What is hoarding disorder and what are its symptoms? Condition explored ahead of Lifetime's Dirty Little Secret

Linda-Lisa Hayter's latest made-for-TV film Dirty Little Secret will premiere on Lifetime this June 17, 2022. Inspired by true events, the movie forays into the life of Joanna (Melissa Joan Hart), a highly functioning nurse with a hoarding disorder who desperately clings to her "treasures," causing a slew of troubles for her family.

Written by Doris Egan, Nancey Silvers, and Annie Frisbie, the story centres around a mother-daughter drama in which 17-year-old Lucy (Lizzie Boys) has spent years trying to keep her peers away from her house in order to keep the truth about her mother hidden. Joanna, on the other hand, tries to persuade her family that her hoarding is not a disorder that interferes with their daily lives.

Hoarding disorder is an obsessive disorder where a person refuses to throw old things away while constantly accumulating new items, resulting in an unusually disorienting clutter in their homes.

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All about hoarding disorder

In simple words, hoarding disorder prevents patients from parting with their possessions resulting in cramped living spaces, obsessive thoughts, indecisiveness, perfectionism, avoidance, procrastination, and problems with planning and organizing.

Mayo Clinic describes the disorder as:

"Hoarding disorder is a persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions because of a perceived need to save them. A person with hoarding disorder experiences distress at the thought of getting rid of the items. Excessive accumulation of items, regardless of actual value, occurs."

It further explicates:

"Hoarding often creates such cramped living conditions that homes may be filled to capacity, with only narrow pathways winding through stacks of clutter. Countertops, sinks, stoves, desks, stairways and virtually all other surfaces are usually piled with stuff. And when there's no more room inside, the clutter may spread to the garage, vehicles, yard and other storage facilities."

The symptoms of Hoarding Disorder include hoarding unwanted items, persistent difficulty in discarding things, feeling anxious or sad about discarding items, cluttering rooms, and having indecisive and unstable thoughts.

Hoarding disorder can take either a mild or a severe form. While the mild form of the condition may not be a major issue in daily functioning, if it becomes severe, it can cause serious problems such as a cluttered home, a lack of space, and obsessive thoughts about items.

Although it begins between the ages of 11 and 15, the disorder is more common in older people.

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More about Lifetime's Dirty Little Secret

From executive producer Linda Berman, Dirty Little Secret is a part of Lifetime’s Summer Ripped From The Headlines programming. It deals with Joanna's obsession with hoarding and her daughter's attempt at living with the secret and hiding it till the time she goes away to college.

The official synopsis of Dirty Little Secret reads:

"Inspired by true events, Dirty Little Secret follows seventeen-year-old Lucy (Lizzie Boys) who has been painfully isolated from her peers for years, refusing to let anyone near her house in order to hide her family secret – the overwhelming mountain of items filled in every crevice of space in her home. She quietly plans her escape to college while managing her mother Joanna’s (Melissa Joan Hart) hoarding disorder."

Dirty Little Secret will air on June 11, 2022, at 8.00 PM ET.