That's exactly it. In almost all cases, severe trauma manifests in behavioral issues whether it's hoarding, drug/alcohol abuse, or eating disorders. When people don't otherwise know how to cope with severe stresses in their life they turn to physical activities that "satisfy" their psychological gaps. If you watch any amount of "Hoarders" or "Intervention" or even "the Biggest Loser" time and time again you see a pattern of these extreme behaviors as a response to divorce, the death of a loved one, physical or sexual abuse, the list goes on. Rarely do these extreme addictions manifest "out of nowhere."

When the OP mentioned that this began after a divorce, it 100% made sense to me. It's not about the things she's filled her house with, it's about how she is dealing (or rather, not dealing) with a very emotionally charged life event. The behavior is consistent with her trying to self-medicate emotional issues even if we don't see it that way. Throwing everything out on a hoarder can be even more traumatic than the original event that triggered the behavior. Dealing with the underlying issues through therapy or medication or both removes the drive to hoard/drink/do drugs/starve/over eat/ etc. But until those emotional drivers are addressed, there is almost no way to achieve a clean slate without the risk of relapsing into the exact same behavior. It's frightening, it's frustrating, and in many cases very dangerous but there's a degree of sensitivity that's necessary to truly solve the problems at hand.