Keeping the Women we Love Healthy

March is here.  'Spring cleaning' is in the air.  So, how are we doing on the 'cleaning-out-our- ( fill in the blank )' resolution? The Howell Foundation invited Dr. Saxena to speak to us about clutter vs. hoarding last January.  More than a behavior pattern, hoarding is now diagnosed as a stand alone disorder --vs. being diagnosed as a sub category of OCD.  You can read more about his research here . The many faces of clutter vs. hoarding. To better emphasize that hoarding is not a 'lazy' attitude, Dr. Saxeena explained that what seems normal for us, discarding items of little or no relevant value, is difficult for many.  It is estimated that between 12 and 19 million individuals suffer from a hoarding behavior in the US. The reason why Americans hoard varies; some have a percieved notion of needing the items (trying to fix an item for a later use or to sell it), others save an item because it may be used some day, and yet others save it beca...

Let's face it: how many times, at the beginning of the year, we promise ourselves to clean out the clutter in our closet/garage/storage room/office?  One's new year resolutions might be a bigger problem than we think...  There are a lot of hidden reasons why we clutter, and justify it. Understanding our behavior is only a part of the strategy to tackle the task of decluttering head on.  But at what point does an individual go from clutter to hoarding? How does it affect the life of those around a hoarder? And most importantly, how does the health of a person who is hoarding? There should't be a way to sugar-coat hoarding. It is as valid a disease as OCD and other anxiety and psychological disorders.  Dr. Sanjaya Saxena, speaker at the Howell Health and Happiness Symposium on January 21st, sheds light on the compulsive behavior called hoarding.  According to Dr. Sanjaya Saxena, (quoted in  this article  from the Washington Post last year), "...