Is it as good as being in person? The effectiveness of a modified clinician facilitated buried in treasures group for hoarding disorder using video teleconferencing.

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated the use of video-teleconferencing (VTC) for psychological treatments but VTC effectiveness studies are sparse. We examined treatment outcomes for a modified Buried in Treasures (BIT) group program for hoarding disorder (HD) delivered via VTC. Participants were 10 individuals with HD. Hoarding severity was evaluated at pre, mid, post, and six-month follow-up. Results showed significant decrease in hoarding symptoms over time (with an average decrease of 32%). The dropout rate was low (9%) and 30% of participants were fully recovered at follow-up. These results support the adaptation of in-person BIT for HD into a VTC format.

Saving inventory - Revised: Psychometric performance across the lifespan.

BACKGROUND: The Saving Inventory - Revised (SI-R) is the most widely used self-report measure of hoarding symptom severity. The goal of this study is to establish a firm empirical basis for a cutoff score on the SI-R and to examine the functioning of the SI-R as a screening tool and indicator of hoarding symptom severity across the lifespan. METHODS: This study used archival data from 1,116 participants diagnosed with a clinical interview in 14 studies conducted by research groups who focus on hoarding. We used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and the Youden's J statistic to determine optimal cutoff scores for classifying participants who would be likely to receive a hoarding diagnosis. RESULTS: Overall, the discriminant performance of the SI-R Total score and each of the three subscales was high, confirming the status of the SI-R is an excellent screening tool for differentiating hoarding from non-hoarding cases. The optimal SI-R Total cutoff score is 39, although analyses suggested that older adults require a significantly lower cutoff and adults younger than 40 years require a significantly higher cutoff score. LIMITATIONS: The confidence interval around the optimal cutoff for the SI-R Total score for oldest age group was wide in comparison to those reported for the younger groups, creating more uncertainty around the optimal cutoff score for this group. CONCLUSIONS: This paper provides investigators and clinicians with the data necessary to select evidence-based cutoff scores on the SI-R that optimally suit their relative need for sensitivity and specificity in different age groups.

The role of distress tolerance, anxiety sensitivity, and intolerance of uncertainty in predicting hoarding symptoms in a clinical sample.

Hoarding disorder (HD) is characterized primarily by difficulty discarding possessions, leading to severe clutter and significant distress and impairment. Although promising psychological treatments have emerged, treating HD remains a clinical challenge. A greater understanding of the role of psychological vulnerability factors in predicting hoarding symptoms in a clinical HD sample could further enhance treatments. To investigate the role of proposed individual difference factors (i.e., distress tolerance, anxiety sensitivity, intolerance of uncertainty), we administered a diagnostic and self-report battery to 73 individuals diagnosed with HD who were seeking treatment for hoarding at a community clinic. Results indicated that when controlling for depression and anxiety symptoms, only distress tolerance predicted the severity of hoarding symptoms. Furthermore, meditation analyses revealed that the impact of distress tolerance on hoarding severity was partially mediated by hoarding beliefs. These results have important theoretical and clinical implications for HD.