ISSN: 2332-0915
Yavar Moghimi
Tanzania
Review Article
The Objects of Desire: A Cultural Case Study in Hoarding
Author(s): Yavar Moghimi
Yavar Moghimi
Hoarding is increasingly recognized by North American psychiatry and popular culture as a distinct disorder that warrants specialized treatment. These understandings are predominantly based on biological and cognitive behavioral conceptualizations that view hoarding as a part of the obsessive-compulsive spectrum. In this article I conceptualize a psychotherapy case study of hoarding by drawing on the extensive sociocultural literature on “person-object” relations. Understanding hoarding through this lens appropriately contextualizes it as an extreme within a spectrum of relationships that people have with objects. This lens gave me a better understanding of my patient’s meaning and relationship with her objects, which allowed for more meaningful therapeutic interventions. I specifically examine the unique relationship hoarders may have with objects in regards to publ.. View More»