7 Hoarding Books That Experts Turn To for Real Help

Drawing from her extensive psychiatry career and leadership at the University of Florida's Center for OCD, Anxiety, and Related Disorders, Carol Mathews offers the first clinical guide dedicated to hoarding disorder. You gain detailed insights into diagnostic criteria, neurobiology, and the complexities separating hoarding from typical collecting behaviors, with chapters exploring assessment tools, co-occurring disorders, and treatment options including both medication and therapy. This book benefits mental health professionals seeking a thorough understanding of hoarding, as well as families affected by the disorder who want clarity on its impact and management. Mathews’ approach balances scientific rigor with empathy, highlighting the disorder’s effects on individuals and their loved ones without sensationalizing the condition.

Eileen Dacey, with her extensive clinical experience as program director for the North Shore Center for Hoarding and Cluttering, offers a grounded approach to overcoming clutter challenges. You’ll find straightforward methods to systematically declutter your home, including practical exercises that guide you room by room and strategies to curb future accumulation. The book blends real-life stories with self-care tips to help you manage the emotional toll hoarding can take, making it suitable if you struggle with clutter or support someone who does. While it doesn’t promise quick fixes, it equips you with the confidence and tools to regain control over your living space and daily life.

This tailored book explores the complex challenges of hoarding by focusing specifically on your unique experiences and needs. It examines the emotional attachments, behavioral patterns, and cognitive factors that underlie hoarding tendencies, providing a personalized lens that matches your background and goals. By integrating expert knowledge with your individual circumstances, this book reveals pathways to understanding and addressing hoarding in ways that resonate deeply with your situation. It covers personalized approaches to decluttering, managing emotional ties to possessions, and developing coping mechanisms that fit your lifestyle. This tailored guide ensures your learning journey is focused and meaningful, making the vast topic of hoarding manageable and relevant to you.

Drawing from her experience as a therapist featured on the A&E series Hoarders, Dr. Robin Zasio explores why emotional attachments to possessions can spiral into compulsive hoarding. You’ll learn to recognize the hoarding continuum and gain practical strategies for managing clutter, such as taming the urge to acquire and creating effective organizational systems that lower stress. The book includes real cases from Zasio’s practice, illustrating how extreme hoarding behaviors can inform approaches for anyone struggling to keep their space under control. If you’re grappling with clutter or curious about the psychological roots of hoarding, this book offers grounded insights without judgment.

Jerome Bubrick, Fugen Neziroglu, and their colleagues bring decades of clinical and research experience to this exploration of compulsive hoarding, a complex condition linked to obsessive-compulsive disorder. You’ll find a thoughtful examination of why people accumulate items with little value and the underlying psychological factors driving this behavior. The book offers practical self-assessment tools and exercises that help you identify the roots of hoarding tendencies and work toward change, while also honestly addressing when professional intervention and medication might be necessary. Particularly useful for individuals struggling with hoarding and their families, it balances empathy with clear-eyed guidance on navigating a difficult challenge.

Drawing from her extensive academic leadership at Boston University, Gail Steketee teams with Christiana Bratiotis to clarify the often misunderstood disorder of hoarding. You’ll gain a clear grasp of hoarding as a mental illness, learning how it manifests, how severity is assessed, and what treatment options exist. The book breaks down complex psychological and community intervention concepts into accessible language, with chapters answering common questions and debunking myths. If you’re grappling with a loved one’s hoarding or working in public health, firefighting, or social services, you’ll find practical insights that help you identify and respond effectively to hoarding behaviors.

This tailored book offers a focused exploration of rapid decluttering methods designed specifically around your interests and goals. It guides you through a clear, step-by-step plan to recover control over your living space within 30 days, blending expert perspectives with your unique background. You will discover how to address common challenges like emotional attachment to items and develop practical habits that sustain a clutter-free environment. By concentrating on your specific needs, this personalized guide makes the daunting task of decluttering manageable and motivating, revealing practical pathways to a cleaner, calmer home. It bridges established knowledge with personal application, encouraging progress that fits your life.

When Deborah Barnett wrote this book, her extensive background as a qualified social worker deeply informed her approach to self-neglect and hoarding, issues she encountered frequently in adult social care. You’ll gain detailed guidance on conducting risk assessments and making informed decisions, particularly within the framework established by the Care Act 2014. The book offers practical tools tailored for professionals managing complex cases involving mental health and older adults, emphasizing safeguarding and support strategies. If you work in social services or healthcare and face the challenge of supporting individuals with self-neglect, this book provides relevant frameworks and updates crucial to effective practice.

Unlike most hoarding memoirs that focus solely on clinical descriptions, Leslie Robinson uses humor and candid storytelling to explore the daily realities of living with obsessive-compulsive disorder and hoarding. You’ll find detailed reflections on how these challenges affected her journalism career and personal relationships, alongside her varied experiences with therapy and medication. Chapters reveal the complexities of denial and acceptance, culminating in a nuanced portrayal of coexistence with her condition. This book suits anyone seeking an honest, relatable perspective on mental health struggles beyond typical self-help narratives.