
Stuff
Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things
Randy Frost(Author)
Houghton Mifflin (Publisher)
Published on 4. January 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-0-547-42255-8 (ISBN)
Description
A New York Times Bestseller
Acclaimed psychologists Randy Frost and Gail Sketetee's groundbreaking study on the compulsion of hoarding, "Stuff invites readers to reevaluate their desire for things" (Boston Globe).
What possesses someone to save every scrap of paper that's ever come into his home? What compulsions drive a woman like Irene, whose hoarding cost her her marriage? Or Ralph, whose imagined uses for castoff items like leaky old buckets almost lost him his house? Or Jerry and Alvin, wealthy twin bachelors who filled up matching luxury apartments with countless pieces of fine art, not even leaving themselves room to sleep?
When Frost and Steketee became the first scientists to study hoarding, they expected to find a few sufferers. Instead, they uncovered an epidemic, treating hundreds of patients and fielding thousands of calls from the families of others, exploring the compulsion through a series of compelling case studies in the vein of Oliver Sacks.
With vivid portraits that show us the traits by which you can identify a hoarder--piles on sofas and beds that make the furniture useless, houses that can be navigated only by following small paths called goat trails, vast piles of paper that the hoarders "churn" but never discard, even collections of animals and garbage--Frost and Steketee explain the causes and outline the often ineffective treatments for the disorder.They also illuminate the pull that possessions exert on all of us.
Whether we're savers, collectors, or compulsive cleaners, none of us is free of the impulses that drive hoarders to the extremes in which they live. For the six million sufferers, their relatives and friends, and all the rest of us with complicated relationships to our things, Stuff answers the question of what happens when our stuff starts to own us.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Boston
United States
Publishing group
Cengage Learning, Inc
Target group
Young adult
US School Grade: Fourth Grade and over, Interest Age: From 14 years
Dimensions
Height: 203 mm
Width: 133 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
385 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-547-42255-8 (9780547422558)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
12/2020
1st Edition
Mariner Books
from
€40.99
Available for download
Person
DR. GAIL STEKETEE is a professor and acting dean at Boston University in the school of social work.