This is a stand-alone course that can be taken by any practitioner as part of their continuous professional development (CPD).
It is also one of the modules within:
This 2-hour course explores how to work with the issue of hoarding.
Hoarding as a psychological problem was classified for the first time as a mental health diagnosis in DSM-5 back in 2013. But it still doesn’t reach the awareness of many therapists and counsellors. Why?
The two most obvious reasons are that most sufferers don’t refer themselves for help and, if they do get help, it is usually via local authorities when the problem is very extreme. Why?
Because it’s the health and safety implications that are the concern. No wonder therapists aren’t seen as the first port of call.
The second reason is simple prejudice. Although Hoarding Disorder can start in childhood and be a problem throughout adulthood, it becomes especially marked in the over-65s – a classic “ignored” group by therapists and counsellors.
And yet this often-hidden problem is much more common than you’d think.
Its prevalence is around the same (or higher!) as that for male PTSD and three times as common as schizophrenia. And the data suggest that it often accompanies other psychological problems that you’ll be more familiar with – such as depression, anxiety and OCD.
Many common underlying factors of Hoarding Disorder are ones you’ll be familiar with:
- key messages from parents of “waste not want not”,
- loss,
- trauma triggers, and
- long-standing cognitive errors.
Some, however, may be a novelty to you:
- problems with neurological executive functioning,
- procrastination,
- as well as our old friend – perfectionism.
- From a CBT perspective, hoarding is also usefully viewed as a Safety Behaviour, with all the therapy implications attached to that.
So, what to do about it?
- Above all else, ASK your client about it. I can guarantee you already have clients who have this as a hidden problem.
- Secondly, skill yourself up on the basics by attending this 2-hour “bite-sized” training on Integrated CBT for Hoarding Disorder, which runs as part of our BPS Approved Certificate in Integrated CBT for Common Life Challenges.
The cognitive-behavioural model of hoarding disorder incorporates a range of factors: from information processing difficulties, maladaptive attachment to and erroneous beliefs about possessions, mood problems and a compromised early family environment. All have been indicated as both causing and maintaining this common problem. Evaluation of CBT programmes to address the problem indicates a 70-80% success rate after 12 months. Such a programme incorporates motivational issues, skills training on categorising, organising, and problem-solving, and practice sessions practising sorting, decision-making, and discarding. Case study illustrations are used throughout.
The Certificate is designed to enable delegates to apply Integrated CBT to a range of common life challenges that frequently create distress and substantially interfere with functioning, even though they are not diagnostic problems typically leading to referral to mental health services.
Integrated CBT is an evidence-based approach to working with such difficulties, addressing process as well as content issues in therapy. It integrates 2nd and 3rd wave CBT ideas alongside evidence-based techniques drawn from other therapeutic approaches, such as MI, SFT and REBT, with a particular focus on process issues including motivation and communication difficulties.
The Certificate brings together the principles of Integrated CBT with a deeper understanding of non-diagnostic life challenges and is structured as a series of cohesive, bite-sized trainings designed to support the development of evidence-based treatment plans or self-help programmes.
