Find us again!
Click here, then add the page to your Favorites or Bookmarks.

Over 250 articles on:

• Mood, anxiety
• Treatments
• Medications
• Lifestyles
• Personal stories

©2006-2011 Deborah Wiig
All rights reserved

Too much stuff
There are treatment options for compulsive hoarding

continued from previous page

Treatment options for compulsive hoarding include:

Cognitive Behavior Therapy
A type of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) commonly used to treat anxiety disorders is often used to treat hoarding. A mental health professional will assess the environmental influences, beliefs and emotions that influence the individual’s hoarding behavior. The therapy teaches people to recognize their dysfunctional thinking and replace it with more rational thoughts.

For example, beliefs related to the importance of a certain collection of items (i.e., old newspapers), and beliefs that one cannot do without them can be challenged and modified to a more rational way of thinking (I do not want to throw this out, but I can do it).

Cleaning the Clutter
This special CBT treatment includes the actual clearing of clutter. A first step is to try to temporarily suspend acquisition of new items. Then the individual uses a “three-and-a-half box technique” to clear all items from one highly visible area, such as a couch or the dining room table. Items are cleared one item at a time, and are temporarily stored in one of the following designated boxes:

Save Box: For items to be saved but that do not belong in the target area
Ex: a stapler on the dining room table

Display Box: For items to be returned to the target area for permanent placement
Ex: a throw blanket for the couch

Discard/Recycle Box: For items to be thrown away or recycled.
Ex: old clothing no longer used

To-Do-Immediately Box: The half-box; for items that are extremely important and need to be attended to immediately
Ex: an important bill that is due

It is important to take rewarding breaks. After a target area is complete, all items are disposed of as appropriate. Daily, thirty to forty-five minute cleaning sessions are recommended initially.  Once a target area is cleared, it should be used for its intended purpose in order to increase motivation to maintain the area.

Medication
In some cases, medications can be helpful, such as when there are other factors present that impair a person’s ability to follow through with treatment (extreme anxiety, attention deficit symptoms, severe depressed mood, thoughts of harm, OCD symptoms and alcohol/drug abuse.) Medications used in these cases include antidepressants, anti-psychotics, anticonvulsants, anti-anxiety agents and stimulants.

How to Help a Family Member
Tension often exists between an individual who hoards and his/her family.  The family may have difficulty understanding or tolerating the clutter. There is often a loss of functional space, so the kitchen table can no longer be used for family meals or the couch is unusable. In response, family members may attempt to discard items without the hoarders’ knowledge.  This creates more anxiety, suspicion and possessiveness of the items being hoarded. 

Family members typically urge their loved one to seek help without success.  An intervention technique involves having significant individuals in the life of the hoarder one by one encourage them just to seek a consultation visit with a pre-selected therapist who is familiar with the situation.

Family involvement in treatment is necessary and valuable.  Psychoeducation and training for the family can decrease the household tension and allow the individual with hoarding to better address their symptoms. For example, family members are urged never to touch the hoarded items without the consent of the person hoarding.

For help finding a therapist in your area who can treat compulsive hoarding, click here.

Related articles
Understanding OCD
Helping a loved one with an anxiety disorder
More articles

Source
Fugen Neziroglu, PhD, ABBP
ADAA Professional Member
Estee Acobas, MA
Great Neck, New York  Bio-Behavioral Institute

Adapted with permission by the Anxiety Disorders Association of America. For references and resources, refer to the original article

Page updated January 1, 2010