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The Today Show
January 14, 2011
Animal hoarder spent $200K to care for 82 dogs
Dr. Karen Cassiday, a clinical psychologist, looks into the bizzare problem of animal hoarding and talks with a recovering hoarder about this issue.
Newsy.com presents a video on Animal Hoarding featuring scenes with Dr. Karen Cassiday on the Today Show.
October 13, 2010
Hoarding: An Epidemic and a Craze
Animal Planet is the latest channel to premiere a show about hoarding, and hoarders continue to make the news. What's behind the disease, and why is America so obsessed with it?
The Joy Behar Show on CNN Headline News featuring Dr. Karen Cassiday
August 4, 2010
Animal Hoarding
HLN's Joy Behar talks with pet hoarders featured on the Animal Planet series "Confessions: Animal Hoarding."
[Click Here To Watch Video]
Dr. Karen Cassiday speaks on The Today Show about Animal Hoarding
July 20, 2010
When love for animals becomes a nightmare
What happens when the desire to rescue animals becomes more of a compulsion than a good deed? Psychologist Karen Cassiday discusses the serious and disturbing impact of so-called animal hoarding.
As seen on The Today Show: [Click Here For More Information]
Dr. Karen Cassiday speaks on Nightline about Animal Hoarding
July 20, 2010
Animal Hoarders Fill Homes With Dozens of Pets. Despite Unsanitary Conditions and Strained Relationships, Hoarders Can't Seem to Stop. [Click Here To Read Story]
[Click Here To Watch Video]
Confessions: Animal Hoarding
July 11, 2010
Be sure to watch Dr. Karen Cassiday on the new Animal Planet show! Wednesday Nights at 9pm Eastern (8pm Central). [Click Here For A Press Release]
[Click Here To Watch A Trailer]
ADAA Podcast by Karen Cassiday, PhD
April 2, 2010
Exercise in the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders. [as heard on www.adaa.org]
[Download]
Karen Cassiday, PhD
Focus on Family- Author Kevin Gyoerkoe
December 1, 2009
The Pregnancy and Postpartum Anxiety Workbook [as seen on www.wgntv.com]
Pack Rat Attack
April 13, 2009
Spring cleaning time? Not for people who struggle with dumping the junk!
By Ryan Smith, RedEye, Published March 28 2009
By his own admission, Jay Maynard is a pack rat.
Thousands of comic books are stuffed under his bed. Hundreds of video games, action figures, DVDs and paperback books are scattered elsewhere in his studio apartment in Uptown.
But it's not just his collectibles that pile up. Maynard, 30, is slightly embarrassed to show his junk closet--a room stacked nearly 6 feet high with items including empty CD cases for discs that were stolen long ago and game packaging for old Nintendo 64 games.
"I'm not sure why. I guess I think that in 20 years, someone will really want the box for 'Turok 64,' " he said.
With the changing of the season, many Chicagoans are thinking about getting rid of junk for spring cleaning. But Maynard--who says he is slowly recovering from a lifetime of being a pack rat--and others say they have a hard time getting rid of old stuff at any time.
"Once a certain thing has been sitting in my apartment for a long period of time, it's like my brain just stops registering it and it's not junk anymore," Maynard said. "It just sort of starts to become part of the scenery."
Dr. Karen Cassiday, a clinical psychologist who treats hoarders at the Anxiety and Agoraphobia Treatment Center in Chicago, estimates that hoarders make up 2 percent to 3 percent of the population, but she believes the number to be much higher based on anecdotal evidence. And while there are hoarding stories that make headlines--people who literally bury themselves with junk in their own homes or who are found with hundreds of stray pets packed in their living spaces--subtle cases are more common, she says.
"Some people collect trains or have 40 pairs of blue jeans, and that's OK as long as they are getting pleasure from them or actually use them," Cassiday said.
"The problem is when you have things that are making your home less functional or if it's interfering with your relationships with other people."
So do you have the characteristics of a hoarder?
Experts say most pack rats tend to share certain traits. They have a hard time making decisions, they procrastinate a lot and tend to make strong emotional attachments to the things they buy or collect, according to Cassiday. Sometimes, hoarding tendencies are linked to obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Often, pack rats have parents who were the same way.
Eric Lipe, 30, grew up in a house where extreme hoarding occurred. As a teen, he collected thousands of vinyl records, DVDs, Pez dispensers and thousands of comics that he never actually read. The Lakeview photographer said he has found a way to control the problem in his adult life: by selling off his unwanted stuff.
"I started selling a bunch of it and made a lot of money doing that," he said.
Maynard, who grew up in a pack rat household in Dayton, Ohio, couldn't have guests over because there was literally no room for them among stacks of papers, boxes and other possessions overwhelming his childhood home.
Despite those negative experiences, Maynard struggles with the same tendencies. He said he's glad, for the sake of his living space, that he didn't grow up in the era of the collector card game Pokemon.
"I really would have had to 'catch them all,'?" he said, referring to the franchise's catchphrase. "And I already have plenty of stuff."
Ryan Smith is a RedEye special contributor.
Dr. Cassiday talks about Anxiety & Depression from OCD - Walgreens Health Corner
February 3, 2009
Listen to discussions on depression and anxiety disorders. Brought to you by Walgreens. Click play to start the video. |
Be Healthy Radio Talk Show - featuring Dr. Karen Cassiday
February 1, 2009
Listen to discussions on various disorders treated at AATC. Click play to start the audio. |
Agoraphobia Explained With Dr. Karen Cassiday
March 29, 2008
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Dr. Karen Cassiday joins [blogtalkradio] to discuss agoraphobia. She works with the Anxiety Treatment Center in Northbrook, IL. Anxiety disorders have been identified as the number one mental health problem affecting Americans. The staff at the Anxiety and Agoraphobia Treatment Center offer individualized, comprehensive treatment programs based on the most recent advances in this field.  Click Here To Listen |