Premium
Working with families of people who hoard: A harm reduction approach
Author(s) -
Tompkins Michael A.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.20797
Subject(s) - hoarding (animal behavior) , psychology , harm , hoard , social psychology , harm reduction , face (sociological concept) , population , psychiatry , public health , medicine , nursing , sociology , social science , environmental health , archaeology , feeding behavior , history
Approximately, 3%–5% of the U.S. population suffers from compulsive hoarding but others suffer as well, in particular, the family members who care about them. This article describes the manifold ways family members suffer because of their loved one's hoarding behavior, including the frustration and hopelessness many family members experience in the face of their loved one's steadfast refusal to accept help for their hoarding problem. The article presents harm reduction as a way for family members to help a loved one who is unwilling to accept treatment of the hoarding problem. The article then presents two clinical examples—a private hoarding situation and a public hoarding situation—to illustrate the application of harm reduction to hoarding. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: In Session 67:1–10, 2011.