✒ What Do You Believe?

Use the following scale to indicate the extent to which you had each thought
when you were deciding whether to throw something away DURING
THE PAST WEEK. (If you did not try to discard anything in the past
week, indicate how you would have felt if you had tried to discard.)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7
not at all sometimes very much

1. If I can think of a use for a possession, I should keep it. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

2. I really need this. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

3. I’d better save this because I will probably need it 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

sometime.

4. I can’t bear the thought of making the wrong decision. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

5.. I need to make sure that this gets handled in exactly 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

the right way.

6.. If I make a mistake, the results could be disastrous. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

7. Throwing this away means wasting a valuable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

opportunity.

8.. I am esponsible for finding a use for this possession. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

9. If this possession may be of use to someone else, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I am responsible for saving it for him or her.

10. Throwing away this possession is like throwing 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

away a part of me.

11. Thispossessionprovidesmewithemotionalcomfort. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

12.
2 I love some of my belongings the way I love some people. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

13. My possessions help identify who I am. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

14.
4 Hanging on to these things is part of what makes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
me the person I want to be.

15.
5 Having these things reminds me of activities that 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I hope to do.

David F. Tolin, Randy O. Frost, Gail Steketee

Buried in Treasures: Meet the Bad Guys. Copyright © 2014 by Oxford University Press

Oxford Clinical Psychology | Oxford University Press

16. Saving this means I don’t have to rely on my 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
memory.

17. My memory is so bad I must leave this in sight or 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I’ll forget about it.

18. If I put this into a filing system, I’ll forget about it 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

completely.

19. It upsets me when someone throws something of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

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mine away without my permission.

20. I like to maintain sole control over my things. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

21. No one has the right to touch my possessions. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Add up your responses to items 1–3: _______ This score reflects your
beliefs about usefulness.
Add up your responses to items 4–6: _______ This score reflects your
beliefs about perfectionism and fear of making mistakes.
Add up your responses to items 7–9: _______ This score reflects your
beliefs about responsibility.

Add up your responses to items 10–12: _______ This score reflects your
beliefs about attachment.
Add up your responses to items 13–15: _______ This score reflects your
beliefs about objects as a source of identity.
Add up your responses to items 16–18: _______ This score reflects your
beliefs about underestimating memory.
Add up your responses to items 19–21: _______ This score reflects your
beliefs about control.

For each of these scores, your scores can be classified as:

3–6: Low
7–15: Moderate
16–21: High

(Portions of this measure were adapted from Steketee, G., Frost, R. O., & Kyrios, M. (2003).
Beliefs about possessions among compulsive hoarders. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 27,
467–479.)

David F. Tolin, Randy O. Frost, Gail Steketee

Buried in Treasures: Meet the Bad Guys. Copyright © 2014 by Oxford University Press

Oxford Clinical Psychology | Oxford University Press