Hoarders

caitlin1214

caitlin1214

tPF Bish
O.G.
Jul 7, 2006
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780
#1
I tried to see if anyone had already posted a thread on this, but couldn't find anything.


This is a new series on A&E. I think it's done by the same people that do Obsessed.


http://www.aetv.com/hoarders/

I'm watching it right now, and I guess the way it works is a therapist and a cleaning crew is sent into the area.
 
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#2
They had a hoarder on an episode of Obsessed and the reason he hoarded things was that he never fully had closure on his mother's death.


The therapist went into his house, picked up something and asked what his anxiety level would be if she were to throw it away.



Hoarders is not as in-depth as this one is, but there's still therapy involved.
 
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#3
This woman right now is arguing her case on being able to keep a container of chicken broth that expired some time in '08.


The rule for this woman is that she should talk it through. "I don't want you to throw this away." "Why? Talk us through it."


I'm sure the food lady is a very nice person, but watching the cleaning crew clean up all that rotted food is just unpleasant.


I left chicken strips in my fridge for too long and ended up having to throw out not only the chicken but the plastic container it came in.
 
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#4
It must be difficult for the people doing the cleaning to have the owner of the house/apartment there arguing with every little thing.


But I guess having them there makes them accountable for their behavior.
 
#5
^^ I have in issue with keeping things... not to hte point of hoarding, but it definitely contributes to clutter. Papers "i'll file later", magazines "i'm not done reading yet", clothes "i can still fit into if I just lose a few pounds" or stuff "i'm not going to throw out, i can take it to donate."

And of course, i never make time to do that stuff... (sigh)... maybe i should try watching hoarders.
 
#6
Hoarders is incredibly upsetting, yet fascinating. I saw the first episode with my partner (who refuses to watch it again, it made him so upset)...the portion of the show dedicated to the woman who hoarded rotten food actually made me sick to my stomach.

I felt badly for her because it didn't seem like she actually got the appropriate amount/type of therapy.

This has got to be an incredibly difficult psychological issue to deal with because others probably just assume that you are "lazy" and should "just get over it." :sad:

Personally, I am pretty much the opposite: I sell/donate/throw away everything all the time since clutter makes me very nervous!
 
#7
I was watching the episode about the lady who hoarded food while I was eating dinner and I had to change the channel. I'm amazed that all that rotten food hasn't made her sick. What's even crazier is she would keep food just because it was "pretty."
 
#8
I haven't seen this show yet, but I have seen "Clean House" on the Style network, which is about hoarders but they won't admit it. And by "they", I mean the producers and the hosts! It's the same premise, that they go to someone's messy house, talk about why it's so messy and how it got that way, but then they force the family to hold a garage sale, and just clean their house for them. And then they leave. I think it's a horribly reckless show, because these people need lots and lots of therapy! You can't just take their stuff away, and poof, they're cured!

I had a great aunt who was a hoarder, and she had entire room of her house stacked to the ceiling with old newspapers. Another room was filled with empty milk jugs. Each room had a purpose for certain type of junk she "needed" to save. You couldn't walk into the rooms, you were literally met with a wall of newspapers or whatever. It got to the point that her children pitched in and got her a mobile home that sat in the yard, hoping she would continue to hoard things in the house, and actually live in the mobile home. Well, she simply stuffed the mobile home with junk, and slept in the entryway of the house on a couch. It was absolutely nuts. My parents took me to visit her a few times at various points in my life, and I have distinct memories of how the house became fuller as time went on. She lived to be 101, and it never stopped.

So I don't know if I will watch this, but I fear that no TV show can give these people the help they need. It would be like having a reality show for manic depressives and trying to cure them with an episode of Barney. Hoarding is certainly a disease that needs to be treated as one.
 
#9
^^I have never seen this show either, but I immediately thought of the clean house show. In essence, that show targets hoarders, but without the therapy. I've always wanted clean house to do a follow-up on some of those homes to see what it looks like again after a year. I can't image they can just stop the hoarding. Just like you stated, hoarding is a disease.
 
