A few weeks ago on Larry King Live, Oprah’s Organizer, Peter Walsh was on the expert panel for the discussion on hoarding, he said there is a cure for hoarding. Hoarding is getting a lot of air play these days and the conversation is happening more and more about whether or not there is a cure? It’s a fascinating affliction and even as a professional organizer it’s hard to watch. But I have to say I agree with Peter and disagree with the psychologist who said there is no cure for hoarding.

I have studied hoarding with the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization and I have studied addiction for almost nine years, I strongly believe that while there are valid phychological traits to hoarding it has a lot of addictive traits as well.

What we need to educate people about is that, like other addictions, the process for healing and moving on is just that, a process. There is a decision to begin and often times a minute by minute decision to keep moving towards the healing. It’s not a quick fix and it’s definately not a “think yourself better” solution. The solution is holistic; mental, physical & spiritual. It often matters who you spend time with while you’re trying to get better; someone who enables you or is invested in keeping you stuck. It’s a complicated discussion.

Stay tuned for more posts breaking down the way to move to breaking through the clutter whether it’s mental clutter, physical clutter or spiritual clutter. Our external environment is often a reflection of our internal environment