This is one of those stories that makes us feel maybe we're not in such bad shape, after all - kind of like reading about the 1,000 pound man who can't leave his house. This really is a strange disorder, though, this need to accumulate more and more junk. My family knows a woman like that and she just can't accept that she won't "take it with her" - she just has to have her piles of magazines and stuff around her.
Saw a television documentary about this disorder maybe a year ago. Positively wierd. The guy couldn't pass a yard sale or trash pile without stopping to take something. The house was full, so he had two storage sheds in the backyard (both full) and one rental storage bay.
They had a psychologist working with him, coaxing him to start with the rental bay, taking one item at a time to the dumpster. It was painful to watch. And then he'd go back again and retrieve the item from the dumpster.
On the other hand, a former acquaintance's auntie also had this problem, but on her passing they found the house (a wreck of a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere) was full of valuable antiques, paintings, and precious coins. Several million dollars.