FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Stephanie Chelf
April 16, 2010 stephanie@teakmedia.com 617-269-7171
International OCD Foundation Launches
Comprehensive Hoarding Resource Center
BOSTON, Mass. – It starts when newspapers pile up and old birthday cards don’t get thrown away. Then clothing, books, and empty food containers fill up the room. Over time, the room becomes so full of stuff, you can’t even walk into it. Welcome to the home of someone with a hoarding problem.
The International OCD Foundation today unveils a new, comprehensive online resource center dedicated to hoarding.
People with hoarding problems acquire more possessions than they can afford or manage, have great difficulty discarding items they don’t or can’t use, and have trouble organizing things in a useful way. The resulting clutter interferes with the ability to use living spaces in the home and can pose health and safety problems.
In extreme cases, public health and fire safety officials intervene, sometimes removing the person from his/her home. Such events can be emotionally devastating. Researchers estimate there are more than six million people with clinically significant hoarding problems in the United States.
The new website (www.ocfoundation.org/hoarding) provides a one-stop location for hoarding sufferers, their families as well as public health officials, researchers and therapists to find all the information available about the disorder. The interactive website will feature personal stories and educational podcasts and videos.
“We’re learning more and more about hoarding every day,” said Dr. Jeff Szymanski, executive director of the International OCD Foundation. “This website aims to give people with hoarding problems the same type of information that we provide to OCD sufferers. It’s the first step to helping these individuals along with their family members become motivated to address a hoarding problem and seek appropriate help.”
The IOCDF’s hoarding resource center will provide a clear path to finding treatment, local support groups, and online support. It will include the latest information on research from the country’s best experts.
The hoarding resource center launch coincides with the release of the new book, Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, April 2010), by Drs. Randy Frost and Gail Steketee.
“When we first started studying hoarding, we expected to find a few hundreds cases,” said Frost, who helped develop the website. “Instead, we received thousands of calls from people seeking help. We know there is a shortage of research and experts to address this issue, and this website is just one more tool to help people.”
Frost and Steketee, members of the International OCD Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board, were the first scientists to studying hoarding and today are the country’s leading experts on the subject.
The IOCDF’s hoarding resource center will include vital information for families to learn how to help, including treatment provider lists, informational podcasts and signs of hoarding.
Those interested in learning more about the cause of hoarding will be able to read research abstracts, study news and other expert works that highlight causes and treatments for hoarding. An overview section will explain the types of hoarding as well as information on hoarding in children and hoarding in the elderly.
About the International OCD Foundation
The International OCD Foundation is the foremost resource about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and related illnesses. It is an international organization that exists to raise awareness among policy makers and the general public about OCD, educate the mental health community about the latest treatments and research, connect people suffering from OCD with treatment providers, and advance research for more effective treatments. Based in Boston, the OCDF has affiliates in Boston, Chicago, Florida, Minneapolis, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, and San Francisco. The OCDF was founded as the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation in 1986 by a dozen OCD patients at Yale. Twenty-three years later, the organization has an annual $1 million annual operating budget, has granted $2.5 million for treatment research, and is a resource for tens of thousands of people. For more information, visit www.ocfoundation.org.