Cats,
Paper Clips, Matchbooks: These Are Just a Few of the Things That People
Who Hoard Compulsively May Be Compelled to Amass
A great many apartment evictions are due to unhealthy levels of clutter.
It is not uncommon for children to be removed from homes because of the
safety hazards posed by excessive clutter. Some states have created task
forces to address the problem of compulsive hoarding.
To many of us it seems unfathomable. When we hear about
a woman who has fifty-seven cats or a man with twenty-five years’
worth of newspapers stacked in his living room, we marvel at the sheer
strangeness of it and wonder how anyone could function amid such colossal
clutter. Maybe that’s why it’s easy to forget about the
real-world consequences of compulsive hoarding. Evictions, divorce,
health problems, financial strain, depression, and even suicide: these
are some of the outcomes of this underrecognized disorder. Now there’s
help. Fugen Neziroglu, Ph.D., an expert in compulsive hoarding, Jerome
Bubrick, Ph.D., and Jose Yaryura-Tobias, MD, have written, Overcoming
Compulsive Hoarding (July 04), the first-ever book
to help hoarders get their compulsion to save under control…and
it has struck a chord.
Newsweek
has covered the book. Neziroglu has been interviewed on a number of
radio shows and newspapers from Florida Today to The
Cleveland Plain Dealer to The San Jose Mercury News
have interviewed her for feature stories on it. Also, Publisher’s
Weekly reviewed the book on its Web site.
View Cart