Conscripting Dante: history, anachronism and the uses of literary precedents in the ‘new’ diagnosis of hoarding disorder

The sociology of diagnosis has shown how new diagnostic categories in psychiatry do not spring into being fully formed, but are the result of extensive social, cultural and political work by multiple parties to stabilise their claims and maximise their persuasive power so that they gain official acceptance. Historical accounts of the proposed condition in earlier times play a role in establishing legitimacy for it. The diagnostic classification of ‘Hoarding Disorder’ was officially recognised by the American Psychiatric Association only in 2013, but Dante’s Divine Comedy is commonly adduced as evidence for the significance of hoarding as far back as the 14th century. This chapter contextualises Dante’s discussion to question the equivalence drawn between hoarders in Dante and in the DSM, considers the uses to which the claim of connection across the centuries is put in legitimising new diagnostic developments, and draws out some of the implications.