Another human health issue caused by animal hoarding is the risk of zoonotic diseases. Defined as "human diseases acquired from or transmitted to any other vertebrate animal", zoonotic diseases can often be lethal and in all cases constitute a serious public health concern. Examples of well-known zoonotic diseases include bubonic plague, influenza, and rabies. Common domesticated animals constitute a large portion of animals carrying zoonoses, and as a result, humans involved in animal hoarding situations are at particular risk of contracting disease. Zoonoses that may arise in hoarding situations—through vectors such as dog, cat, or rat bites—include rabies, salmonellosis, catscratch fever, hookworm, and ringworm. One zoonosis of special concern is toxoplasmosis, which can be transmitted to humans through cat feces or badly-prepared meat, and is known to cause severe birth defects or stillbirth in the case of infected pregnant women. The risk of zoonotic diseases is amplified by the possibility of community epidemics.

The problems of self-neglect and elder and child abuse are also health problems associated with animal hoarding. Self-neglect can be defined as "the inability to provide for oneself the goods or services to meet basic needs", and has been shown to be an "independent risk factor for death". While self-neglect is a condition generally associated with the elderly, animal hoarders of any age can and do suffer from it. This is demonstrated by the fact that hoarders' lifestyles often match the degenerate sanitary conditions that surround them. Child and elder abuse arise when dependents are living with the hoarder. According to one study, dependents lived with hoarders in over half of the cases. As with his or her animals, the hoarder often fails to provide adequate care for dependents both young and old, who suffer from a lack of basic necessities as well as the health problems caused by unsanitary conditions. In one case, two children of a couple hoarding 58 cats and other animals were forced to repeat kindergarten and first grade because of excessive absence due to respiratory infections. Self-neglect and neglect of dependents make up a major human health concern of animal hoarding.

Some evidence based on brain lesion case studies also suggests that the anterior ventromedial prefrontal and cingulate cortices may be involved in abnormal hoarding behaviors, but sufferers of such injuries display less purposeful behavior than other individuals who hoard compulsively, thus making the involvement of these brain structures unclear. Other neuropsychological factors that have been found to be associated with individuals exhibiting hoarding behaviors include slower and more variable reaction times, increased impulsivity, and decreased spatial attention. A study comparing neural activity in hoarders, people with OCD, and a control group when deciding to throw possessions away found that when hoarders were trying to decide to throw away their own possessions, they had lower activity in the anterior cingulate cortex and insula regions of the brain. The study suggested this lower activity was related to "problems in identifying the emotional significance of a stimulus, generating appropriate emotional response, or regulating affective state during decision making." Hoarders had normal levels of activity in those regions when making decisions about possessions that did not belong to them.

Not only are there significant health risks associated with compulsive hoarding, but scientists are also trying to pinpoint how significant the interference is with occupational and social functioning in a hoarder's daily life. In a pool of compulsive hoarders, 42% found their behavior problematic to the 63% of their family and friends who saw the behavior as problematic. The findings suggest that individuals who hoard may exhibit impaired sensitivity to their own and others’ emotions, and conversely, relate the world around them by forming attachments to possessions rather than to people. Lower emotional intelligence among hoarding patients may also impact their ability to discard and organize their possessions. With such detrimental characteristics, comprehensive research has been performed to find a cure. Although this is ongoing research, most investigations have found that only a third of patients who hoard show an adequate response to these medications and therapeutic interventions.

With the modifications to the DSM, insurance coverage for treatments will change as well as special education programs.

Compulsive decluttering is a pattern of behavior that is characterized by an excessive desire to discard objects in one's home and living areas. Other terms for such behavior includes obsessive compulsive spartanism. The homes of compulsive declutterers are often empty. It is the antonym of compulsive hoarding.

Digital hoarding (also known as e-hoarding) is excessive acquisition and reluctance to delete electronic material no longer valuable to the user. The behavior includes the mass storage of digital artifacts and the retainment of unnecessary or irrelevant electronic data. The term is increasingly common in pop culture, used to describe the habitual characteristics of compulsive hoarding, but in cyberspace. As with physical space in which excess items are described as "clutter" or "junk," excess digital media is often referred to as "digital clutter."

