Jennifer Sampson, Family Social Science graduate student and co-founder of The Hoarding Project, has a single-authored publication in the most recent issue of the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy.
The article, “The Lived Experience of Family Members of Persons Who Compulsively Hoard: A Qualitative Study” appears in the forthcoming August issue of the journal. Five overarching themes for the participants’ experiences of having a person who hoards in the family emerged: negative feelings toward the persons who hoard; lack of understanding of hoarding behavior; experiences of loss; internal barriers to seeking support; and internal conflicts. Clinical implications and recommendations for future research are discussed, including a proposed application of an ambiguous loss framework for understanding and working with the experiences of family members of persons who hoard.