This workshop will provide information about the symptoms of compulsive hoarding problems. Symptoms include acquiring too many things, difficulty discarding and excessive clutter that interferes with normal use of space and/or causes distress. A model for understanding these hoarding problems will be presented, including recent findings regarding hoarding behaviors, emotional attachments and beliefs about possessions. Recent efforts to include hoarding as a distinct disorder in DSM-V will be described. Methods for assessing the severity of the hoarding problem and its associated mood and cognitive features will be provided. I will describe intervention strategies, including ways to enhance motivation, establish goals for treatment, increase skills for organizing and problem solving, change beliefs about possessions, foster imagined and experiential exposures to removing possessions by recycling, discarding, selling and giving away items as appropriate. Methods for adapting these principles to self-help support groups will also be presented. Potential roles for family members or friends as “coaches” will be described, along with strategies for preventing future clutter problems.

1. Identify specific problems associated with hoarding, including typical behaviors, impairments in functioning, especially with regard to health risks and housing problems, and consequences of hoarding.

2. Understand why hoarding occurs and persists using a cognitive, emotional and behavioral framework.

3. Learn assessment strategies to identify specific hoarding problems and associated features.

4. Review interventions for hoarding, including skills training, cognitive and behavioral methods.

RECOMMENDED READING prior to attending the workshop:

1. Frost, R.O. (2010). Treatment of hoarding. Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 10, 251-261.

2. Frost, R.O., Steketee, G., & Tolin, D.F. (2012). Diagnosis and assessment of hoarding disorder. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology. 8, 219-242.