Hoarding disorder
Since 2012 we have held a medically supervised iboga retreat on the Mayan Riviera near Cancun, Mexico. A traditional Missoko Bwiti ceremony is paired with a psychologist, then three months of follow-up at home. Guests who struggle to let things go often describe a night that touches what the objects were holding: a loss, a fear, a loneliness. A retreat does not clear a house, so we link the ceremony to CBT for hoarding at home.
Free guide · PDF
Room to Breathe
Hoarding: the ceremony, the numbers, the research and how to prepare.
How it works
Hoarding disorder is a real diagnosis, not laziness or mess. Discarding brings genuine distress, and we respect that.
No study has tested iboga or ibogaine for hoarding. What follows comes from our experience with 7,677 guests since 2012: a supervised opening alongside CBT for hoarding, never a replacement for it.
Every guest has a medical screening and bloodwork before travel. The physician reviews every medicine, including SSRIs, with extra care for older guests, then stays in the room through the ceremony.
The Missoko Bwiti tradition of Gabon is a ceremony of looking back. Many guests describe meeting the feelings tied to their things, often grief or fear, with someone beside them.
Tania, our psychologist, prepares you and works with you the day after. Three months of integration calls follow, and we help you find a local therapist trained in CBT for hoarding.
How iboga acts on the brain
Hoarding runs on fixed loops: the urge to acquire, the distress of discarding, the relief of keeping. In theory, iboga's alkaloids may make loops like these easier to shift. Lab studies show ibogaine dampens an NMDA glutamate channel tied to learning, and raises serotonin signaling a little like an antidepressant. Animal studies suggest a single dose switches on growth-factor genes linked to plasticity.
In the strongest human study so far (Cherian et al., Nature Medicine, 2024), 30 veterans reported large drops in depression and anxiety a month later, in a study without a control group. Nobody has tested whether any of this applies to hoarding. More on how iboga works.
What we have seen since 2012
Since 2012, with 7,677 guests, we have seen a traditional treatment help people with this kind of struggle, sometimes profoundly and lastingly. Many arrived ashamed of their home, tired of fights with family about it.
Afterwards they describe understanding why certain things felt impossible to part with, and feeling less alarm at the thought of letting some go. The clearing itself still happened slowly, at home, with support. This is our experience, not a clinical study.
Who holds it
Michael and Cory open and hold the ceremony. Tania, our psychologist with close to a decade at Mexico's National Institute of Psychiatry, screens for what iboga cannot hold and carries the integration. Dr Villarreal keeps the body safe, in the room all night.
Safety
Hoarding often grows with age, so older guests need a careful medical review. Read how we protect your heart. The physician reviews every medicine, including SSRIs, with your prescribing doctor; never stop one on your own.
The psychologist also screens for depression, OCD, ADHD, loneliness and suicidal thoughts. Guests must be 18 or over.
Who it is for
The psychologist and the physician decide together. Sometimes the answer is a later date.
Adults 18 or over who see their hoarding as a problem and want to change it. People ready to keep working at home with a CBT therapist in the months after.
Someone pushed by family who does not want to come, active psychosis or recent mania, acute suicidal thoughts, a medicine that cannot be tapered in time, or pregnancy. A home that is unsafe right now, from fire risk or blocked exits, needs local help first.
Why it is hard
About 2.5% of adults live with hoarding disorder. Things are kept for real reasons: memories, possible use, beauty. Discarding them brings distress, and insight often drops when others push, so forced clean-outs tend to backfire.
Hoarding often begins young, then grows slowly with age. In one study of 51 people, recognizing the problem came long after the first signs; for some, it began after stress or loss. Loneliness is also linked to hoarding, though which comes first is not known.
How to cope
Start gently. Shame keeps people from asking for help, and hoarding is not a character flaw.
CBT for hoarding has the best evidence, especially for difficulty discarding. Across 12 groups with 232 people, it had a large effect on severity. Honestly, only 24 to 43% reached clinically significant change, so expect progress, not a clean slate. More sessions and home visits go with better results.
Practice deciding on one small area at a time, and pause new acquiring where you can. If you live with someone who hoards, avoid surprise clean-outs: they often fail and can break trust.
The International OCD Foundation lists therapists who work with hoarding at iocdf.org. In Canada, Anxiety Canada offers free self-help resources at anxietycanada.com.
If you have thoughts of ending your life, call or text 988 in the United States, or 9-8-8 in Canada, at any hour.
For free, confidential referrals to mental health care in the US, call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357), 24/7. In Canada, dial 2-1-1.
Dates
Open retreats and the dedicated veterans' dates. Eight guests each; full list on the schedule.
The objects were never the whole story. When guests see what they were holding on to, letting go can begin: slowly, at home, with help.
Pricing, US dollars
All inclusive from Cancún airport: screening, ceremonies, room, meals, three months of follow-up. All payments are final, see the terms. Full pricing.
Questions about hoarding
Persistent difficulty discarding things, together with clutter that stops rooms from being used safely or as intended. It became its own diagnosis in the DSM-5 in 2013.
About 2.5% of adults, according to a review of 11 studies with 53,378 people. Men and women are affected at similar rates.
Collectors are targeted, selective and organized. In hoarding, things pile up until the home cannot be used safely or as intended.
It is a separate diagnosis, listed in the same chapter as OCD among the obsessive-compulsive and related disorders.
The cause is unknown. It often starts in childhood or adolescence. For some people, stress or loss seems to set it off later.
Forced clean-outs rarely solve it, and insight often drops when people are pushed. Real safety problems, such as fire risk or blocked exits, still need action, ideally with the person's consent and a therapist's help.
Typically, yes. It tends to be long-lasting and to grow slowly over the years, which is one reason to seek help early.
No study has tested it, so we will not say it does. What guests describe is a clearer view of why letting go felt so hard. The clearing still happens at home, with CBT.
You've carried this long enough. Start with a conversation with our medical team.
