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Mental Health Professionals/Researchers
 Randy O. Frost, Ph.D.,
"The acquisition
and failure to
discard
possessions that
appear to be
useless or of
limited value.
This describes
the behavior
that many of us
engage in.
It is not really a
problem, maybe
an eccentricity,
unless we see
the other two
features of the
definition:
Living spaces so
cluttered that
using the room
as intended is
impossible.
The third
defining feature
is significant
distress or
impairment in
the ability to
function.
People
experience
distress at the
possibility of
throwing things
away, and at
the Herculean
effort it would
take to clean up
the house.
They develop
avoidance to
decision-making
and discarding.
They avoid
putting things
out of sight. We think
hoarding
behavior is in
large part an
avoidance
behavior.
-Randy O. Frost.
Ph.D., Speaking
to the New York
City Hoarding
Task Force, 94.
Dr. Randy Frost, the Israel
Professor of Psychology at
Smith College, has
authored over 100 scientific
articles and book chapters
mostly concerning
perfectionism, and
obsessive-compulsive
disorder, and hoarding. He
is a registered expert on
Compulsive Hoarding.
Dr. Frost holds two NIMH-funded grants jointly with Gail
Steketee, Ph.D. and David O. Tolin, Ph.D., to study compulsive
hoarding, and is a member of the Hoarding of Animals
Research Consortium (HARC) and New England Hoarding
Consortium.
He has consulted with numerous communities in setting up
and running task forces on the problem of hoarding, including
New York City, Ottawa, Canada, and Northampton,
Massachusetts.
His work has been featured on news programs such as 20/20,
Dateline, Good Morning America, and NPR. In1993, he
published the first systematic study of compulsive hoarding.
»His Website(where you will find his research articles on Hoarding listed)
»Obsessive Compulsive Foundation Hoarding Website(co-editor)
Chapter 23 about Hoarding in OCD book by Jenike
His books on Compulsive Hoarding:
»Buried in Treasures
»Workbook
»Review
»Treatments That Work, Compulsive Hoarding and Acquiring,
Therapists Guide
Watch for his new book about Hoarding for general public in 2008
New England Hoarding Consortium
Spring 2006 Newsletter(pdf)
Spring 2007 Newsletter(pdf)
»Article: Learning to Let Go
»Article: Clutter Gone Wild(which discusses when and how he started researching
Hoarding).
»Transcript of speaking at NYC Hoarding Task Force, 1/94
Audio
Hoarding and Clutter By The Infinite Mind
This audio program from the non-profit radio show, The
Infinite Mind looks at hoarding, which involves the
accumulation of, and inability to throw away, unneeded
possessions - to the point that a home may become so filled
with stuff that furniture and rooms can no longer be used for
their intended purposes.
Guests include Dr. Randy Frost, a pioneer researcher in the
study of clinical hoarding, and Dr. Sanjaya Saxena, a
neurobiologist who is pinpointing where in the brain the
problem seems to originate. Author Denise Linn, addresses
non-clinical forms of hoarding with tips on how to recognize -
and get rid of - clutter.
Click here» to order the audio for downloading
Quote about Motivation and Discrepency
 Gail Steketee, Ph.D.
Gail Steketee, PhD, Professor at the Boston
University School of Social Work, has
conducted a multiple research studies of OCD
and its spectrum conditions, including body
dysmorphic disorder and the nature and
treatment of compulsive hoarding.
"They may have
some depression,
some anxiety," she
said, "but mostly
they're attached
to their things in
ways that make it
very difficult to
get rid of them.
But it may well be
that hoarding is
actually closer to
an "impulse
control disorder,"
like gambling,
because those who
hoard often
experience active
pleasure as they
acquire or pile up
their possessions,"
Steketee said.
"Hoarding can
involve emotions
-- feeling safer
among walls of
clutter, for
example. And
thoughts -- like, "I'm sure I could
use that broken
tape deck
someday!" And
even unconscious
values, like "More is
better." -Gail Steketee, Ph.D. Source»
With colleagues Randy Frost, PhD. and David Tolin, PhD., she holds two
NIMH-funded grants to study diagnostic and personality aspects of
compulsive hoarding, and test a specialized cognitive and behavioral treatment for this syndrome.
Additional research interests include the study and treatment of
compulsive hoarding of animals under the auspices of the Hoarding of
Animals Research Consortium (HARC).She has published over 150
articles, chapters and books on OCD and related disorders. Her most
recent books are by Oxford University Press -- Compulsive Hoarding and
Acquiring: Therapist Guide and Workbook (Steketee & Frost) and Buried
in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Hoarding (Tolin, Frost & Steketee).
»Her Faculty Profile at Boston University
»Online video presentation she did about Compulsive Hoarding
»Obsessive Compulsive Foundation Hoarding Website (co-editor)
New England Hoarding Consortium
Spring 2006 Newsletter
Spring 2007 Newsletter
Chapter 23 about Hoarding in OCD book by Jenike
Her books on Compulsive Hoarding:
»Buried in Treasures
»Workbook
»Review
»Treatments That Work, Compulsive Hoarding and Acquiring,
Therapists Guide
»News Article: The Boston Globe 4/2/07, "Buried Alive".
Quote from article above:
"Pathological hoarding is far more than mere messiness or a pack-rat
tendency," said hoarding specialist Gail Steketee, interim dean of the
Boston University School of Social Work. The people she and her colleagues treat and study tend to have reached the point where they
lose whole rooms to piles of what to them are treasures and to anyone
else looks like trash.
