The Hoarder in You: How to Live a Happier, Healthier, Uncluttered Life

Product Description From the hit A&E show Hoarders, psychologist Dr. Robin Zasio shows readers how to take control of their stuff and de-clutter their lives. Recently, the once little-known condition of hoarding has become a household phrase-in part due to the popularity of the Emmy Award-winning television show Hoarders, which has captivated audiences with its stark and heartbreaking look at the people who suffer from this paralyzing condition. Contributing expert to Hoarders Dr. Robin Zasio believes that our fascination with hoarding stems from the fact that most of us fall somewhere on the hoarding continuum. In The Hoarder in You, Dr. Zasio shares behind-the-scenes stories from the show, including some of the most serious cases of hoarding that she's encountered-and explains how readers can learn from these extreme examples. She also shares psychological and practical advice for de-cluttering and organizing, including how to tame the emotional pull of acquiring additional things, make order out of chaos by getting a handle on cluter, and create an organizational system that reduces stress and anxiety. Review “I would say that Dr. Zasio's book is about the best self-help work I've read in my 46 years as a health and science writer. She seems to know all the excuses and impediments to coping effectively with a cluttering problem, and she offers practical, clinically proven antidotes to them.” —Jane Brody, The New York Times “An easy to read, well-organized guide to improving your life and reforming the way you look at the mundane.” —Publisher's Weekly About the Author ROBIN ZASIO, PsyD, LCSW, is a featured doctor on the hit A&E series Hoarders and specializes in treating hoarding and other anxiety-related disorders. She lives in Sacramento, CA. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 1 PACK RATS, CLUTTERERS, AND COMPULSIVE HOARDERS YOU WOULD NEVER HAVE SUSPECTED that Joan suffered from compulsive hoarding. When I first met her at my office in Sacramento, I saw an impeccably dressed African American woman of 50, who I knew from the referral was a highly regarded administrator at an insurance company, the model of efficiency and attention to detail at work for 2 decades. The first time I saw her home, however, was a very different story. Joan was at Level 4 (out of 5) on the Clutter Hoarding Scale, an assessment tool devised by the National Study Group of Chronic Disorganization (NSGCD) in St. Louis. In broad terms, someone at Level 4 would have significant difficulty cleaning a home without professional help; conditions of the home are unsanitary or otherwise hazardous (food is often rotting on counters, and rodents and insects may be visible in multiple locations); rooms in the home are so packed with objects that they are unusable for their original purpose; there's mold and structural damage to the home; and when pets are present, there is accumulated animal waste. Joan's house met all of these conditions. It was hard to imagine that this calm, confident woman could emerge every day from such a place. The first thing I noticed about Joan's house was the smell. Even with my impaired sense of smell, the odor of ammonia and feces was overwhelming. The cats' litter box, which was in the dining room, was overflowing, but a walk through the house made it clear that the two cats had long since given up on it and were urinating and defecating everywhere. Joan's three bedrooms were unusable--piles of clothes and books, many contaminated with cat waste, were everywhere, and disorganized to-do piles of bills, receipts, and laundry covered the living room. In the kitchen, the counters were piled with old food and dirty, empty food containers. Canned goods and packaged foods overflowed from the pantry because Joan had bought multiples of the same items. The freezer was so full that it had frozen shut. Gnats flew everywhere. When I pulled open the freezer door and peered inside, I saw countless de