Obsessive compulsive disorder and hoarding - related?

also: is rigidly regulated ritual (scuse the alliteration) central to the illness? is 'obsessive' or 'obsessive impulsive' disorder a construct in psychology? (where 'impulsive' means - no impulse control; giving in to unrealistically framed obsessions, to the person's, and other people's, detriment.)

this person also hoards things. cannot throw out even expired medication. (this might have to do wtih age/experience - lived through at least one war, has lived on teh street.)

insight very much appreciated.

thanks all for your considered replies.

would like to add that in my amateur opinion (have taken a bit of psych myself, years ago :) ), this person is more likely to fall somewhere between cluster A and B (paranoid/narcissistic/histrionic/antiso...

Also has history of depression, with behaviour that would *easily* be understood as manic (gambling, driving fast, risk-taking in various forms, irrespective of consequences). I would be remiss if I didn't mention delusions of grandeur.

yes, there is no doubt he's afflicted by more than one problem. i don't know, but don't think he experiences
the kind of contortions a typical ocd sufferer does... (he endures a different kind)...
obsession, hoarding, depression,

Sparkles is exactly correct. That also applies to most all mental illnesses. Some traits manifest, whereas others do not.

There are many individuals that have a dual diagnosis (2 mental illnesses present and identified).

The hoarders that I have observed were severe and extreme. Interestingly, none of those I have observed were elderly, nor people that lived previously on the street. The ones I have observed were eventually diagnosed with bi-polar. With the exception of one who was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Hoarders are an interesting group. I have been in one house where they could not bring themselves to part with and bury the deceased pets, instead kept them in a non-working freezer. It is quite unbelievable that someone can deviant from the norm to such an extreme.

OCDs display themselves in numerous ways, and the disorders usually intermingle meaning if you have one you can also have others. OCD is a a disorder caused by an impluse to do things that you cannot control. Hoarding is yet another disorder that is associated with OCDs.

I don't know much about this, but a recent article in the NYTimes references some books on the disorder, such as "a new book by Dr. Tolin, Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee, 鈥淏uried in Treasures鈥?(Oxford, 2007), which offers self-assessments and advice for people with hoarding tendencies."

Hooo boy! I really do feel bad for this person. Obsessive compulsives usually are extra tidy. They have order to everything. To hoard along with it, makes it really tough on the person, because they have to find room for all this stuff, while being ultra neat. This poor person needs serious help. Hope they will go to some type of therapy, or their poor life is going to be a living hell.

To answer your questions:

OCD and hording related? Yes, in fact that is a sub-classification of OCD.

Rigidly regulated ritual central to the illness? Yes, without either a behavioral or mental ritual it would not be OCD. The ritual is an action taken to reduce anxiety about the obsession. So the ritural is the "compulsive" part of the disorder.

There currently is no such diagnosis in the DSM-IV-TR known as "obsessive impulsive disorder." The lack of impulse you describe sounds like the compulsion.

There are many therapies that can help him. I would recommend looking into some form of cognitive-behavioral therapy with possible pharmacological therapy as an adjunct therapy to help with the initial process of resolving or helping cope with the OCD symptoms.

Also, no offense to the person who posted above me, but hoarding is a very common form of OCD.

EDIT: Okay Nicole, I'll be sure to tell the 30+ PhD and PsyD psychologists that have discussed OCD in classes, not to mention the lecturer who is the foremost expert on OCD that they have no idea what they are talking about. Just because you "had OCD" does not make you an expert based on anecdotal evidence from your personal case or a select few cases you may have had exposure to. Also, having comorbid disorders has nothing to do with this topic. The reason why hoarding is classified as a part of OCD is due to the fact that hoarding is a repetitive activity done by the individual to relieve an anxiety they have that involves loss. If you "remove" items from the hoarders domain they become filled with anxiety which may be expressed emotionally in many different ways, from anxious behavior to verbal opposition to outright anger and hostility. Also, the correlation you speak of is in part due to the fact we don't know what causes OCD to begin with so you can't come up with causality in this case and have no choice but to correlate it to similar symptomology...or should I also tell the couple of PhD's that have taught statistics and research that they are wrong as well?