PONE-D-21-22767R1_repository

One of the core features of hoarding is the difficulty in discarding objects, a behavior maintained by dysfunctional beliefs and negative emotions experienced when people who hoard must discard valuable things. Based on our knowledge, longitudinal studies investigating the impact of leaving important objects on psychological processes have not been implemented.

Our study's principal aim was to explore thoughts and feelings at different times (at baseline, during the week, and at the end of the week) in two groups of subjects, one with high (n=53; 49.1%) and one with low (n=55; 50.9%) hoarding features, when they had to leave a valuable object at the University lab.

For the assessment phase, a mixed-method approach was employed, which was based on the administration of self-report questionnaires, ad hoc surveys, and a daily self-monitoring schedule to investigate hoarding, anxiety, depressive, obsessive-compulsive, and emotional processes-related features. Data showed that participants with high hoarding scores: 1) scored higher for anxiety sensitivity, distress tolerance, and emotional dysregulation; 2) referred to more negative emotions in leaving their object; 3) had more intrusive object-related beliefs; 4) experienced a higher frequency of negative emotions during the week. ‌ Dysfunctional hoarding beliefs were related with the frequency of thoughts and negative feelings experienced during the week and, with anxiety sensitivity and difficulty in tolerating distress, they also contributed to explain the level of discomfort experienced when participants with higher hoarding scores had to leave their object. These results suggest the importance of emotional processes in the hoarding framework, highlighting that they too are essential to be assessed and treated in clinical settings.