Gail Steketee - Hoarding

Authors Gail Steketee and Christiana Bratiotis, internationally recognized experts on the topic of hoarding, deftly summarize the existing scientific and clinical information in this surprisingly easy-to-read volume. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants a better understanding of this complex condition.

David Tolin, PhD, Director, Anxiety Disorders Center, The Institute of Living, Author, Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding

Hoarding: What Everyone Needs to Know is an outstanding, easily accessible guide for anyone who seeks to better understand or assist someone with hoarding disorder. This book provides a thorough understanding of the disorder as well as practical guides for navigating housing, health, and other challenges faced by those with hoarding. The authors provide a road map for individuals with hoarding, their families, and communities seeking to better address this challenging issue.

Jesse Edsell-Vetter, Director of Resident Services, HRI

Steketee and Bratiotis have succeeded in producing a concise yet comprehensive overview of hoarding disorder. Summarizing over 25 years of research, this book is straightforward, easy to read, and an excellent answer to what you need to know about hoarding. It will be immensely valuable to those whose lives are touched by this problem.

Randy Frost, PhD, Harold Edward and Elsa Siipola Israel Professor of Psychology, Smith College

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Oxford University Press 2020

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Steketee, Gail, author. | Bratiotis, Christiana, author.

Title: Hoarding : what everyone needs to know / Gail Steketee, Christiana

Bratiotis.

Description: New York : Oxford University Press, [2020] | Series: What

everyone needs to know | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019053078 (print) | LCCN 2019053079 (ebook) |

ISBN 9780190946395 (hardback) | ISBN 9780190946388 (paperback) |

ISBN 9780190946418 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Compulsive hoarding. | Obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Classification: LCC RC569.5.H63 S75 2020 (print) |

LCC RC569.5.H63 (ebook) | DDC 616.85/84dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019053078

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019053079

From both of us:

We thank our long-time OUP editor Sarah Harrington for proposing the idea of writing this book in order to educate various people with a vested interest in the sometimes complicated problem of hoarding. Of course, this work and our careers would not be possible without the great contributions of time and effort by many people who have direct experience with hoardingthose who suffer from its symptoms, family members and friends who are concerned about a loved one, social service professionals who are trying to help, and community professionals seeking to balance the needs of sufferers and the community at large. We are constantly impressed by the commitment of so many people trying their best to understand this problem so they can intervene effectively. More power to them all!

From Gail:

It has been a pleasure to work side by side (well, across the table) on this book with my delightful colleague and friend, Dr. Christiana Bratiotis. Writing it has allowed us to spend many hours and days together in her home in Vancouver and in my familys vacation home in New Hampshiredrafting chapters, talking about how to present the issues, and just catching up on each others lives. Writing was interspersed with walks in the woods, good food, visiting family and friends, and enjoying our surroundings. What an irreplaceable pleasure that has been.

I thank my delightful husband of many years, Brian McCorkle, who helped us by cooking great meals, being good company, playing piano for our listening pleasure, and supporting me in all my endeavors. I am very grateful to him for gifting me the time to work on this book.

I also thank my fabulous colleague, Dr. Randy Frost, for over 30 years of research and clinical collaborations on hoarding disorder. We have made countless trips back and forth between bucolic Smith College in western Massachusetts and traffic-snarled Boston and spent many hours presenting together at conferences and clinical trainings and in public forums. It has been my pleasure to play the role of queen to his outstanding king of hoardinghe is the best!

From Christiana:

I thank my treasured mentor and friend Dr. Gail Steketee for the invitation to collaborate on this project. During the hours of time Gail and I spent in collaborative conversation, writing, laughing, writing, idea generating, writing, editing, and writing, I regularly reflected on my good fortune to share the intimacy of this kind of work with someone so dear to me professionally and personally. The opportunity to be together in the same space to write (and play) with the scholar who raised me up in the field of hoarding was indeed a special treat of the most delicious kind. I will savor the goodness for years to come.

I wish to thank my family for their love and unending support of my professional pursuits. Most especially I thank my parents, Rev. George and Gloria Bratiotis, and my sister, Alexia Jobson, for reliably voicing their pride in my accomplishments and celebrating each milestone, large and small. I also thank my extended familymy brother-in-law, aunts and cousins, godchildren and their families, and my circle of friends who express sincere interest in my work and go out of their way to cheer me on.

Finally, I wish to thank Dr. Sheila Woody for being a once-in-a-lifetime collaborator and friend. We started our work together nearly a decade ago. Now, we have an ever-expanding program of research in hoarding, and I have the good fortune to work alongside a luminary who, by her example, inspires me to greater professionalism, optimism, scholarship, and good humor. Being just two buildings apart on the same campus, we have the luxury of seeing each other multiple times per week, including our standing lunch date! I thank her for her commitment to growing my career (and me) in the most patient, gentle, modest way imaginable. I am better for having her in my life.

Gail Steketee and Christiana Bratiotis