How hoarding disorders are treated

It's not easy to treathoarding disorders, even when theperson is prepared to seek help, butit can be overcome.

The main treatment is cognitive behavioural therapy(CBT) . The therapist will help the person to understand what makes it difficult to throw things away and the reasons why the clutter has built up.

This will be combined with practical tasks and a plan to work on. It's important that the person takes responsibility for clearing the clutter from their home. The therapist will support and encourage this.

Antidepressant medicines called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have also been shown to help some people withhoarding disorders.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)

CBTis a type of therapy that aims to help you manage your problems by changing how you think(cognitive) and act (behaviour). It encourages you to talk about how you think about yourself, the world and other people, and how what you do affects your thoughts and feelings.

Regular sessions of CBT over a long period of time are usually necessary and will almost always need to include some home-based sessions, working directly on the clutter. This requires motivation, commitment and patience, as it can take many months to achieve the treatment goal.

The goal is toimprove the person's decision-making and organisational skills, help them overcome urges to save, and ultimately clear the clutter, room by room.

The therapist won't throw anything away, but will help guide and encourage the person to do so. The therapist can also help the person develop decision-making strategies, while identifying and challenging underlying beliefs that contribute to the hoarding problem.

Theperson graduallybecomes better at throwing things away, learning thatnothing terrible happens when they do so, and becomes better at organising items they insist on keeping.

At the end of treatment, the person may not have cleared all their clutter, but theywill have gained a better understanding of their problem. They will havea plan to help them continue to build on their successes and avoid slipping back into their old ways.