Obsessive-compulsive hoarding: symptom severity and response to multimodal treatment.
BACKGROUND
Compulsive hoarding and saving symptoms, found in many patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), are part of a clinical syndrome that has been associated with poor response to medications and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). We sought to determine whether patients with the compulsive hoarding syndrome had more severe symptoms and functional impairment than nonhoarding OCD patients and whether they would respond to intensive, multimodal treatment previously found to be effective for treatment-refractory OCD.


METHODS
We studied 190 consecutive patients with DSM-IV OCD treated openly for approximately 6 weeks with intensive CBT, medication, and psychosocial rehabilitation in a partial hospitalization program for severely ill OCD patients. Twenty of the 190 patients (11%) were identified as having the compulsive hoarding syndrome. All patients were assessed before and after treatment with the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS), Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety (HAM-A). and Global Assessment Scale (GAS). We compared the symptom severity and response to treatment of compulsive hoarders versus nonhoarding OCD patients.


RESULTS
Compulsive hoarders were significantly older than nonhoarders (p < .001). Hoarders had significantly lower GAS scores and higher HAM-A scores than nonhoarders both before (p = .04) and after (p = .002) treatment, but had similar pretreatment YBOCS scores. Both groups improved significantly with treatment as assessed by YBOCS score (p < .001), but nonhoarders had significantly greater decreases in YBOCS scores than hoarders (p = .02).


CONCLUSIONS
While the compulsive hoarding syndrome appears to be a distinct, more disabling, variant of OCD that does not respond as robustly to treatment, it may still improve significantly with intensive, multimodal treatment tailored to its specific features and associated deficits.
Saxena
Sanjaya
S
Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, Los Angeles, Calif 90095, USA. ssaxena@mednet.ucla.edu
Maidment
Karron M
KM
Vapnik
Tanya
T
Golden
Gina
G
Rishwain
Tanya
T
Rosen
Richard M
RM
Tarlow
Gerald
G
Bystritsky
Alexander
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003192:Compulsive Behavior / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D011619:Psychotropic Drugs