http://www.geriwork.com/2008/12/hoarding-a-mental-health-isssue/ Social Work with the aging, what you need to know. Tue, 20 Jan 2009 03:26:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 http://www.geriwork.com/2008/12/hoarding-a-mental-health-isssue/comment-page-1/#comment-16 Kate Tue, 20 Jan 2009 03:26:34 +0000 http://www.geriwork.com/?p=10#comment-16 I'll have to admit that in my own work I enter the homes of hoarding older adults on a monthly to sometimes weekly basis. It is difficult to wrap one's mind around this very complicated illness, however a recent training I attended by Christiana Bratiotis, Ph.D. candidate at Boston University School of Social Work shed some light on the issue for me. Although I could not possibly sum up her ideas in this note, I can say that her method of using cognitive behavior interventions as a key component made a great deal of sense to me. Furthermore, she pointed out that there are many different factors contibuting to hoarding behaviors, including a growing concensus that there are biological factors involved. Hoarding cannot be treated with short-term interventions, however she gave many examples of how with time, motivation, and an informed clinician interventions can be successful. I’ll have to admit that in my own work I enter the homes of hoarding older adults on a monthly to sometimes weekly basis. It is difficult to wrap one’s mind around this very complicated illness, however a recent training I attended by Christiana Bratiotis, Ph.D. candidate at Boston University School of Social Work shed some light on the issue for me. Although I could not possibly sum up her ideas in this note, I can say that her method of using cognitive behavior interventions as a key component made a great deal of sense to me. Furthermore, she pointed out that there are many different factors contibuting to hoarding behaviors, including a growing concensus that there are biological factors involved. Hoarding cannot be treated with short-term interventions, however she gave many examples of how with time, motivation, and an informed clinician interventions can be successful.

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