Most everyone knows what it’s like to struggle with getting rid of something or another. It can be hard for any of us to part with an old photo album or perhaps a favorite sweater or book. But what if discarding items as trivial as newspapers and junk mail caused you great distress? And what if that anguish led you to accumulate so much clutter that your living space became almost unusable?
Unfortunately, this scenario is all too real for the millions of people living with hoarding disorder (HD)—a serious but treatable condition that can create not only mental health concerns, but also physical dangers. So what should you know about hoarding disorder and its treatment? What are some of the signs that someone is struggling with HD? And what can concerned loved ones do to help?
In this previously recorded session, Jeff Szymanski, PhD, explains what hoarding disorder is and how it’s treated, offers tips for supporting someone living with HD, and answers audience questions about clutter and the key distinctions between collecting and hoarding.
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Jeff Szymanski, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and leading expert on obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). For 15 years, he served as executive director of the International OCD Foundation. Prior to that, he was the director of psychological services at McLean’s OCD Institute.
As a part-time lecturer on psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Szymanski supervises pre-doctoral psychology interns through McLean Hospital. He is the author of “The Perfectionist’s Handbook” and founder of Getting to the Next Level Consulting.
