By Maanvi Singh, NPR
Hoarding disorder is generally diagnosed in older adults, after their inability to discard things and their anxiety over possessions leave them unable to function. But it may take root much earlier in life, though psychiatrists say they're just starting to figure that out.
Hoarding symptoms may look different in teenagers than they do in adults, researchers reported at the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting this week in New York.
A seriously cluttered living space is one of the main signs of hoarding disorder in adults. But teens who show some of the symptoms of hoarding usually haven't collected nearly as many things as adults, says Volen Ivanov, a psychologist at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.
"This could be due to a limit in freedom," Ivanov tells NPR. Kids who still live under their parents' roofs aren't as free to buy or collect things in the same way as adults who live on their own. But it could also be that hoarding gets worse over time.