Catholic University hosts seminar on causes,impacts of hoard

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20080627.htm

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- People's clutter can say a lot about their mental health, researchers said at a June 26 symposium on hoarding at The Catholic University of America in Washington. Among the attendees were social workers, mental health professionals and emergency medical technicians, sharing stories and solutions for helping compulsive hoarders. "It's easy to look at a hoarder's life and judge, but it's more helpful to come together and help," said Jennifer Berger, a lawyer with the AARP Legal Counsel for the Elderly in Washington and one of the symposium panelists. According to the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation Web site, as many as 1.4 million people in the United States are compulsive hoarders. The condition, defined on the site by Smith College professor Randy Frost, is an obsessive need to acquire and save objects without discarding anything, accumulating so much that living spaces cannot be used for what they're intended and the clutter causes impairment or distress.