The impact of caregiving in Hoarding Disorder : piloting a brief psychoeducational group for relatives of hoarders

• Main Author: Thompson, Claire Amy Louise
• Other Authors: Onwumere, Juliana ; Mataix-Cols, David
• Published: King's College London (University of London) 2015
• Subjects: 150
• Online Access: https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.762280

Introduction: Hoarding disorder (HD) is a newly defined, OCD-related, mental health condition. Over the last decade, researchers have developed novel specialised treatments for problematic hoarding and, since the inclusion of HD in the nomenclature, of individuals fulfilling criteria for HD. The current study aimed to systematically review the treatments designed to improve HD symptoms and associated problems including anxiety, depression and functional impairment. Method: An electronic search was conducted of PsycINFO, MEDLINE, EMBASE and Web of Science. Studies were included if: (i) the study evaluated an intervention for hoarding or an intervention for relatives of an individual with HD (ii) outcome measures were reported (including measures of hoarding symptoms or impact on life/distress levels, co-morbid psychiatric symptoms); and (iii) the paper was published in an indexed journal or published abstract from a professional/research conference. The quality of studies was assessed using the Clinical Trials Assessment Measure (Tarrier & Wykes, 2004). Results: 989 studies were identified through searches, from which seventeen studies met criteria and were included in the review, involving 474 participants with clinically significant hoarding symptoms or HD, and nine relatives. Treatments reviewed included cognitive-behavioural therapy, medication, cognitive remediation, and a relatives-only intervention. The majority of trials tested CBT in individual and group formats. Discussion: Most studies yielded statistically significant improvements in hoarding symptoms, although reductions were modest and many participants remained in the clinical range after treatment. Significant reductions were roughly equivalent after individual and group CBT, CBT combined with cognitive remediation, and a medication treatment. Quality assessment revealed that most studies were of poor quality and suggestions were made for future research which included: consistent measurement and diagnosis of HD, use of larger samples and randomised control designs with appropriate procedures to control for bias missing data, and inclusion of follow-up assessments.