Online Help for Hoarders, Clutterers & Compulsive Shoppers

Updated October 2009

Got resources to share?  Please go to the bottom of this page and leave me a comment!  I will eventually add the resource to the page : )

Thank you!

What is Hoarding and Compulsive Hoarding?

VIDEO FROM Reclaiming Dignity.com  made by www.childrenofhoarders.com 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoarding

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsive_hoarding says:

"It involves the collection or failure to discard large numbers of objects even when their storage causes significant clutter and impairment to basic living activities such as moving around the house, cooking, cleaning or sleeping. Hoarding rubbish may be referred to as syllogomania."

"While there is no definition of compulsive hoarding in accepted diagnostic criteria (such as the current DSM), Frost and Hartl (1996) provide the following defining features:[1]

• the acquisition of, and failure to discard, a large number of possessions that appear to be useless or of limited value
• living spaces sufficiently cluttered so as to preclude activities for which those spaces were designed
• significant distress or impairment in functioning caused by the hoarding

Neat & Simple Blog Posts Related to Hoarding

• Compulsive Hoarding Study - Invitation from Dr. David Tolin 9/23/09
• Help for Hoarders - What really works? 8/24/09
• Hoarders: A New TV Show  8/2009
• The Things We Carry: Modern Artists Confront Compulsive Hoarding 7/2009
• My Top 10 Tips for Clutter-Free Living 2/2009
• Help! I'm a Hoarder TV Show - Review and Discussion
• Overcoming Hoarding Tendencies with Dr. Randy Frost & Sandra Felton
• Surviving & Overcoming Living in Squalor
• Supporting Someone Who Lives in Squalor - Squalor Survivors & Children & Family of Hoarders
• OCF's Hoarding Web Site: How Compulsive Hoarding Affects Families
• National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (NSGCD) to Hold Its Annual Conference in NJ in September 2007!

My Getting Unstuck Community

While my learning, coaching, and support group community is not only for hoarders, many of our members are compulsive savers who have great difficulty letting go of things.  We cover topics every month that relate specifically to building awareness of the cognitive, emotional, brain-based, personality, environmental and behavioral factors that contribute to our difficulties with making decisions, focusing, perfectionism, procrastination, and overwhelm which result in clutter and disorganization.  Being part of a group is an important part of healing shame. 

 

NJ Support Groups for Clutterers and  Hoarding

• The Obsessive Compulsive Foundation has support groups in central and southern NJ. Website: www.njocf.org.

  Clutterers Anonymous Support Group meets in Metuchen, NJ www.claeast.org

Compulsive Shopping

• Shopaholics Anonymous
• Stopping Overshopping
• The Call of the Mall - Article from MedicineNet.com

Finding a Professional Organizer & Others who are Qualified to Work with Hoarders

• NSGCD Graduate List of Organizers with Certifications
• Neat & Simple Compulsive Hoarding Service Provider Referral Directory

Websites & Forums

• Children of Hoarders group. For the Adult Children of Hoarders(COH) who grew up in a hoarders home  and/or have a parent who still hoards. (Spouses of COH welcome too!)
  
• OCD Foundation's Hoarding Website
  
• Hoarding Task Force by Cornell UniversityNot frequently updated but lots of info
  
• Hoarding Fact Sheet - Los Angeles County Department of Mental HealthPDF quick facts sheet
  
• New York City Hoarding Website 
  
• Understanding Hoarding, written by a hoarder- Very insightful
  
• Reading List by Understanding Hoarding  - Lots of great links here
  
• "Squalor Survivors"- Many personal stories and photos - excellent forum
  
• Reclaiming Dignity- Support site run by people who live with hoarding issues themselves. Wonderful video and Resource Pages.
  
• www.messies.com
• Clutterers Anonymous dot Net

NSGCD's List

http://understanding_ocd.tripod.com/hoarding.html

http://flylady.net/

http://clutterless.org/index.html

http://www.clutterersanonymous.net/

 

BOOKS on HOARDING & ADD ADHD

• Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding
• Overcoming Complusive Hoarding

• Compulsive Hoarding and Acquiring: Therapist Guide (Treatments That Work)

• Delivered from Distraction: Getting the Most out of Life with Attention Deficit Disorder

• It's Hard to Make a Difference When You Can't Find Your Keys

• ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life

• Conquering Chronic Disorganization

Sandra Feltons Support Groups.  I don't like the term "messies"  but she is a recovered hoarder with lots of great info and big heart.  Her book is very insightful.   www.messies.com

• Messietalk Postings about the general problems and solutions Messies face in many areas of life. One of the most active groups.
• Australian Messies in Recovery As Australian Messies work together they can speed their own improvement.
• Teleconference Announcement
  Join this group to be notified about upcoming telephone conference dates.
• Twelve Step Group
  For those who want to change the characteristics that have led them into the Messie lifestyle using the Twelve Steps.
• Organize to Socialize
  Let’s get the house and ourselves ready to invite others in! The focus of this group is organizing, and only organizing, with the idea of inviting others in.
• Only-for-Singles
  Sharing struggles and solutions concerning the special issue of living an organized life for those in the single world.
• Faith in Organizing
  For those who seek encouragement and direction from both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible as applied to organizing our time, homes, and lives.
• In Flight Messies
  The InFlight Messies is for those who are experienced with the Messies Anonymous program AND have been in the program for about four months.
• Moms and Mentors
  Those who have children living in the home struggle with special problems of organizing. This site if for those who are in the midst of the fray at this time and for those who have found solutions.
• Organize-to-Teach
  Teachers are awash in paperwork and planning. Together, Messie teachers can learn tricks, strategies, and methods for simplifying their lives and enabling the to be better teachers.
• Mates-of-Messies
  Many mates of Messies are distressed and discouraged about the condition of the house and the problems that the Messie in their lives are dealing with. The focus of this group is to offer support and encouragement as mates of Messies seeks to maintain and improve both the home and the marriage. (It is not for serious problems of hoarding in the life of a loved one. Go to Friends of Hoarders group below.)
• Organize-to-Homeschool
  Homeschoolers have very specific organizational problems. Together homeschooling Messies can share organizing strategies and solutions they have found useful as they homeschool their children.
• Messiness-and-ADD
  It is a self-help group designed to provide motivation, inspiration, and information from other distractible people who experience the problem of disorganization.
• Messiness-and-Hoarding
  Most disorganized people tend to keep too many belongings. This site does not intend to deal with the ordinary problem of keeping too much experienced by many. It is only for those for whom hoarding is a very significant problem either for themselves or loved ones and is not intended as a site for general use.
• Friends of Hoarders
  This group is for those who care about someone who is a hoarder. It is not a therapy group. Here we share information which may be useful in understand those whose lives are impacted by hoarding.