#10
I haven't seen hoarders yet. I think there's a difference between hoarders and clean house. To me, clean house deals with family's with too much stuff. They shop too much, but still hold on to the old stuff. Whereas other shows (on Discovery, TLC, etc) that I've seen on hoarding, the homes are so full, it's unreal. Stuff stacked to the ceiling and most of the stuff is things that they can't use. I saw one lady taking canes from a garbage bin and her apartment was a fire hazzard. I saw another one where this woman and man got married and it turned out they were both hoarders. He actually had storage that he was paying for. On this show, the therapist said that if there was a parent that hoarded, the children probably would, too. The homes on clean house as least have paths and they're not quite a fire hazzard. I did see a follow-up show on clean house. The homes that they went back to visit were still neat. (I don't know if they called ahead, though ;))
 
#11
mmmm. I thought I'd already created a thread on this, guess not.

Actually, this and clean house is TOTALLY different. This is a spin off of Obsessed but these are people who have actually Clinical Psychological issues with their hoarding, but just messy houses. They actually get these people into counselling after the show, and they don't do a "redecoration".
 
#12
After watching this show, I was scared to death. I have a very hard time throwing away things. I love collections, but only if they are displayed attractively. My husband throws out everything, so I guess he keeps me in check. The people portrayed on the show obviously have a very severe case of collecting. I'm happy that they are getting help.
 
#13
The way that some of these people are able to justify what they do is amazing....

Esp the rotten food lady. Good lord.

My dad tended to accuse my mom of being a pack rat when I was younger. I dont think he understands what that means though... he has never seen a mess in his whole life that would even be a fraction of what goes on on this show.
 
#14
I'm so glad you started this thread! I caught this last night as I was waiting for Rachel Zoe to come on, and wow! The family with the kids was one thing, because they (at least the wife) seemed to be ready to move on. They were definitely hoarders, but in comparison to the old lady, they were just messy. The woman with the food was so sad to watch, like how could you think it's ok to eat something that expired in 08? It just broke my heart/disgusted me all at once. I definitely agree that there's a difference between Clean House and this show. I'm not disagreeing that some of the guests on Clean House have had this disorder, but overall, a lot of the individuals were just cluttered. The difference is when the clutter begins to pile up so that you can only sleep on the couch, etc, or your home actually becomes a fire hazard.

I think my Dad has a mild case, he loves computer parts, and it's gotten to the point we don't even have a dining room, but he's finally starting to let go and sell it/donate it, So i'm really proud of him. Although, we're buying a home, and he realizes I absolutely will not have it in my house, haha.

His ex-fiancee though should honestly be on this show. I didn't realize that the city could get involved otherwise i probably would have called by now. It's so bad that she pretty much sleeps in a chair, and rooms in her home are pretty much off limits. Her daughter has even come over and cleaned out the house, and she just let it pile back up. She likes projects, buying things. She'll go crazy with the idea to do this and that, and when she stops being interested, she just keeps the goods and buys more. She even redid the kitchen in her home, but you can't see it because she has the whole kitchen, counters and floors, covered with junk.
 
#15
I haven't seen the show yet, but I saw a promo for an episode that looked like they were going to deal with a woman who basically hoarded cats. I've seen so many of these cases reported concerning horses; people don't seem to understand that it is a clinical issue that needs to be addressed. Judges just rule that the person cant have animals, AC takes the animals away, and the person of course just accumulates more. There are people who will literally let 25 or more horses, tens of dogs and cats, and all kinds of other animals live in filth, starve to death, and rot in their own backyard (or house!) and not be able to see that it is a problem. And they always say, 'well I took them in because I couldn't imagine them being mistreated somewhere else'. They just can't understand that what they do constitutes animal cruelty, and it seems like the judicial system can't recognize that people can hoard live animals as well as just stuff.
 
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