The consequences of oniomania, which may persist long after a spree, can be devastating, with marriages, long-term relationships, and jobs all feeling the strain. Further problems can include ruined credit history, theft or defalcation of money, defaulted loans, general financial trouble and in some cases bankruptcy or extreme debt, as well as anxiety and a sense of life spiraling out of control. The resulting stress can lead to physical health problems and ruined relationships, or even suicide.

Bruce and Sanderson also state that animal phobias are more common in females than males. Furthermore, Dr. B.K. Wiederhold, a psychiatrist investigating virtual reality therapy as a possible method of therapy for anxiety disorders, goes on to provide data that although prevalent in both men and women, 75% to 90% of patients reporting specific phobias of the animal subtype are women.

Digital hoarding can lead to many problems:

- Digital clutter can make it more difficult to locate specific files among the extra irrelevant material.

- Excessive digital content takes up more hard drive space than it merits, and may even require the addition of extra digital storage to one’s computer or mobile phone.

- Server farms use more electricity as they need more disk drives. The extra load is especially notable in corporate domains. This adds to an individual’s or company’s electricity expenses and carbon footprint.

- Digital clutter can be mentally draining, requiring time and attention. For example, hoarded emails can make an inbox seem overwhelming. The user wastes time sifting through excess emails, which can result in lowered employee productivity.

- Digital hoarding can create an unhealthy attachment to digital content and foster a sort of “media addiction.” It is often good for one’s mental health to let go of useless clutter, and decluttering digital devices can help with decluttering the mind.

Jeanette M. Bruce and William C. Sanderson, in their book "Specific Phobias", concluded that the age of onset for animal phobias is usually early childhood, between the ages of five and nine. A study done in South Africa by Drs. Willem A. Hoffmann and Lourens H. Human further confirms this conclusion for patients suffering from cynophobia and additionally found dog phobia developing as late as age 20.

The cause of OCPD is unknown. However, it is believed to involve a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Under the genetic theory, people with a form of the DRD3 gene will probably develop OCPD and depression, particularly if they are male. But genetic concomitants may lie dormant until triggered by events in the lives of those who are predisposed to OCPD. These events could include trauma faced during childhood, such as physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, or other psychological trauma. Under the environmental theory, OCPD is a learned behavior.

Zoophobia or animal phobia is a class of specific phobias to particular animals, or an irrational fear or even simply dislike of any non-human animals.

Examples of specific zoophobias would be entomophobias, such as that of bees (apiphobia). Fears of spiders (arachnophobia), birds (ornithophobia) and snakes (ophidiophobia) are also common. See the article at -phobia for the list of various phobias. Sigmund Freud mentioned that an animal phobia is one of the most frequent psychoneurotic diseases among children.

Zoophobia is not the sensible fear of dangerous or threatening animals, such as wild dogs (example: wolves, dingoes, and coyotes), big cats, bears or venomous snakes. It is a phobia of animals that causes distress or dysfunction in the individual's everyday life.

Compulsive behavior is defined as performing an act persistently and repetitively without it necessarily leading to an actual reward or pleasure. Compulsive behaviors could be an attempt to make obsessions go away. The act is usually a small, restricted and repetitive behavior, yet not disturbing in a pathological way. Compulsive behaviors are a need to reduce apprehension caused by internal feelings a person wants to abstain from or control. A major cause of the compulsive behaviors is said to be obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). "The main idea of compulsive behavior is that the likely excessive activity is not connected to the purpose to which it appears directed." Furthermore, there are many different types of compulsive behaviors including, shopping, hoarding, eating, gambling, trichotillomania and picking skin, checking, counting, washing, sex, and more. Also, there are cultural examples of compulsive behavior.

Bibliomania can be a symptom of obsessive–compulsive disorder which involves the collecting or even hoarding of books to the point where social relations or health are damaged.

Compulsive talking goes beyond the bounds of what is considered to be a socially acceptable amount of talking. The two main factors in determining if someone is a compulsive talker are talking in a continuous manner, only stopping when the other person starts talking, and others perceiving their talking as a problem. Personality traits that have been positively linked to this compulsion include assertiveness, willingness to communicate, self-perceived communication competence, and neuroticism. Studies have shown that most people who are talkaholics are aware of the amount of talking they do, are unable to stop, and do not see it as a problem.

