8 Quotes by Randy O. Frost

Deficits in executive functions such as planning, categorization, organization, and attention leave them lost amid a sea of things, unable to figure out what to do next.

As has been apparent to us from studying hoarding, we may own the things in our homes, but they own us as well.

Indeed, much of her hoard allowed her to imagine various identities: a great cook, a well-read and informed person, a responsible citizen. Her things represented dreams, not realities. Getting rid of the things meant losing the dreams.

I’m smart and creative, and I could have been happy. But I’m not anything. I have done nothing. I’m collecting life without living it.

Despite the appearance of slovenliness or laziness created by the condition of the house, Langley was always busy and often complained of not having enough time to do the things he needed to do. One of those things, Langley told the police on several occasions, was clearing and organizing his home. He claimed to be saving things so that he and his brother could be self-sufficient.

It was easier to live with the mess than to experience the frustration of failing to create a perfect room.

She couldn’t tolerate mistakes and almost always chose inactivity over the possibility of doing something less than perfectly.

Recent studies of hoarding put the prevalence rate at somewhere between 2 and 5 percent of the population. That means that six million to fifteen million Americans suffer from hoarding that causes them distress or interferes with their ability to live.