The Oprah Winfrey Show

Can compulsive hoarding be treated?

From the shows How Clean Is Your House?
and Inside the Secret Lives of Hoarders
and Inside the Lives of Hoarders with Peter Walsh Parts 1 and 2

There is no "cure" for compulsive hoarding, meaning there is no treatment that will make the problem go away completely and never come back at all. However, Dr. David Tolin explains how some treatments may help people to manage the symptoms more effectively.

Medications
Research studies using antidepressant medications (that increase the level of serotonin activity in the brain) show that some people with compulsive hoarding respond well to these medications. However, many do not. People with compulsive hoarding do not appear to respond as well to medications as do people with other kinds of obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a form of counseling that goes beyond "just talking." In this form of treatment, the therapist often visits the person's home and helps them learn how to make decisions and think clearly about their possessions. There have not been as many studies of this kind of treatment, so it's hard to say with certainty how effective it is for hoarding. However, the available evidence suggests that cognitive-behavioral therapy is effective for many people with compulsive hoarding, perhaps more so than medications.

More Information
You can find resources on compulsive hoarding and its treatment at these websites:

Free materials from Dr. Tolin on complusive hoarding: www.instituteofliving.org/
ADC/compulsive_hoarding.htm
Obsessive Compulsive Foundation: www.ocfoundation.org
The Institute of Living: www.instituteofliving.org/adc
Find a professional organizer on the National Association of Professional Organizers' website, www.napo.net.

Some of this information was adapted by Dr. David Tolin from Steketee & Frost (2003), Clinical Psychology Review, 23, 905-927
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