"Their homes are often tagged as potential threats to public health. Yet
otherwise, most tend to function fairly normally out in the world," said
Steketee, who has coauthored a new book, "Buried in Treasures," that
translates the therapy program for the lay public. "They may have some
depression, some anxiety," she said, "but mostly they're attached to
their things in ways that make it very difficult to get rid of them.
But it may well be that hoarding is actually closer to an "impulse control
disorder," like gambling, because those who hoard often experience
active pleasure as they acquire or pile up their possessions," Steketee
said. "Hoarding can involve emotions -- feeling safer among walls of
clutter, for example. And thoughts -- like, "I'm sure I could use that
broken tape deck someday!" And even unconscious values, like "More is
better."
Initial studies suggest that antidepressants offer little help for hoarding. "More research has yet to be done trying other types of drugs," Steketee said. The treatment she has developed with her colleague,
Randy O. Frost of Smith College, attacks hoarding from several
directions. It fosters skills at decision-making, sorting, and organizing
and provides plenty of supervised practice at decluttering so hoarders
can keep at it on their own after therapy ends. It also tries to address
the deep-seated emotions that make it so hard to let go of things.
About half of the their clients have gotten significantly better, Steketee
said, rising from perhaps a 7 to a 3 on a photo test to determine their
level of clutter, from pure neatness (1) to total chaos (9). That is not bad
for a notoriously difficult problem, said Elias of McLean, who is not
involved in Steketee's research. Hoarding is one of the most recalcitrant
symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
 David F. Tolin, Ph.D.
Dr. Tolin is the founder and Director of the Anxiety
Disorders Center at The Institute of Living in Hartford, CT.
The author of over 70 scientific journal articles, Dr. Tolin's
research and clinical interests include the nature and
treatment of anxiety disorders, obsessive- compulsive
disorder and related conditions such as hoarding.Dr. Tolin is a co-investigator with Drs. Frost and Steketee on two federally funded
research projects investigating compulsive hoarding; he is also the principal
investigator on a study using neuro-imaging to study hoarding. Dr. Tolin has been
a recurrent guest, discussing compulsive hoarding, on Good Morning America and
The Oprah Winfrey Show.
"Characterized by
difficulty parting
with objects as
well as clutter to
the point of
functional
impairment,
hoarding is often
associated with
attention deficit
hyperactivity
disorder,
generalized
anxiety disorder,
major depressive
disorder and
obsessive
compulsive
personality
disorder," Tolin said.
But because many
hoarders show
few other signs of
OCD, Tolin and
some other
researchers believe
hoarding may
soon become a
disorder in its
own right."
»His Website
New England Hoarding Consortium
Spring 2006 Newsletter
Spring 2007 Newsletter
His Book:
»Buried in Treasures:
Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding
By David F. Tolin, Randy O. Frost, Gail Steketee
»Click here to listen to Dr. Tolin's interview about compulsive hoarding
with Psychjourney Podcasts.
»Click hereto view Dr. Tolin's discussion about compulsive hoarding on
ABC News Medical Mysteries.
Click here» here to view Dr. Tolin's first discussion about compulsive
hoarding on Good Morning America and click here» to view his second
segment on GMA.
»The first installmentof Dr. Tolin's discussions about compulsive
hoarding on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
»Dr. Tolin's Resource Guide for Compulsive Hoarding
Sanjaya Saxena, M.D.
Dr. Saxena is the Director of
the UCSD
Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorders Program. His
research focuses on the
neurobiology and treatment
of obsessive-compulsive
disorder (OCD) and related
disorders.
He uses functional and
structural brain imaging to
understand the brain
circuits that mediate OCD
symptoms, to reveal how
effective treatments work in
the brain, and to predict
response to different types
of treatments.
Recently, Dr. Saxena has been studying specific subtypes and variants
of OCD, such as Compulsive Hoarding, to understand their neurobiology
and develop better treatments for these disabling conditions. He has
received research grants from the NIMH and the Obsessive-Compulsive
Foundation.
"In the brain of
compulsive
hoarders was a
unique, distinct
pattern. They did
not have the
typical areas of
elevated activity
we saw in all the
other OCD
patients, instead
they actually had
low activity in
certain parts of
the brain that
were involved in
visual-spatial
orientation, and
in other parts of
the brain involved
in tension,
motivation and
decision-making."
-Sanjaya Saxena,
M.D. Source»
»More information on Dr. Saxena here.
Watch
»Dr. Saxena's Webcast on the Neurobiology of Compulsive Hoarders.
Watch
»Discovery Channel-Canada piece on Hoarding, featuring Sanjaya Saxena, M.D.
Watch
»Fox6 San Diego Video about Hoarding
With Dr. Sanjaya Saxena of UCSD in it. Touches on the "lack of
insight" that a lot of hoarders have, and the physical dangers.
Read
»Discover Magazine Article: The Psychology of . . . Hoarding
What lies beneath the pathological desire to stockpile tons of stuff?
by Mary Duenwald
Read
»Cerebral Glucose Metabolism in Obsessive-Compulsive Hoarding
Listen
»Ivanhoe Broadcast News Interview with
Sanjaya Saxena, M.D., Psychiatrist
University of California, School of Medicine
San Diego, Calif. TOPIC: Compulsive Clutter?» Date of Interview: February 8, 2007
»Recent news of his Paxil studies for Compulsive Hoarders
»Editorial:Is Compulsive Hoarding a Genetically and Neurobiologically Discrete Syndrome? Implications for Diagnostic Classification» -Sanjaya
Saxena, M.D.
Q & A with professionals in this field of research
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