As someone who grew up in a household with a parent that is a compulsive hoarder and having researched this from the perspective of long-suffering family member

As someone who grew up in a household with a parent that is a compulsive hoarder and having researched this from the perspective of long-suffering family members, I feel I can speak on this. People who were born in the war era and experienced hunger and other shortages in supplies have had the “waste not want not” mindset drummed into them from birth. Throwing away something that “might still be useful” is illogical and psychologically painful to them. Couple that with available storage space and you have a recipe for what we in the “modem” disposable society now call “hoarding”. “modern” western society has be trained by consumerism to throw away things that no longer serve us. It’s what drives the economy. Planned obsolescence. Things designed not to last beyond the warranty period. To the “normal” (indoctrinated) consumer, throwing away the glass jar “packaging” their pasta sauce came in is perfectly normal. But 100 years ago, throwing away a perfectly reusable sterilisable food container would have been insane. It’s our modern abundance and disregard for the true (environmental and human) cost of the natural resources used to make everything that means people think it’s OK to throw everything away. Sadly, these people take it to what is - to them - the logical conclusion: they keep everything including broken or junk items that they might someday fix and use again. As an adult I’ve fought hard to be a an anti-hoarder - some might call it “minimalism” - but actively donating old clothes, recycling broken electrical appliances and selling anything of value that I no longer need/use. But I totally understand the psychology of keeping things that might be useful. What is a “prepper” but someone who is hoarding materials (food, medicine, weapons, land, etc) that might be useful in the event of a zombie apocalypse. People that society looks up to - like Bill Gates, Sam Altman and Peter Thiel - to are hoarding resources. We just don’t call it a “disorder” when it’s a billionaire. Note: I’m definitely not suggesting that this is not a compulsive disorder for many people. But it doesn’t start out that way. It starts with people saving useful things and gradually slides into keeping junk because the line between useful and trash becomes blurred. Yes, the extreme cases need professional help.