Buried Treasure
Gail Steketee, dean ad interim of BU's School of Social Work, discusses understanding and treating compulsive hoarding
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Gail Steketee, dean ad interim of Boston University’s School of Social Work,presents her research on compulsive hoarding behavior. Nearly 75percent of Americans have had a problem with compulsive hoarding, orthe acquisition of, and failure to discard, a large number ofpossessions. People who compulsively hoard, says Steketee, tend tobelieve that some part of their identity would be lost if they partwith their possessions. Steketee discusses the co-morbiditiesassociated with compulsive hoarding, the personality features thatcompulsive hoarders tend to exhibit, and the epidemiology anddemographics of the disorder. She also compares the therapies used totreat it, including pharmacotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, andgroup therapy, and concludes by emphasizing the importance of groundingchange in the client’s personal goals and values.
April 5, 2007, 7 p.m.
School of Social Work
About the speaker:
Gail Steketee, a professor of clinical practice and dean ad interim of the Boston University School of Social Work,has conducted many research studies of the psychopathology andtreatment of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic, and obsessivecompulsive spectrum conditions, which include body dysmorphic disorderand compulsive hoarding. She holds current grants from the NationalInstitute of Mental Health to study aspects of compulsive hoarding andcognitive and behavioral treatment for this syndrome. She has publishedmore than 160 articles and chapters on OCD, anxiety, and relateddisorders and seven books. The most recent are Cognitive Approaches to Obsessions and Compulsions, Compulsive Hoarding and Acquiring, and Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding.
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