Find helpful resources for understanding and managing hoarding and clutter, including books, blog posts, podcasts, specific podcast episodes, and TED or TEDx Talks.
Table of Contents
Books
Blog Posts
- 8 Stages of Hoarding
- 6 Common Types of Hoarding
- How to Cope With the Emotional Aftermath of Decluttering When You Struggle With Hoarding?
- Overcoming Hoarding: How to Build Emotional Readiness to Let Go of Items?
- How to Start Small When Tackling Hoarding Challenges?
- How to Support a Loved One Who Hoards (Without Enabling)?
- The Difference Between Compulsive Shopping and Hoarding
- Hoarding: How to Let Go When Everything Feels Important?
Hoarding Podcasts
- Hoarding Stuff
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A podcast centered specifically on hoarding, clutter, decision-making, and recovery. It combines the perspective of professionals with people who have personal experience of hoarding and also discusses how hoarding affects families. - Unpacked: The Truth About Hoarding
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Looks beyond dramatic cleanup stories to discuss the psychological and human side of hoarding. Episodes cover shame, family relationships, trauma, peer recovery, clutter, and why simply removing possessions usually does not address the underlying problem.
Specific Hoarding Podcast Episodes
- Digging Out: Can We Help People With Hoarding Disorder? — Speaking of Psychology
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Psychologist Dr. Mary Dozier explains what separates hoarding disorder from ordinary clutter, why possessions become difficult to discard, how hoarding can affect daily functioning, and how values-based treatment may help. - Why People Hoard — Speaking of Psychology
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Clinical psychologist Dr. Julie Pike explains why people hoard, common misconceptions, how families are affected, what treatment involves, and why forced cleanouts alone are unlikely to solve the problem. - More Than Clutter: Understanding & Treating Hoarding Disorder With Dr. David Tolin — Anxiety Matters
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Hoarding expert Dr. David Tolin discusses the difference between clutter, collecting, OCD, and hoarding disorder. He also explains treatment approaches involving decision-making, problem-solving, questioning beliefs about possessions, reducing excessive acquiring, and building motivation for change. - Why Can’t I Throw It Away? — Off the Couch Psychology
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Explains why apparently worthless objects can feel extremely difficult to discard and how emotional attachment, decision-making difficulties, and beliefs about possessions can keep hoarding going. It also discusses specialized CBT and the Buried in Treasures approach.
TED & TEDx Talks About Hoarding and Clutter
- STUFFED: The Unintended Consequence of Our Attachment to Personal Belongings — Matt Paxton
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Hoarding cleanup specialist Matt Paxton discusses why people become attached to possessions and what he has learned from years of working in heavily cluttered homes. He also talks about starting small rather than attempting an overwhelming one-day cleanout. - Listen to the Monster in Your Closet — Star Hansen
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Professional organizer Star Hansen explores what clutter may represent emotionally and why understanding the reasons behind possessions can be more useful than simply telling someone to get rid of things. - How to Declutter When You Feel Like a Failure — Monica Fay
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Focuses on the shame that can develop around clutter and disorganization. Fay encourages looking at possessions and habits as problems that can be worked on rather than treating a cluttered home as proof that someone is lazy or failing. - Why We Collect Things — Daniel Krawczyk
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Neuroscientist and psychologist Daniel Krawczyk explores why humans collect objects and the psychological and social processes behind attachment to possessions. It is useful for understanding collecting while remembering that collecting itself is not the same as hoarding disorder.
