Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding by David F. Tolin, Gail Steketee, Randy O. Frost
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(Paperback)
- Pub. Date: January 2007
- 192pp
- Sales Rank: 13,004
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Product Details
- Pub. Date: January 2007
- Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
- Format: Paperback, 192pp
- Sales Rank: 13,004
- Series: Treatments That Work Ser.
- ISBN-13: 9780195300581
- ISBN: 0195300580
Synopsis
Buried in Treasures outlines a scientifically-based and effective program for helping compulsive hoarders dig their way out of the clutter and chaos of their homes.
Discover the reasons for your problems with acquiring, saving, and hoarding, and learn new ways of thinking about your possessions so you can accurately identify those things you really need and those you can do without. Learn to recognize the "bad guys" that maintain your hoarding behavior and meet the "good guys" who will motivate you and put you on the path to change.
Features of this book include:
-Self-assessments to determine the severity of the problem
-Tips and tools for organizing your possessions and filing your paperwork
-Strategies for changing unhelpful beliefs about your possessions
-Behavioral experiments to reduce your fear of anxiety and fear of discarding.
Dale Farris - Library Journal
In this clear recovery manual, Tolin (director, Anxiety Disorders Ctr., Inst. of Living), Randy O. Frost (psychology, Smith Coll.; coauthor, Compulsive Hoarding and Acquiring), and Gail Steketee (clinical practice, Boston Univ. Sch. of Social Work; Treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) shed light on compulsive hoarding, a lesser-known behavioral syndrome that is typically grouped with obsessive-compulsiveness. Three main symptoms must be present: a person experiences great difficulty discarding objects that are useless or of limited value, the clutter prevents or seriously limits the use of living space, and the clutter causes significant impairment. Besides defining compulsive hoarding, the authors address special issues involved with the disorder, then follow with a discussion of the current clinical understanding of possible causes, current research on what prevents hoarders from benefiting from organizing programs, how to help motivate those wishing to change, and ways to maintain success in a treatment regimen. Numerous self-assessments and other treatment tools that have been used by the authors with their hoarder patients make the book most suitable for sufferers themselves, rather than professionals. Highly recommended for public libraries and university libraries supporting the helping professions.
More Reviews and RecommendationsBiography
David F. Tolin, Ph.D. is the founder and Director of the Anxiety Disorders Center at The Institute of Living, in Hartford, Connecticut. A leading authority on compulsive disorders, he has been interviewed for The New York Times and the Associated Press, and has been a recurrent guest on The Today Show, Good Morning America, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Randy O. Frost, Ph.D. is the Harold Edward and Elsa Siipola Israel Professor of Psychology at Smith College. He is co-editor of the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation (OCF) website on hoarding. The leading authority on compulsive hoarding, he has been interviewed for The New York Times, Newsweek, and National Public Radio, and has appeared on ABC 20/20 Downtown, Good Morning America, and Dateline. Gail Steketee, Ph.D. is Professor at the Boston University School of Social Work. Her recent research, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, focuses on diagnostic and personality aspects of compulsive hoarding and on effective treatments. She and Dr. Frost have written the manual for mental health clinicians who treat hoarding problems.
Customer Reviews
Excellent!by Anonymous
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January 27, 2008: Buried in Treasures is an excellent book for a guide to working with people with chronic disorganization and hoarding issues or for those with hoarding issues. The book gives very valuable information in understanding the emotional side of hoarding, why it happens in some people, ways to address it in loved ones, and that there is hope for those with hoarding issues. The book also contains many questions to ask someone with the issue. It also has step by step plans to implement when working through hoarding. I would highly recommend this book to someone with a hoarding problem. I would also recommend to a family member who may be dealing with a relative facing this issue for a more in depth understanding of the challenges of hoarding.
A reviewerby Anonymous
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May 24, 2007: In the introduction of ?Buried in Treasures?, Tolin, Frost and Steketee offer two cautions to the reader. Caution 1 ?this book will not solve your hoarding problems?. They state ?this book is a guide that will provide you with the necessary information to understand the problem of compulsive hoarding and will give you tools to help beat the problem?. Caution 2 is that ?overcoming compulsive hoarding will be hard work?. The authors emphasize that hoarding is ?a problem of emotional, mental, behavioral, and social well-being? and that ?some scientific evidence suggests that there may be a genetic component to hoarding?. It is basically a description of the treatment program that they have developed over many years of treating patients at their hoarding clinic. While the book discusses the physical side regarding sorting and purging as well as the stopping of the acquiring, its? emphasis is on the mental/emotional side of hoarding. As opposed to other similar books, this book is based on science and ongoing clinical research. The book is essentially a guide to change and the authors note that ?people start to work on their hoarding problem when the reasons for change outweigh the reasons for not changing, and not a moment sooner?. Their suggested treatment is based on CBT (cognitive-behavioral therapy) which is solution focused. This is somewhat of a workbook. It includes many exercises to help the hoarder to consciously change their thinking. Some examples are a self-assessment test in the chapter ?What is Compulsive Hoarding??, a hoarding severity scale that is very similar to the NSGCD Hoarding Scale, Visualization Exercises, Category & Location lists and questionnaires such as ?Comparing Your Perceptions with Those of Others?. Early in the book, the authors introduce and discuss the Bad Guys: 1 ? It?s Just Not My Priority, 2 ? Letting Unhelpful Beliefs Get In Your Way, 3 ? Overthinking or Confusing Yourself, 4 ? Avoidance and Excuse Making and 5 ? Going for the Short-Term Payoff. Then they introduce the Good Guys: 1- Keeping Your Eyes on the Prize, 2 ? Downward Arrow, 3 ? Thinking It Through, 4 ? Behavioral Experiments and 5 ? Developing the Right Skills. The authors revisit the Bad Guys and the Good Guys again later in the book when dealing with motivation and ?taking on your brain?. An interesting observation noted by the authors was that when hoarders attempted to sort their own items, they tended to have lots of little categories but when sorting similar items that belonged to other people, they were able to sort into a few large general categories. This suggests that when dealing with their own possessions, ?their emotions get in the way and cause them to process information differently?. This book is not a `how to? that a hoarder could pick up, read and follow to a successful conclusion. On their own, most hoarders are just not capable of following some of the suggestions, such as, ?you might want to think a step or two ahead?! However this is an excellent book if used as part of a larger treatment program. It is also mentioned that Professional Organizers and especially members of NSGCD ?can be a very useful addition to your team?.
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