AOL Health: What's the difference between a collector and a hoarder? Or someone who considers himself a packrat?

JS: In terms of collecting versus hoarding, I think the difference is a matter of pride. For a while when I was a kid, my mom was collecting salt and pepper shakers. You display them, you want to show them off, but it's when the shelf becomes totally packed and you're just picking up any salt and pepper shaker regardless of whether it has any value for your collection that it becomes hoarding. It doesn't enhance your life the way collecting does, and it actually hinders it.

Formally, it's defined as the acquisition of and failure to discard possessions that leads to emotional distress and physical impairment of the use of your home. A lot of times with a hoarder their plumbing will stop working or their heat, and they won't call in a plumber because they're afraid if they do their house will be condemned. So they'll end up living without water.

In terms of being a packrat versus a hoarder, I think it's just a semantic thing. I think "packrat" just sounds more innocuous.

AOL Health: How common is compulsive hoarding?

JS: I think it really is more common than people realize. A lot of times a hoarder doesn't let anyone into their house and so people don't know.

For a while the statistic was that there were 2 million Americans who were hoarders and then it was 3 million and then the latest I saw was 6 million. I think it's become more known.

I think even five years ago people thought of hoarders as, "That's just the crazy cat lady," or as selfish people. And now people are realizing it's a mental illness, like bipolar disorder. You wouldn't blame someone or judge someone for having depression or needing to take an antidepressant. It's kind of the same thing with hoarding.

AOL Health: Why did you decide to write this book?

JS: It's something I never thought I would write about, because I really didn't tell anyone about my mother's hoarding other than my husband. RIFT Platinum But then I joined a support group for children of hoarders -- I was shocked to find out one even existed -- and I was amazed by the amount of shame, embarrassment, anger and sadness we were all carrying around. We were carrying this huge secret, and I just thought, I'm a writer -- I can bring it out into the world so that people know about it and take away some of the power of the secret.

Before I even mentioned the idea to my agent, I asked my mother if she would mind, because if she minded, I wasn't going to do it. But she thought it was a good idea because it would help hoarders and other children of hoarders.

AOL Health: What are some of the biggest problems children of hoarders have?

JS: It's really hard when you have a secret for so long to have a fully authentic relationship with someone. I did tell my husband -- I was really afraid to tell him about my mom, but he was just awesome from the beginning. He never judged her, and he's helped me clean out her house. But I hid it from all of my friends, and I think most of us do that, and you can't really have a true relationship with somebody when you're hiding so much of yourself.

AOL Health: Is there a cure, or have any therapies been found to be particularly helpful?

JS: It's a condition that has a lot of comorbidities -- there's almost always another illness tied in with it -- and that's what makes it so difficult to treat. rift gold You can treat the depression but then you have to get through the anxiety and then you have to get to the information processing problems that make up the hoarding. I think the therapy that's been shown to be most effective is cognitive behavioral therapy. There's not, unfortunately, a drug or anything like that.

AOL Health: What reactions have friends, relatives and readers had to the book?

JS: My dad is a really private person so I was worried about his reaction to it, but he really likes it. RIFT Platinum My friends all knew vaguely that my mom had some kind of mental illness. There was a period in my 20s where my mom and I didn't speak for almost seven years. But none of my friends really knew the extent until I started writing the book and then I began telling people. They've all been really supportive. And the book's been out only two weeks, and I've already gotten a lot of e-mails from other children of hoarders who told me how much they liked the book and how good it made them feel to know that they're not alone. It's been really rewarding.

I had two friends tell me that their mothers are also hoarders. That was really shocking. Rift Gold I've had a ton of people say, "Oh, my cousin is a hoarder, or my uncle, or my neighbor down the street when I was growing up." It seems like everyone knows someone.