PITTSBURGH -- Everyone saves mementos of what's important to them -- a child's first birthday card, a Super Bowl ticket stub -- but when does an attachment to items cross the line into hoarding?

Hoarding is a mental illness -- a subset of obsessive compulsive disorder. New research indicates it may effect as many as 5 percent of all Americans.

Elaine Wagner is a hoarder, and she told Channel 4 Action News anchor Sally Wiggin that she loves watching the "Hoarders" reality show on television.

"It reminds me of where I was, and I got to keep doing it or I can get like that again," Wagner said. "It started when my kids were little, growing up. They couldn't bring their friends home. It got worse and worse when they left -- the empty nest thing."

Hoarding is inherited and begins in childhood, said Dr. Robert Hudak, a psychiatrist with UPMC.

"Early adolescence is when hoarding starts, and it doesn't become a severe problem at that point, because if you are a child or teenager, your parents can force you to clean up your room," Hudak said.

Often, hoarding can be triggered by extreme loss or deprivation. The impact on families can be devastating.

"Very, very hard for them to understand," therapist Adele Maher said. "It is shame and guilt, and terrible depression comes with it, so that exacerbates the situation."

Maher runs a therapy group for hoarding that meets twice a month in the North Hills. The phone number is 412-915-0097. Wagner is one of her star members.

"I have actually gone to somebody's house and helped them de-clutter," Wagner said. "I didn't know what I was doing. I just wanted to help her. Yes, I did, and it was awesome."

Before helping someone, make sure a therapist is involved.

"With patients with hoarding, families may feel like they are helping them by throwing things out. That can make the hoarders more emotional. More of a connection to their items, more stressed -- it can backfire," said Dr. Alicia Kaplan, a psychiatrist at Allegheny General Hospital.

• Intense attachment to objects like food containers or junk mail that are generally regarded as unimportant.
• Excessive acquiring -- trying to gather more stuff.
• Home has a decrease in usable living space, with much clutter.
• Significant distress.

Hoarders don't just covet items. Some of them also collect animals.

Wiggin spoke with a woman who has been visited twice by humane officers from Animal Friends.

"I am not a hoarder. I don't save. I don't collect," the woman said. "I'm taking cats in, and one had leukemia, and I can't stand to see them put to sleep."

In 2006, she was found guilty of animal cruelty. Now, she has 50 cats.

"In all honesty, I don't know how I let this get out of control like this," she said.

"They are kind, docile people, but not about real love," humane officer Kathy Hecker said. "It is obsession. It is an OCD-type behavior."

Hudak said animal collecting is a subset of hoarding, but hoarders may have other mental conditions in addition to hoarding -- such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression or alcohol addiction. That's why getting a psychiatric evaluation is important.

The best treatment seems to be therapy, in combination with medication. There is also information available on ocfwpa.org -- an obsessive compulsive Web site.

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