.”

(Dante Alighieri The inferno translated by J. Ciardi)

Sigmund Freud completed the earliest research of compulsive hoarding in 1908. Freud theorized that hoarding was a direct

Previously, the DSM-IV had reported that hoarding was comorbid with OCD, however, the DSM-V states that it is independent from negative, intrusive thoughts if one does not maintain an item. Hoarding disorder is also comorbid with medical conditions such as fibromyalgia, diabetes and obesity (Kress et al. 2014). It is inferred that compulsive hoarding is a result of significant trauma in a person’s life. Such trauma can include the death of a loved one, major decline in health and significant change in a person’s daily life. Because hoarding is newly recognized as a disorder, there is little known about it. The A&E show called “Hoarding: Buried Alive” follows different individuals and studies their behavior and symptoms. The show studies the individual to determine what triggered this behavior in order to come up with a therapy

Their justification for this behavior is that they can use it at some point in time or that it is of emotional value. Along with inanimate objects, people may also hoard animals. The reason for hoarding animals is the persons search for love and belonging. Owning an animal puts any person in a nurturing position, the feeling of being needed and loved can be addicting for those who are emotionally unstable.

A person’s unwillingness to part with items causes their home to become uninhabitable. Parts of their home may become completely blocked off due to the amount of items that are strewn about. Along with this, a person might stop accepting guests to their home out of embarrassment. Because one might stop inviting guests over they feel depressed, anxious and ashamed of their living situation. A person might feel alone, sad, hopeless and desperate for help but too embarrassed to ask for it.

Those who hoard animals pose greater health risks to themselves. Because they have so many animals they typically do not take adequate care of them. The animals