Imagery rescripting to manage hoarding disorder

Participants will attend a 60-90 minute assessment session, and will then be randomised to a baseline monitoring period lasting between 1 and 3 weeks. Participants will then attend 12x 60 minute intervention sessions occurring approximately twice weekly over a period of 6 weeks. These will occur either online (via Zoom) or in-person, depending on participant preference. In these sessions, participants will engage in an Imagery Rescripting Intervention with a registered psychologist (i.e., Clinical Psychology Registrar or Clinical Psychologist). The imagery rescripting procedure is based on Arntz's (2012) Three Stage Protocol, with adaptations to address hoarding. Sessions will involve identifying an object that the participant is having difficulty parting with, generating an mental image where participants' will imagine parting with that object, the therapist attuning to the resultant distress and identifying an affectively-linked memory, engaging in rescripting of this memory (therapist led, and later participant-led), followed by an exploration of whether the participant is able to think or feel differently about parting with their initial chosen object. Each session will involve 1 imagery rescripting exercise. Adherence to the intervention will be monitored by a board approved supervisor in clinical psychology and a accredited schema therapy supervisor and trainer, who will review a random selection of recordings of the intervention session, and provide feedback regarding fidelity to the study protocol and therapist competence. Therapists will be rated using the relevant subsections of the Schema Therapy Competence Rating Scale (STCS-I-1). Participants will be asked to complete a range of questionnaires throughout the study, and at 1-month follow up.