Michael Tompkins, Ph.D., co-author of Digging Out: Helping Your Loved One Manage Clutter, Hoarding, and Compulsive Acquiring discusses hoarding and how friends and loved ones can help.

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Excerpt from Parenting through the Process in Helping Your Child with OCD

Most children with OCD are and want to be “good kids.” Many, however, struggle with anger and irritability. Some have developed a habit of throwing tantrums. Anger and irritability are frequently side effects of living with OCD. Think about it: how do you feel when you are in a room with a radio pounding, people demanding something from you, and a television blaring? Thinking, listening, and functioning are extremely difficult because of all the extraneous noise. In such circumstances you probably feel angry and stressed and want to scream, “Be quiet!” because you can’t hear yourself think. This is similar to how children with OCD frequently feel.

by guest blogger Michael A. Thompkins, Ph.D., author of Digging Out

Over the years, most clinicians and researchers have diagnosed people with a compulsive hoarding problem as having obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), in part, because many people with OCD report some hoarding behaviors. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that it may not be accurate to classify compulsive hoarding as OCD for a number of reasons.