What does it mean when a teen refuses to part with old candy wrappers from a long-ago Halloween, or sleeps with piles of clothes and books on their bed? Teen hoarding can be an indicator of mental health issues, and left untreated, it can have serious consequences.
Teens who hoard develop extreme anxiety about losing their possessions. They may feel violated and get angry if their parents try to neaten up or get rid of things, or if they’re asked to clean their room.
If you’ve seen these behaviors in your child, learning more about teen hoarding symptoms, what causes them, and what to do about it can help you better understand and support them.
What You’ll Learn
- What causes teen hoarding?
- What are common teen hoarding behaviors?
- What mental health disorders are linked to hoarding in teens?
- How can hoarding be treated?
Quick Read
Teen hoarding is a serious issue that can indicate underlying mental health problems. It often manifests as extreme anxiety about losing possessions, leading to distress and anger when parents attempt to declutter. Understanding the symptoms and causes of hoarding can help parents support their teens effectively.
Hoarding disorder (HD) is classified under Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders and is characterized by an inability to discard items, regardless of their value. Many adults with hoarding disorder report that their behaviors began in childhood or adolescence. Common reasons for hoarding include sentimental attachment to items and anxiety about future usefulness, often exacerbated by mental health challenges like OCD or ADHD.
Parents can help by engaging in open, nonjudgmental conversations with their teens about their hoarding behaviors. Seeking professional support, such as family therapy, can also be beneficial. Early intervention is crucial to prevent long-term consequences, as untreated hoarding can lead to social isolation and unhealthy living conditions. Programs like those offered by Newport Academy provide specialized treatment to address the root causes of hoarding.
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What Is Hoarding?
Hoarding disorder is a relatively new addition to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Vol. 5, classified under Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders. It’s characterized by extreme difficulty discarding possessions regardless of their monetary or practical value, which can result in clutter as well as significant distress or impairment.
Up to 5 percent of adults are thought to have hoarding disorder, but hoarding often starts in childhood and adolescence. Around 70 percent of adults who hoard report that these behaviors began before age 20, sometimes as young as 6 or so.
Why Do Children Hoard?
Some common reasons why kids hoard is they believe objects will be useful in the future, they aren’t sure where the item belongs, so they just keep it, or the item feels too sentimental to get rid of.
Teens can get attached to nostalgic things, like party napkins from a birthday picnic with friends or ticket stubs from concerts with loved ones. Throwing away the object feels to them like they’re throwing away the memory or the person it represents.
However, adolescents who hoard often have mental health challenges, such as anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). And sometimes what looks like hoarding might be disorganization and messiness associated with neurodevelopmental conditions like ADHD. Neurodivergent teens tend to struggle with planning, organization, and problem-solving, which makes it hard for them to navigate the stuff they accumulate.
Causes of Teen Hoarding
Recent research on teen hoarding shows that a mix of factors, including cognitive, neural, emotional, and genetic, can all contribute. Causes of teen hoarding can include:
- Grief
- Learned behavior from parents or caregivers who also hoard
- Genetics
- OCD
- Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Executive functioning issues related to ADHD or other types of neurodivergence
- PTSD or trauma
Signs and Symptoms: What Teen Hoarding Looks Like
The main indicators of hoarding are the ways the child feels about the things they save and their extreme emotional response when someone makes them throw things away or even suggests it. Here are some of the signs that a teen is hoarding.
- Keeping objects like trash, small mementos, household items, and ripped or too-small clothing
- Becoming distressed, angry, or emotionally volatile about the idea of getting rid of anything
- Being deeply and disproportionately attached to objects of little or no external value
- Feeling shame or embarrassment about their hoarding habits
- Feeling anxiety about losing their stuff
- Getting upset if anyone else touches or moves their things
- Keeping the floor in their room littered with trash and other items
- Being unable to use their closet, dresser, or desk because they’re overflowing or covered with too many objects
- Piling their bed with things, even when they’re sleeping
How Parents Can Help
When a teen has an intense emotional attachment to objects, parents are unlikely to shift their child’s hoarding behaviors on their own. Engaging your child in nonjudgmental conversations and seeking the right support are the best ways to help.
Talk to them
Communicating with teens about their hoarding behaviors can be tough, especially because they are likely ashamed or embarrassed about it and may lash out as a result. Get curious about their behaviors, and ask questions without judgment or blame.
Ask things like, “What does this object mean to you?” and “What would it feel like if you lost this item?” This can help you both determine if something deeper than disorganization or messiness is at play.
Get support
Family therapy can help your family understand what’s behind the hoarding and learn healthier ways to cope together. Start with a trusted healthcare provider or call Newport Academy at 877-929-5105 to schedule a mental health assessment at no charge.
Kids are sometimes resistant to therapy, but they may respond better if it’s presented as a chance for everyone to get more organized and create a calmer home environment, rather than something focused solely on them.
Why Treatment Matters
When left unaddressed, teen hoarding can have serious consequences during adolescence and later in life. It can cause young people stress and shame in their social, home, and even academic lives. When it involves rotting food items or mold growth, it can create unhealthy and unsafe living conditions.
Teens who hoard often experience reduced social connections and lower quality of life. They may struggle with oppositional behaviors, withdrawal, and difficulties maintaining relationships or routines. Research links hoarding to depression and substance use.
Early intervention is key. Addressing hoarding early helps prevent chronic patterns from solidifying and supports healthier emotional and cognitive development.
Support for Teen Hoarding Behaviors at Newport Academy
If your child’s life is impacted by hoarding, you don’t have to cope alone. Early and comprehensive treatment can address the underlying mental health conditions and prevent the behavior from continuing into adulthood.
Newport Academy’s full continuum of care, from residential treatment to outpatient and telehealth, helps children ages 7–11 and adolescents ages 12–18 process and heal from the root causes of hoarding and other self-destructive behaviors. In our specialized treatment programs for OCD and related disorders, teens participate in Exposure and Response Prevention therapy, the most effective treatment approach for hoarding.
If your child is struggling with hoarding, reach out to us today. Our admissions team will work with you to identify the right treatment options and support you along the way as you embark on the journey toward healing. Contact us today to get started.
Sources
J Can Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2015 Aug 31; 24(2):128–130.
