Community Chat

[SchoolPsych]

I'm watching the TLC show Hoarders right now. The show tonight is about three people living in an apartment complex in separate apartments. All three are living in total filth, roaches, black mold, cat urine, feces, etc. A common, but scary theme is how each person has QVC boxes stacked everywhere. All of these individuals are isolated. It makes really, really think. I'm no hoarder at all, but I realize watching QVC and other shopping channels should never be a part of one's routine. It is so important to be mindful everyday.

[Kachina624]

Perhaps watching shopping channels should not be a part of one's routine but I can understand how it happens to lonely people with few social contacts. Those TV ""hosts"" probably become like family and the sound gives the illusion that there is ongoing activity in the viewer's home. Then they have to buy to be part of the ""family"".

[SchoolPsych]

So true. There are so many ways we can get seductively ""sucked in"".

[chickenbutt]

In case anybody is looking for this show for the first time, the name of the show is actually 'Hoarding: Buried Alive'. The one that was called Hoarders (on A&E) was cancelled, or somehow ended after the last season.

Hope that helps.

Anyway, I watch this show (and I watched the other one, too) and I'm not sure why I keep watching because some of the people are really infuriating. But it's certainly an interesting study in slightly abnormal psychology. I've always noticed that some of the things that happened to people to cause them to go over the edge with hoarding are things that have happened to me and I guess the only thing that kept me from going there is that I HATE clutter.

One thing watching these shows does, for me anyway, is to make me to clean something. Even if it's already clean I want to clean it more. ha!

[aprildreams]

My ds has an in-law who is definitely a hoarder and it's really strange to see how it affects the family close up. I was raised in a clean orderly home and I raised my son the same way. His wife was raised in this hoarding situation even though the family is quite well off and have kept it ""hidden"". It's like the big dark secret no one wants to talk about. It's very strange and has caused tension in the family because my dil has a tendancy to want to hold on to things and my ds hates it. Lot of dysfunction caused by this lady's problems even though if you met her ""outside"" of her home you would think she is the sweet quiet little lady.

[circles]

a friend of mine is a hoarder...hard to believe to see and talk to her...no one is allowed in her home....very sad....

I have watched many of those shows...and I wonder how people can live that way...all that scummy food in the fridge...""stuff"" piled up everywhere...

[RedTop]

A relative of mine, now deceased, was a hoarder. As a young married woman in her 20's, a devastating house fire destroyed everything she owned. In the years it took to rebuild her life from that huge loss, she began to collect things, and hold onto everything. I grew up helping clean her house, and because of the continuous efforts of other family members and myself, her house never reached a level even close to the hoarders I have watched on TV. This relative never had pets, and it never ceases to amaze me how the hoarders subject their beloved pets to a life in that kind of mess, and actually think they are taking good care of them! I am most disturbed by the hoarders who live with no heat, no running water, no working stove to cook on, and the refrigerator stops working, but they leave the food inside of it to just rot and breed bacteria. What do these people do all day that they literally can't see their house come alive with flies, roaches, ants, mice and rats? I fully understand that hoarding is a mental disorder, but I cannot comprehend the "dirty hoards" with the rotting food and the nasty waste in the bathroom, to the point people gag when they walk in the front door. My own relative never really moved past that lowest point in her life where she looked at the smoldering rubble where her house used to be and realized all she had in life at that moment, was the clothes on her back. She collected things and had them stashed all over the house, and she was not a great housekeeper, but we never had to deal with total filth and disgust in her house.

[kittymomNC]

I watch these shows as well, and I think some of the people involved really have serious mental/emotional disorders. Otherwise, how could one live with thousands of roaches, animal waste, etc., and in one episode actually having the septic overflowing and running through part of the house? I believe this is an extremely complex emotional thing and in some cases, very hard to treat. It has been said that many of them "hoard" to try and fill a void in their lives caused by death, abandonment, etc.

When I lost my little 18-year old miniature poodle a number of years ago, I did not go through the normal grieving process as I had with other pets. She was so absolutely precious to me, I didn't think I could live without her, so I don't know if I just blocked it out. I don't know why to this day, but I started going to yard sales. I was almost obsessed--if it rained on a Saturday morning and the yard sales were rained out, I almost freaked out. Before this happened, I had started going to antique shows and flea markets on occasion and started some collections-I really enjoyed it. But it was different after I lost her. I never got to the "hoarding" stage because I don't keep garbage, etc., but I have a lot of collections that I am now starting to purge. Figuring out what I absolutely LOVE and want to have in my home, and selling the rest. I don't know where some of these people pass over the line into actual "hoarding" - thank goodness it never happened to me.

[shoekitty]

On 2/19/2014 kachina624 said: Perhaps watching shopping channels should not be a part of one's routine but I can understand how it happens to lonely people with few social contacts. Those TV "hosts" probably become like family and the sound gives the illusion that there is ongoing activity in the viewer's home. Then they have to buy to be part of the "family".

That is so true kachina! Especially the part about buying to be part of the family. Of course this is such a small part of the QVC viewership, but I can see how this could happen.

[shoekitty]

What amazes me after watching this show for a few years, is how none of them are on medication for depression , bipolar or obsessive behavior. Only one horder I can remember seeing, was taken away to a "home" because she was a danger. She was the one who saved her poo and urine in bags and bottles. It was so gross, and sad.

But other have such obvious anger issues, borderline personalities. Some have mental issues, but the councelors never mention maybe medication would help keep them on track, after the place is cleaned up. Many suffer from panic. I am not a strong advocate of pushing meds on everyone for anything, but there are some hoarders that are real candidates!