Buried in Treasures – David Tolin Randy Frost Gail Steketee

Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving and Hoarding by David F. Tolin, Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee is playful. It refers to “good guys,” positive habits for controlling hoarding impulses, and “bad guys,” negative habits exacerbating hoarding. There are jokes scattered among the pages. It’s well-written – there are passages that are just plain pleasant to read, they flow well. There’s very little jargon. There are excellent motivational techniques discussed throughout. But the authors don’t avoid requiring difficult work from their readers: many of the exercises in this book will be distressing.

Designed for both people who suspect or know they have hoarding disorder, and people who want to help those afflicted by this mental illness, it’s been successfully translated into the foundation of a peer-facilitated workshop. Discouragingly, I couldn’t find anything like a clearinghouse to find sessions. My 9-14-2019 online search using several different parameters yielded only a few vague indications that the workshops are still available anywhere. I couldn’t find anything at all for Washington State. I dearly hope that the groups are simply offered more privately, through mental health agencies for example.