The Sophian

Issue date: 2/4/10 Section: News

Almost two decades ago, psychology professor Randy Frost's involvement with hoarding began with an inauspicious question posed in a seminar on obsessive-compulsive disorder.

"One of the students asked about hoarding, and I said I didn't know anything about it, and nobody else did either, because you don't see it often," Frost said. "We decided to see if we could find someone who had this problem who would be willing to be interviewed for the project. So we put an ad in the newspaper looking for pack rats or chronic savers, and we got a hundred telephone calls."

Frost's research has advanced rapidly since 1991. He is now a nationally known expert on compulsive hoarding behavior. His book on hoarding, Stuff, co-written with Gail Steketee, will be published in April.

Hoarding itself has garnered a similar increase in attention, progressing from a little-known subset of obsessive-compulsive disorder to a field in its own right.

Compulsive hoarding behavior has three components, Frost explained. Hoarders first have problems with over-acquisition through compulsive buying or collecting of free objects. They then become so attached to those objects that they are unable to let them go. Finally, hoarders have a problem organizing their belongings.

About 2.5 to 5 percent of the population has a hoarding problem, much more than previously believed.

Severe hoarding can be life-threatening when people store so many things in their house that they cannot move through rooms thus creating a fire hazard. Hoarding is also associated with homelessness, Frost said.

Each semester, Frost works with anywhere between four and 12 student researchers on self-help and treatment strategies for hoarders.

Sarah Maxner '10J began working with Frost in fall 2008. She ran a self-help group for her honors thesis and plans to continue collaborating with Frost on unfinished projects.

"The disorder has many facets, a lot of which are still not understood, and this makes researching it really exciting as a lot of what I studied was new," Maxner said. "It is also a disorder that I believe a lot of people can relate to, as most humans attach themselves emotionally to certain possessions, just to a lesser degree."

After initial investigations into support groups for hoarding, Maxner ran a follow-up group to evaluate whether participants' progress was maintained over time or whether hoarding behaviors were reduced. The self-help groups focus on encouraging hoarders to limit their acquisitions and reevaluating their attachments to items to allow them to be discarded, Frost said.

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