How VR can help people with hoarding disorder get to grips with decluttering

Virtual reality can help people with hoarding disorder to practice decluttering. — Photography SrdjanPav/Getty Images/AFP Relaxnews

Getting your home in order is not always an easy task. The sheer scale of the task can soon seem overwhelming, especially for people with a hoarding disorder. However, researchers at Stanford University in the USA have discovered that virtual reality has the potential to help us break out of the vicious circle of clutter.

This research, outlined in a paper published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, studied the benefits of this technology for people with compulsive hoarding disorder. It is estimated that 2.5% of the American population suffers from this disorder. This pathology manifests itself in a psychological urgency to acquire new objects and the difficulty in getting rid of those already owned, regardless of their real value.