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Imagine your home is so filled with stuff that moving around it is almost impossible. Every bit of space is piled high with books, pictures, DVDs and newspapers so you can\\u2019t even get into some rooms \\u2013 not even the bathroom or kitchen. There\\u2019s nowhere to sit and no room for visitors.\\n \\nThat\\u2019s what life is like for those with a hoarding disorder and their close family and friends. It\\u2019s a recognised mental illness, an uncontrollable desire to acquire and keep an excessive number of objects and it\\u2019s thought to affect between 2-6% of the UK and US population. So why do some people hoard? And why is it so difficult for them to get rid of some of the many thousands of items that clutter their home?

Mike Williams meets Stephen whose apartment is so swamped with possessions that his young children can\\u2019t stay. He hears how the extreme hoarding habits of one American father led his teenage daughter to make a suicide bid. And, on a positive note, there are lessons for compulsive hoarders on how to resist the urge to acquire more things.

Contributors: \\nBill Barry and Stephen, Tenants, Liverpool Housing Trust \\nRandy Frost, Professor of Psychology at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts\\nHeather Mattuozzo, Founder, Clouds End \\nFabio Gygi, Anthropology lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University \\nKimberly Rae Miller, author, \\u2018Coming Clean\\u2019, a memoir

Presenter: Mike Williams\\nProducer: Sally Abrahams

(Photo: Lots of clutter in a front room. Credit: BBC Copyright - taken in contributor's house by presenter with contributor's permission)