Hoarding by young people, older adults tackled by researcher

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State Assistant Professor Mary E. Dozier is helping Mississippians reduce clutter, decrease anxiety and enhance their quality of life through subtle and positive intervention methods.  

Dozier, a faculty member in the Department of Psychology, started researching hoarding disorder in older adults but has since expanded to the college-age demographic. After speaking with a New Orleans, Louisiana-based clinical psychologist, Dozier started to investigate the effects of growing up in a home with excessive clutter.

Published this fall, Dozier’s work on the “Psychosocial impact of hoarding symptoms in college students and the potential for early intervention” in the Journal of American College Health identifies the significance of early intervention in decreasing a young person’s likelihood of developing hoarding disorder later in life.

“The project that we conducted was an online survey of MSU undergraduate students about the associations between hoarding in their childhood homes and their current functioning, as well as their interest in different potential interventions for clutter,” Dozier said. “My team is using some of the results of this project to provide free group treatment for clutter for MSU undergraduates this spring.”

Dozier’s team will use a variety of cognitive-behavioral methods to help college-age students declutter, including some of the motivational interviewing techniques used in her 2021 pilot study—focused on helping older Mississippians—funded by the American Psychological Foundation. Her findings from the study “Home-based motivational interviewing for late-life rural hoarding disorder” were published this summer in Aging & Mental Health, an international journal. She is currently conducting a longer version of this project, which she calls Project RECLAIM (Reduce Clutter and Increase Meaning) with funding from the National Institute of Mental Health.

Project RECLAIM elicits change from a value-based, patient-centered approach. Rather than focusing on the negative effects clutter has, Dozier’s clinicians elicit increased “change talk” by highlighting the positive outcomes that can happen with decluttering. For example, a discussion with participants on how cleaning up clutter could lead to more family member visits may have a stronger impact than pointing out how that same clutter prevents family from visiting.

“Our goal is to keep participants focused on change,” Dozier said. “We avoid using the term ‘hoarding disorder’ with individuals; we use ‘clutter.’ Everybody struggles with clutter, and there’s nothing wrong with that. This is about helping those who want to see a change.”

According to Dozier’s pilot study, older participants decreased their clutter by 20% and reported improved mental health and a healthier relationship with their belongings. After working with 40 clients, Dozier concluded this focus on positive affect treatment has made drastic changes in her participants’ lives.

Following the success of her pilot study, Dozier has been in demand to provide trainings for the RECLAIM intervention. She recently gave invited talks and trainings for the Institute for Challenging Disorganization (a national group of professional organizers), the Nebraska Mental Health and Aging Coalition, and locally for the MSU social work field instructor training.

“One of the things I’m always amazed by is what helps,” Dozier said. “Simple interventions—like asking someone to reflect on their values while sorting through items—can lead to life-changing outcomes.”

Dozier’s long-term goal includes using this positive-based model to create a program family members can use when needed. 

“There’s something really powerful about having someone in your home saying it’s OK. It’s OK to let go of things. I’m excited about doing this research because it’s helping people,” she said. “It’s also developing something bigger that’s going to help more people.”

This summer, Dozier’s research was mentioned by U.S. Senator Bob Casey’s committee focused on older adults struggling with clutter. For more information on Project RECLAIM, contact Dozier at maryedozier@psychology.msstate.edu or 662-325-0523.

Mississippi State University is taking care of what matters. Learn more at www.msstate.edu.