About Dr. Amie Ragan
Dr. Ragan is a licensed clinical psychologist. Her specialty is helping people work through the emotions that encourage them to hold on to unproductive ways of thinking. She has particular interest in helping people relieve themselves from excessively demanding behaviors, ineffective relationships and overwhelming material clutter. In addition to helping adults of all ages, Dr. Ragan has three years of post-doctoral training in working with older adults and caregivers.
Dr. Ragan received her doctorate from The University of Wyoming. She also completed post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey on the Rutgers campus and at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the Center for Aging.
Dr. Ragan is currently in private practice with Grayson & Associates, P.C. in Birmingham, AL.
February 6, 2007 at 10:39 am
The photo of you is too small (not a high enough resolution). Could you e-mail a higher-resolution of that photo?
Thanks,
Kathy Seale
The Birmingham News
February 10, 2007 at 10:00 pm
Thanks Kathy. I look forward to your article about the blog on February 20th.
Dr. Ragan
April 28, 2007 at 5:41 pm
Does Dr. Ragan have an e-mail address
so that i may send her some comments
directly??? Thanks!
April 28, 2007 at 8:38 pm
dr.ragan@psychologyofclutter.com
June 4, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Hi Dr Ragan,
I would like to give my thanks for the time and energy you put in to this post. This is the only newsletter/blog that i subsrcibe to and it has helped me get clarity on not only my beliefs, boundaries and increase my personal satisfaction in life but also the clients that I work with to declutter their lives. THANKYOU!
Vanessa
July 18, 2007 at 8:23 pm
I accidentally came upon your site today. I have been reading for two hours and have gotten more insight into my person than I have in four visits with a licensed pyschologist. I am excited to think that although I am 60 years old, and have a long way to go to completion of a huge already 8 year old house remodel, that much of my depression and anger and anxiety over dieing before its completion is typical and not indicative of a mental disorder. This disorganization and clutter is a huge giant. My family have been unsupportive and very critical of my longing to have my “life” back again and my interests rebirthed. They don’t offer any help, but manage to expect me to be there for their needs. I just got a kitchen up in the past 2 years after having only the bathroom to do all the cleanup and preparation of meals. I worked to put my husband through college and I have driven school bus for over 25 years to educate my children, only to have them speak down to me since I am the one only uncolleged person. There have been days of great loneliness since they all live out of state and seldom come home, except to come and then spend the time with all their former friends catching up on old times. I am rebuked by them whenever I reveal how I really feel. I have learned that I am codependent and that my husband of 39 years is a narcisstic personality. Thank you for your insight and encouragement. This site is a God send. Carol
November 25, 2007 at 3:07 am
Dr. Ragan and Carol,
Boy could we sit down and talk. Many Many similarities. I too am finding relief among these words. On top of all my other issues I have been having a very difficult time with my medications and pain, and recently lost my mother. I sometimes feel like I will never get over it. I feel so alone, lonely, depressed. I was her care giver for six years. She was so much fun in spite of all she went through, and we had a great time together.
My husband thinks I should get over it all and move on. I freeze up and can’t get much accomplished. He can’t help me because he just throws everything away(My Grandma’s china)… We have no children but many nieces and nephews.
I was always the happy girl you would invite to the party, laughs, smiles, creative fun. I can’t find that girl right now, but sure wish I could. I have lost all my energy too. Perhaps I should move to Birmingham??
I hope things are much better for you by now.
God Bless you, I will remember you in my prayers, Linda
January 14, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Dr. Ragan,
You mentioned that your book is finished and you are looking for a publisher, but that self-publishing is expensive.
My dad transalated a book and we had it “self-published” on http://www.lulu.com This site provides “print on demand”, i.e. you don’t have to pre-order a number of books. You upload your book in PDF format, design a cover, and lulu computes the cost to print the book. Then you decide on the retail price — the difference is your profit. People can order directly from the lulu website, they print the book on demand, ship it and then send you a royalty check every 3 months. While we don’t have a ton of sales, we have found it a very handy way to handle book sales and the quality of the books is excellent, in our opinion.
— Tina Slater
Silver Spring, MD
January 20, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Dr. Ragan,
I hope you will see this comment-this seemed like the place to post it and I thought other might benefit from seeing your answer.
Do you do phone counseling for compulsive hoarders? I get asked this quite often and if you do, I’d like to add you to my list of standard answers.
Also, if you do, do you require that the patient/client call you, or can family ask that you call their loved one?
Thanks,
Donna
January 20, 2008 at 4:18 pm
At this time I do not do phone consultations. There are many reasons but the primary one is cost to the client. Insurance will not cover phone sessions and out of pocket therapy is expensive. There are also privacy issues and safety concerns. If I ever get all that worked out I might change my mind, but not right now.
January 29, 2008 at 7:07 am
[...] suggestions for further posts or you can e-mail them to me. My e-mail address is available on my About page. I look forward to 2008. Now that I have a year’s worth of experience writing and managing [...]