Hoarding
If you have a difficult time letting go of things that other people might consider of little value and if you tend to acquire things at a rapid rate, you might be a hoarder. Because of their propensity to acquire and their lack of inclination to get rid of things, many people who hoard live in conditions that others would find unliveable.
Not a lot is understood about hoarding. It is thought to be related to a variety of issues, such as ADHD, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, impulse control disorder, even eating disorders. David F. Tolin, Director of the Anxiety Disorders Center in Hartford, Connecticut, and co-author of Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving and Hoarding, spoke at a 2007 conference of the National Study Group of Chronic Disorganization (now Institute for Challenging Disorganization). In his talk, he said that the age of onset of hoarding symptoms is quite young—almost 30 percent of those studied by Dr. Tolin and his colleagues reported onset of symptoms at the age of 6 to 10 years.
Unfortunately, no drugs have been found to be effective in treating hoarding. However, Dr. Tolin and his colleagues have developed a cognitive behavioral therapy program for hoarders that includes motivational interviewing, help with organizing, help with decision making, exposure to non-acquiring and discarding, and “cognitive restructuring” or adjusting the client’s behavior and feelings about stuff.
If you feel you’re a hoarder, traditional therapy may be useful. You might find Dr. Tolin’s self-help book, Buried in Treasures, helpful. (Buried in Treasures was cowritten by Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee.) Another book written specifically to help hoarders is Overcoming Compulsive Hoarding: Why You Save and How You Can Stop, by Fugen Nizorglu, Jerome Bubrick, and Jose A. Yaryura-Tobias.
(If you’re the family member of someone who hoards and you’re worried about his or her well-being, you should consider reading Digging Out: Helping Your Loved One Manage Clutter, Hoarding, and Compulsive Acquiring, by Michael Tompkins and Tamara Hartl, which uses a harm-reduction model to help people who hoard live safely in their homes.)
When you feel you’re ready to start letting go of your stuff, a trained organizer can help. I specialize in working with people challenged by chronic disorganization and have earned the Hoarding Specialist certificate from the Institute for Challenging Disorganization (ICD). I have attended several talks on hoarding from the leading researchers, as well as read their books. I have been involved with episodes of both the TLC and A&E hoarding television shows.
I can gently support your decisions as you work toward modifying your behavior and reestablishing control over your space. If you’re working with a therapist, we can arrange a collaborative arrangement where your therapist and I work together to support your efforts.