Stuff
Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things
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4.3 • 20 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The New York Times bestseller. "Gripping . . . By turns fascinating and heartbreaking . . . Stuff invites readers to reevaluate their desire for things."—Boston Globe
"Amazing . . . utterly engrossing . . . Read it."—The Washington Post Book World
What possesses someone to save every scrap of paper that's ever come into his home? What compulsions drive a person to sacrifice her marriage or career for an accumulation of seemingly useless things? Randy Frost and Gail Steketee were the first to study hoarding when they began their work a decade ago. They didn't expect that they would end up treating hundreds of patients and fielding thousands of calls from the families of hoarders. Their vivid case studies (reminiscent of Oliver Sacks) in Stuff show how you can identify a hoarder—piles on sofas and beds that make the furniture useless, houses that can be navigated only by following small paths called goat trails, vast piles of paper that the hoarders "churn" but never discard, even collections of animals and garbage—and illuminate the pull that possessions exert over all of us. Whether we're savers, collectors, or compulsive cleaners, very few of us are in fact free of the impulses that drive hoarders to extremes.
"Authoritative, haunting, and mysterious. It is also intensely, not to say compulsively readable."—Tracy Kidder, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
"Fascinating . . . a good mix of cultural and psychological theories on hoarding."—Newsweek
"Pioneering researchers offer a superb overview of a complex disorder that interferes with the lives of more than six-million Americans . . . An absorbing, gripping, important report."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Amassing stuff is normal in our materialistic culture, but for millions it reaches unhealthy levels, according to the authors of this eye-opening study of the causes of hoarding, its meaning for the hoarder, and its impact on their families. Frost, a professor of psychology at Smith College, and Steketee, dean of the social work school at Brown, gather much anecdotal material from conversations with extreme hoarders and find that for such people, intense emotional meaning is attached to so many of their possessions even trash. For some, this meaning inheres in animals: one interviewee has 200 cats. The effects of hoarding on the hoarder s spouse, parents, and children can be severe, the authors find. Frost and Steketee write with real sympathy and appreciation for hoarders, and their research indicates an absence of warmth, acceptance, and support during many hoarders early years. They even speculate that a hoarder s attention to the details of objects may indicate a special form of creativity and appreciation for the aesthetics of everyday things. This succinct, illuminating book will prove helpful to hoarders, their families, and mental health professionals who work with them.
