Buried in Treasures ─ Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding

While most people find it relatively easy to manage their possessions, some find it extremely difficult. If you have a problem resisting the urge to acquire and you find your home cluttered and filled to capacity with items many people would find useless and unnecessary, you may suffer from a condition known as hoarding disorder.

Hoarding is a behavioral problem consisting of clutter, difficulty discarding items, and excessive buying or acquiring. Hoarding is often associated with significant reduction in quality of life, and in extreme cases, it can pose serious health risks. If you or a loved one has hoarding disorder, this book can help.

This fully updated Second Edition of Buried in Treasures outlines a scientifically based, effective program for helping those with hoarding disorder dig their way out of the clutter and chaos of their homes. Written by scientists and practioners who are leaders in studying and treating hoarding disorder, this book outlines a program of skill-building, learning to think about possessions in a different way, and gradual challenges to help people manage their clutter and their lives. It also provides useful information for family and friends of people who hoard, as they struggle to understand and help.

Discover the reasons for your problems with acquiring, saving, and hoarding, and learn new ways of thinking about your possessions so you can decide what you really need and what you can do without. Learn to identify the "bad guys" that cause and maintain your hoarding behavior and meet the "good guys" who can help motivate you and put you on the path to change. Useful self-assessments will help you determine the severity of your problem. Training exercises, case examples, organizing tips, and motivation boosters help change the way you think and behave toward your possessions. This book provides easy-to-understand strategies and techniques that anyone can use.

Dr. David Tolin is Director of the Anxiety Disorders Center at the Institute of Living and Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine.

Dr. Randy O. Frost is Harold & Elsa Siipola Israel Professor of Psychology at Smith College.

Dr. Gail Steketee is Dean and Professor at Boston University School of Social Work.

Drs. Tolin, Frost, and Steketee are among the world's leading experts in the study and treatment of hoarding disorder. Together, they have held three grants to study hoarding from the National Institute of Mental Health and have led the field in our understanding of why hoarding behavior occurs, how hoarding is reflected in brain activity, and how best to treat people with hoarding. They have developed and tested a treatment for hoarding, currently considered the "gold standard" in the field, which forms the basis of this book.