Have you seen Hoarders on A&E? It’s excellent and amazing. And terrifying and painful. Each hour-long episode makes a visit to the homes of two different people suffering from chronic, compulsive hoarding. Mostly they’ve acquired massive arrays of random household items, although sometimes someone will have what resembles a specialty, meaning they particularly collect little boxes or dolls or cars or, um, rats.

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This is the moment a 20st bodybuilder is turned into a tearful wreck – by a puppy.
Heavily tattooed Marvin Cruz, 47, has suffered a lifelong fear of dogs after a witnessing a pit bull attack left a neighbour needing 1,000 stitches.

But Mr Cruz, who has been unable to visit parks for more than 40 years, finally confronts his fear in ‘My Extreme Animal Phobia’, a new U.S. television show.

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I tell Dr. Robin Zasio, a licensed clinical psychologist and licensed social worker, who works with hoarders on the show, “I’m obsessed with Hoarders. It is my compulsion.”

“Oh, good. That’s a good compulsion to have,” she replies with a laugh.

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Dr. Robin Zasio, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Licensed Clinical Social Worker currently appears on A&E Network’s popular television show Hoarders and has spent years specializing in treating anxiety and related disorders utilizing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Exposure and Response Prevention techniques.

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According to the Mayo Clinic, Hoarding is defined as “The excessive collection of items, along with the inability to discard them. Hoarding often creates such cramped living conditions that homes may be filled to capacity, with only narrow pathways winding through stacks of clutter. Some people also collect animals, keeping dozens or hundreds of pets often in unsanitary conditions. People who hoard often don’t see it as a problem, making treatment challenging. But intensive treatment can help people who hoard understand their compulsions and live safer, more enjoyable lives.

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Do you know someone who avoids touching door knobs or repeatedly checks to see if the stove is off? Maybe they adjust desk top objects until they are perfectly aligned. This may not be just fussy behavior. Repetitive acts like these could be a result of OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder.

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In a column last fall, I announced my intention to rid my home and myself of a half-century of accumulated ”stuff” – everything from papers, books, clothing and shoes to packaging material and shopping bags. I’m happy to report significant progress.

Scores of old files, letters and mementos have been recycled. Bags of books, clothes, coats, shoes and linens have been donated to charities. New and hardly used kitchen equipment has been given to those who need it more than I do.

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Yesterday I had change thrust upon me. It was while getting a haircut. I have been wearing my hair short for some time but wasn’t prepared for how short my hairstylist decided to cut it during yesterday’s appointment. I don’t hate what she did necessarily, I just wasn’t looking to go that short and really wasn’t up for dealing with the mental turmoil I knew I’d put myself through …

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It’s not like your living room is an obstacle course of boxes, or that you have a closet full of cats. But even if your home hasn’t reached reality-show level of catastrophe, you could be a “clutterer,” someone who harbors an irrational attachment to her possessions that makes it hard to part with stuff you don’t need. Sound familiar?

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Everyone collects something. But some people collect everything. But what makes you a hoarder? In The Hoarder In You by Dr. Robin Zasio, the therapist on the hit A&E series Hoarders goes into depth on what being a hoarder is, and how it can happen to anyone. In fact,

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