Just recently, UPI broke groundbreaking research aimed at treating patients with compulsive hoarding syndrome, or obsessive-compulsive disorder (known as OCD.)
According to Dr. Sanjaya Saxena, director of the obsessive-compulsive disorders program at UCSD, compulsive hoarding patients exhibit three core features:
- Failure to discard objects due to severe anxiety related to discarding what most might regard as inconsequential objects
- Excessive acquisition, sometimes resulting in buying sprees
- Excessive clutter to the point where home and work spaces can no longer be used
Saxena's study compared hoarding and non-hoarding OCD patients, showing nearly identical responses to paroxetine -- commonly known as Paxil. The symptoms exhibited by patients in both groups improved significantly with treatment. The director was quoted:
"The syndrome is driven by obsessional fears of not having items you might need, or of losing something valuable, as well as overly sentimental attachments to objects."
While our professional organizing company does not specialize in working with this condition, we do have a ongoing relationship with Ron Alford's Disaster Masters in New York City and have worked with their clients, in a team setting, here in SoCal (look at Ron's website for startling before/after pictures). Ron has even taken me on a personal visit to the "dump," a dismal trash site their company utilizes by Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens.
