Recognizing this as a true illness and not just an eccentricity, is key.
Frost & Hartl's ('96) definition of clinical hoarding:
(1) the acquisition of, and failure to discard, a large number of possessions that appear to be of useless or of limited value; (2) living spaces sufficiently cluttered so as to preclude activities for which those spaces were designed;
(3) significant distress or impairment in functioning caused by the hoarding.
