What do you think about the show "Hoarders"?

[Th1onein]

I'm watching my first show now. I think it's a bunch of blame the victim bullshit. They clean the house, putting down the hoarder all the while. And, then, they expect a big thank you and tears of gratitude at the end.

These people have problems. Mental problems. I don't think they need to be subject to this kind of degradation disguised as "help."

[kayakjohnny]

1. I think you are right.

I'm glad you had the sense and the nerve to say it.

I've seen plenty of this first hand, and do a fair bit too much of it myself.

And it's not that healthy.

Thanks.

[valerief]

2. What channel is it on? Is it like Clean House? nt

[Th1onein]

3. Sorry, I didn't notice.

I think it was A&E.

[valerief]

4. I scrolled ahead on the guide and you're right. I never watch A&E because

there's usually something awful on it, neither art nor entertainment. It should be called NA&NE. So I can imagine Hoarders is something awful, too.

[Initech]

5. One of the most fucked-up shows I have ever seen.

[Capn Sunshine]

6. in the old days, a sideshow of freaks would tour the land

same target audience today. Eeeeew, look at the freak!

[NYC Liberal]

7. I haven't watched that show (heard of it)

But I hate shows like that where they have such a contrived ending that's supposed to make you feel all nice inside ... and then you end up falling for it every damn time.

I'll try watching it though. I watch "Intervention" on A&E, but usually only for the more "unusual" ones, like the video game addiction one or the one where the girl was addicted to those aerosol keyboard cleaners.

[rug]

33. ..

[newcriminal]

34. That girl that was addicted to duster was the most annoying person I have ever seen.

Part of me didn't want her to take the help. (Okay, I wouldn't really wish her death, but damn I think I would shoot myself if I had to listen to her for to long.)

[NYC_SKP]

8. I've never had the reaction you have, maybe different episodes. How would you help them?

Watching the show has made me wonder if I wasn't a bit of a hoarder at one time.

To the extent that I was, the only cure was to get rid of the shit.

It took time and space and the right frame of mind, that was the hardest thing.

I feel very badly for these folks, and it is a disorder or mental problem.

What approach do you think might work for them?

[Th1onein]

12. That's the thing, though. Getting rid of the shit is NOT a cure.

These people have problems with decision making, self-esteem, perfectionism, etc. Believe me, I know from personal experience, even if you give a hoarder a clean slate, they're going to end up with shit up to the ceiling again, sooner or later. It's not a cure.

I think that they need some cognitive therapy. Maybe some psych drugs. Just cleaning up the shit doesn't do it. And, it certainly doesn't help to berate them while you're cleaning up their mess. It unloads some of the resentment that the cleaner has, but does nothing to fix the problem in the long run.

[NYC_SKP]

17. I agree with you on solutions. I can also see where attempting to clean could be part of therapy.

The producers and editors don't tend to share everything.

They probably shouldn't engage the hoarders unless they're willing to commit to at least a year of therapy.

I think Cognitive Behavioral Theory with an assessment to see if meds might help would be one good approach.

However, I can imagine an approach that includes an attempt (but without the put-downs) an attempted clean up.

This would provide a context for therapy that includes discussing how it went, why it failed, and what might work.

NYC_SKP

[snooper2]

22. Maybe you should watch a few more episodes because it IS

about cleaning up the shit...and they never state that it's a "cure"

One couple was about to lose their children, another older woman was about to get kicked out by her landlord for having rotting food and cat shit from wall to wall. Another show I remember was an old man who had a literal junk yard on his entire property. The County Judge was going to through him in jail for 60 days if he didn't clean it up. He already did a stint for a week.

And yes, the show provides people to perform therapy and counseling if the person accepts it.


First step is to get rid of the trash and crap...just like a drunks first step is to quit drinking.


From a son-in-law of a hoarder who refuses professional help...but we have to go over and clean up the mess from month to month so her husband can move through the house with a walker.

[bettyellen]

9. those people need meds, therapy and support which they are helping them get after the cleanup

i wish it wasn't televised. but living that way IS degreadation everyone who knows them already knows.
whatever it takes to get them out and get htme help, its better than living that way.

[Zomby Woof]

10. But but but...

They don't have any problems a good high fence won't solve, right?

[Th1onein]

13. A high fence doesn't solve the problem.

I almost made that mistake with my sister, who is a hoarder, until I talked to the nuisance abatement officer. He told me that that would only enable her to fuck up things further, and I'd end up with a fenced end junkyard, piled to the sky.

She, on the other hand, lobbied hard for a fence. She even got some money out of me, for something totally different, and used it to start on the fence. (Sneaky shit I hate.) I vetoed that idea, after I talked with the compliance officer. He's seen enough of this shit to know better.

[Bennyboy]

11. I know so many of these people...

What is wrong with it. Stuff. That is the shit America is made of. STUFF.

[Orsino]

14. Sounds like a typical reality show.

It's sensation rather than illumination. Our corporate masters would much rather we pointed and gaped at each other than at them.

They are aware that our favorite pastime is judging one another.

[Lex]

15. Cleaning the house for them only temporarily cures the symptom

of the actual problem. If the underlying mental illnessness isn't treated, then in very short order the house will be in the same condition.

It sucks for the TV show to clean the house only, get a huge pat on the back, and be on their merry way.

