Digging Out : Helping Your Loved One Manage Clutter, Hoarding, and Compulsive Acquiring

Tamara L. Hartl, PhD, is a clinical instructor at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, and a staff psychologist in the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. She also has an independent clinical practice in Saratoga, California. Hartl has coauthored several seminal publications on hoarding behavior, including a cognitive-behavioral model of compulsive hoarding that she cocreated in 1996 and later published in Behavior Research and Therapy. Hartl specializes in the treatment of anxiety disorders and sexual dysfunction as well as compulsive hoarding.

Michael A. Tompkins, PhD, ABPP, is a board-certified psychologist in behavioral and cognitive psychology. He is codirector of the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy, and is a faculty member of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Tompkins is author or coauthor of fifteen books, and presents to national and international audiences on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and related topics. His work has been highlighted by media outlets, including in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, on television (TLC, A&E), and on radio (KQED, NPR).

Randy O. Frost, PhD, teaches abnormal psychology at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. He is coauthor of Buried in Treasures.

Rebecca H. Lee grew up in Washington State, where she graduated from the University of Washington with a double degree in Drama and Music. She has spent much of her adult life traveling abroad and working as a performer in resorts, theme parks, and cruise ships, but now stays mainly at home in Seattle with her loved ones, narrating audiobooks and performing improv and scripted theater on stage.

Gail Steketee, PhD, is a professor and cochair in the department of clinical practice at the Boston University School of Social Work. She is coauthor of Buried in Treasures.