Acceptance and commitment therapy for hoarding disorder: A proposed treatment protocol for individuals

Objective This article offers a practical guide for an acceptance-based hoarding disorder (HD) treatment protocol for clinicians, which is an augmentation of the cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for HD originally developed by Steketee and Frost. Method Although efficacy research is yet to be conducted on this new protocol, this proposed acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) protocol for hoarding individuals is presented as a framework for current researchers and clinicians to pioneer evidence-based efficacy studies. Results Ongoing improvements in clutter levels have been one of the concerns with CBT for HD. Although limited information is available on treatment follow-up, what has been found is that the reduction in clutter is likely to stall post-treatment and no further discarding occurs without further intervention. Conclusion Thus the urgent need for the inclusion or augmentation of ACT into existing treatment protocols is warranted.