[Grey]

16. A&E is owned by Disney company.

[Born_A_Truman]

19. Partially, not solely owned by Disney.

[hunter]

18. It took the police and paramedics to drag my grandma out of her house...

... kicking, hitting, biting all the way. She would have died in her home. And worse, it all had to be sorted because there was cash and other valuables mixed in with all the stuff headed for the dumpster. One styrofoam fast food box might have a hundred dollars cash in it and another a mummified hamburger.

Confined to a nursing home, her health failing, my grandma still managed to squirrel stuff away everywhere. I think all the stuff she crammed into her wheelchair weighed more than she did -- napkins, plastic cups, drinking straws, and an amazing amount of stuff she pilfered from the nursing home in her travels down the hallways.

You'd take her out for a wheelchair ride in the surrounding neighborhood and she'd ask you to pick stuff up off the sidewalk for her, stuff that was little more than litter...

These shows make it about the stuff. It's not about the stuff. The end stages of this particular form of mental illness are quite horrible, in the same way diseases like cancer or heart disease or alzheimers are horrible.

[BarbaRosa]

20. There is a show on BBCA

much like Hoarders. How Clean Is Your House

[GoCubsGo]

23. Only superficially like it

Some of the people on that show are hoarders or have some sort of mental illness, like depression. But, some were never taught how to clean, especially some of the younger subjects. At least Kim and Aggie teach the people about the consequences of living in filth, and they show them how keep from letting their houses get so bad again. They don't make fun of the people, especially when it's someone who let the place go to hell because they were too depressed to clean after a spouse or other family member died. A lot of the "How Clean is Your House?" subjects don't seem to revert back to the filth, if the "return visits" are any indication.

I like the show for the cleaning tips. They have lots of methods for getting stuff clean without using harsh chemicals. Lots of "green" methods.

[Born_A_Truman]

21. I've only seen promos for it

but my son in law is a hoarder. I've loaned him my pickup truck multiple times and he will go through things and donate them to their local thrift store only to gather more stuff. The majority of his things are music related. Pianos, organs, drum sets, mixers, etc. He can't stay away from thrift stores and buys things to sell on eBay but many times it never leaves the house. My daughter loves him very much but it has cause a great deal of stress in their marriage.

I feel for these families.

[Odin2005]

24. It's an insult to all people with OCD, turns it into a cruel joke.

[Wapsie B]

25. Just watching the previews to that show bring back too many bad memories.

I've known people with that condition to one degree or another.You're right in that these people need professional help. No question about that.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

26. They have mental problems.

It's OCD. My mother was a packrat and we did an intervention to put her in the hospital for her drug dependencies. It did no good. She never thought she had a problem with junk hoarding or anything else in her life.

I had to wait for her to die to clean up the house and move into it. I still have nearly 200 boxes of junk to sort through and an attic that hasn't been gone through. She didn't have dead animals or cats or dogs, but it was still pretty bad without pets. Trails through the house.

[vixengrl]

27. I've never seen it, but there are people in my family

who were, to some extent, hoarders. Part of it has to do with insecurity--people develop an attachment to stuff because they've been without stuff. Some of it has to do with getting overwhelmed--leave everyday tasks go for awhile, and soon they feel like they are impossible to do--that is tied up both with depression and sometimes with age or chronic fatigue/pain.

I see signs of "hoarder" behavior in myself and my spouse--he is the kind of person who does not believe in things having a place, and he likes to collect stuff. I'm a "hoard & purger". I can't tell you how many times I've schlepped bag after bag after crate of clothes and used books out for the Purple Heart folks. (And then get a bunch of new clothes and more books--about the books, it's better not to ask.) I luck out by being a little fanatical with my belief in "things have places." I'm always going around telling my husband things like, "If it doesn't have a butt, it doesn't belong on a chair"--mostly because I've been in relatives' houses where there just wasn't any place to sit down and you couldn't see the furniture. When my husband asks me where something is, I usually say, "Where it belongs." (Not that I've always told him where this "place of belonging" is. This dynamic may be the reason why men in general "never can find things".)

We are so going to be on reality tv when we're old.

[newcriminal]

28. I watch the show and disagree with you completely.

I don't see it as blame the victim at all.

Every episode I have seen have a specialist that deals with hoarders, and show them respect and work through their anxiety about getting rid of all the stuff. They reassure them that they have the final say on all the things that get tossed. The only people I have seen putting down the hoarder is other family members that can not understand or are just fed up with the situation.

These cases are nothing like clean house or how clean is your house, these people are in danger of dying in all the crap, going to jail because of it, having the house condemned, losing their children, or not having a spouse be able to live with them in all the mess. This is way beyond I'm lazy and don't pick up after myself. They have severe mental problems, and are always offered mental help as well.

If your interested Google My Mother's Garden. It is a documentary filmed by a daughter of a hoarder.

[bettyellen]

29. Yep-unlike the OP and most of the posters- you've actually watched the show they're commenting on!

[hunter]

30. The prognosis is poor. It's like dementia or pancreatic cancer.

Who cares if the people in these shows are ...are always offered mental help as well...?

For most people there is no happy rainbow sunshine ending. We have to face the reality that sometimes life sucks and the best we can do is to muddle through.

Television shows don't tend to be realistic about this. Gawking at the mess, cleaning up the mess doesn't mean anything because that's not the problem.

[bettyellen]

31. all these peole are n the verge of arrest. losing custody, being thrown out of their homes....

and these cleanups would cost them many thousands of dollars, the counceling much more. personally i think they need to be on meds to for anything to help, but i know how hard it is to get people to accept that. but if it buys them another year with their kids or month out of jail- iyt helps.

[Forkboy]

32. I want it all for myself!