Diagnostic criteria for compulsive buying have been proposed: 1. Over-preoccupation with buying; 2. distress or impairment as a result of the activity; 3. compulsive buying is not limited to hypomanic or manic episodes.

While initially triggered by a perhaps mild need to feel special, the failure of compulsive shopping to actually meet such needs may lead to a vicious cycle of escalation, with sufferers experiencing the highs and lows associated with other addictions. The 'high' of the purchasing may be followed by a sense of disappointment, and of guilt, precipitating a further cycle of impulse buying. With the now addicted person increasingly feeling negative emotions like anger and stress, they may attempt to self-medicate through further purchases, followed again by regret or depression once they return home - leading to an urge for yet another spree.

As debt grows, the compulsive shopping may become a more secretive act. At the point where bought goods are hidden or destroyed, because the person concerned feels so ashamed of their addiction, the price of the addiction in mental, financial and emotional terms becomes even higher.

Species dysphoria is the experience of dysphoria, sometimes including clinical lycanthropy (delusion or hallucination of one's self as an animal) and dysmorphia (excessive concern over one's body image), associated with the feeling that one's body is of the wrong species. Earls and Lalumière (2009) describe it as "the sense of being in the wrong (species) body... a desire to be an animal". Outside of psychological literature, the term is common within the otherkin and therian communities. The phenomenon is sometimes experienced in the context of sexual arousal to the image of one's self as an animal.

Complications of late Parkinson's disease may include a range of impulse-control disorders, including eating, buying, compulsive gambling and sexual behavior. One study found that 13.6% of Parkinson's patients exhibited at least one form of ICD. There is a significant co-occurrence of pathological gambling and personality disorder, and is suggested to be caused partly by their common "genetic vulnerability". The degree of heritability to ICD is similar to other psychiatric disorders including substance abuse disorder. There has also been found a genetic factor to the development of ICD just as there is for substance abuse disorder. The risk for subclinical PG in a population is accounted for by the risk of alcohol dependence by about 12-20% genetic and 3-8% environmental factors. There is a high rate of comorbidity between ADHD and other impulse-control disorders.

Bibliomania is not to be confused with bibliophilia, which is the usual love of books and is not considered a clinical psychological disorder.

Other abnormal behaviours involving books include book-eating (bibliophagy), compulsive book-stealing (bibliokleptomania), and book-burying (bibliotaphy).

Kleptomania is characterized by an impulsive urge to steal purely for the sake of gratification.

In the U.S. the presence of kleptomania is unknown but has been estimated at 6 per 1000 individuals. Kleptomania is also thought to be the cause of 5% of annual shoplifting in the U.S. If true, 100,000 arrests are made in the U.S. annually due to kleptomaniac behavior.

Quality of life is reduced across all domains in OCD. While psychological or pharmacological treatment can lead to a reduction of OCD symptoms and an increase in QoL, symptoms may persist at moderate levels even following adequate treatment courses, and completely symptom-free periods are uncommon. In pediatric OCD, around 40% still have the disorder in adulthood, and around 40% qualify for remission.

Boanthropy is a psychological disorder in which a human believes himself or herself to be a bovine.

Lovesickness refers to an informal affliction that describes negative feelings associated with rejection, unrequited love or the absence of a loved one. It can manifest as physical as well as mental symptoms. It is not to be confused with the condition of being lovestruck, which refers to the physical and mental symptoms associated with falling in love. The term lovesickness is rarely used in medical or psychological fields.

Many people believe lovesickness was created as an explanation for longings, but it can be associated with depression and various mental health problems.

Obsessive–compulsive disorder affects about 2.3% of people at some point in their life. Rates during a given year are about 1.2% and it occurs worldwide. It is unusual for symptoms to begin after the age of thirty five and half of people develop problems before twenty. Males and females are affected about equally.

Estimates for the prevalence of OCPD in the general population range from 2.1% to 7.9%. A large U.S. study found a prevalence rate of 7.9%, making it the most common personality disorder. Men are diagnosed with OCPD about twice as often as women. It may occur in 8–9% of psychiatric outpatients.