What Drives the Need to Keep Stuff?
I recently helped my mom sort through boxes she inherited when my grandparents passed away. One box was labeled – either ironically or genuinely – “toothpick holders and other treasures.” Inside were many keepsakes from moments now lost to history – although we found no toothpick holders.
My favorite of the items we sorted through was a solitary puzzle piece, an artifact reflecting my late grandmother’s penchant for hiding the final piece to a jigsaw puzzle just to swoop in at the last moment and finish it.
After several hours of reminiscing, my mom and I threw away 90% of what we had sorted.
“Why did I keep this?” is a question I hear frequently, both from my family and friends and from patients. I am a licensed clinical psychologist whose research focuses on the characterization, assessment, and treatment of hoarding disorder, particularly for adults 60 years of age or older.
What Drives the Need to Keep Stuff?
Hoarding disorder is a psychiatric condition defined by urges to save items and difficulty discarding current possessions. For adults with “clinically severe” hoarding disorder, this leads to a level of household clutter that impairs daily functioning and can even create a fire hazard. In my professional experience, however, many adults struggle with clutter even if they do not meet the clinical criteria for hoarding disorder.
Holding on to things that have sentimental value or could be useful in the future is a natural part of growing older. For some people, though, this tendency to hold on to objects grows over time to the point that they eventually meet criteria for hoarding disorder. Age-related changes in executive function may help explain the increase in prevalence of hoarding disorder as we get older; increasing difficulty with decision-making in general also affects decisions around household clutter.
The traditional model behind hoarding disorder suggests that difficulty with discarding comes from distress during decision-making. However, my research shows that this may be less true of older adults.
Leaning into Values
When I was a graduate student, I conducted a study in which we asked adults with hoarding disorder to spend 15 minutes making decisions about whether to keep or discard various items brought from their home. Participants could sort whatever items they wanted. Most chose to sort paper items such as old mail, cards, or notes.
We found that age was associated with lower levels of distress during the task, such that participants who were older tended to feel less stressed when making the decision about what to keep and what to discard. We also found that many participants, particularly those who were older, actually reported positive emotions while sorting their items.
In new research publishing soon, my current team replicated this finding using a home-based version of the task. This suggests that fear of making the wrong decision isn’t a universal driver of our urge to save items.
Tips for Sweeping Away the Old
My research on using motivational interviewing for decluttering and my observations from a current clinical trial point to some practical steps people can take to declutter their home. Although my work has been primarily with older adults, these tips should be helpful for people of all ages.
Start with writing out your values. Every object in your home should feel value-consistent for you. For example, if tradition and faith are important values for you, you might be more inclined to hold onto a cookbook that was made by the elders at your church and more able to let go of a cookbook you picked up on a whim at a bookstore.
If, instead, health and creativity are your core values, it might be more important to hold onto a cookbook of novel ways to sneak more vegetables into your diet.
Conclusion
What drives the need to keep stuff? For some, it may be a combination of sentimental value, potential usefulness, and fear of making the wrong decision. However, for others, it may be a reflection of their values and goals. By taking a values-based approach to decluttering, individuals can reduce household clutter and increase their positive affect.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is hoarding disorder?
A: Hoarding disorder is a psychiatric condition defined by urges to save items and difficulty discarding current possessions.
Q: What are some common symptoms of hoarding disorder?
A: Symptoms include difficulty parting with items, cluttered living spaces, and impaired daily functioning.
Q: How common is hoarding disorder?
A: Hoarding disorder is estimated to affect 2-5% of the general population.
Q: How can I help someone with hoarding disorder?
A: Encourage them to seek professional help, such as a licensed clinical psychologist, and offer to help them sort through their belongings.
