Do You Watch The Show Hoarders?

Irish Mist I have briefly stopped at the show 'Hoarders', but only for a short time. The first time I watched some of an episode, it really disturbed me. I could not even imagine living like that or seeing someone else living like that. I am amazed that things could ever get that far without serious intervention from SOMEONE. I am not the neatest person in the world, but I was blown away by the graphic nature of the show. I hope all the endings are happy and work out. If anyone close to me ever got like that I assure you I would intervene. I hope that the show is bringing the issue to light and not profiting from someone else's misfortune. the ak man

i have watched the show and am like you, wondering how they can get like that. i mean most people keep things and have too much junk, but this is a little over the top. i will always remember the lady who was on Oprah a few years ago and when they finally collected her stuff, it filled a giant warehouse. then they had a garage sale, boy i would have loved to have gone to that!

I have a problem with the name and concept of this show. All of the episodes I've seen do not really display what I consider as hoarding. They are just dirty and filthy and learn to live in that manner. I have a stepson and wife that aren't quite as bad as the people on the show, but they basically never take the time to put anything away or keep their place clean. It has nothing to do with hoarding. They have a bedroom that they have turned into a "laundry basket". They just keep piling up dirty clothes on the floor of this bedroom until they run out of clothes and decide to do some wash. In the meantime, they have three cats that roam through those piles of clothes and have accidents on them. That's just lazy and bad housekeeping. Now, I know that there are people that hoard things. When my mom was growing up, it was the Depression. So now, she has packages and packages of toilet paper, underwear, pajamas, bed sheets and bath towels that have not been opened, but are there as "backup". Those were the items that were so hard to get during the 30's. Even though she hoards these items, they are neatly stored in drawers, closets and cupboards. Her home is as neat as can be, always dusted and vacuumed and she is almost 80 years old. One episode that I watched was about a woman whose refrigerator and cupboards and whole kitchen was so filthy, that it should have been condemned. They called her a food hoarder. When there are maggots all over, that's not hoarding. That's just filth. To raise children in this environment is a crime and a health hazard. I just don't care to watch this program because it is trying to call laziness a disease and frankly, I don't buy it.

Hello Irish; I do know a couple of people, females that hoard. It is bizarre and hard to understand. I don't try to analyze it though. It's not my problem and I am not qualified to give advice so I don't bother voicing my opinion. I just stand back and avoid the conversation if it comes up. I have watched the show about Hoarding and I was flabbergasted. I could hardly believe my eyes. I have felt for the three that were being profiled in the show the one time I have watched it. It was really neat when they got their places cleaned up and those affected were attending therapy. I am sure that there are so major underlying issues. I have researched the topic of hoarding to contribute to this discussion. The following links maybe of interest to yourself and to your readers: Understanding Hoarding http://understanding_ocd.tripod.com/hoarding.html Hoarding Fact Sheet http://www.beachpsych.com/pages/cc80.html

I can be a bit of a pack rat myself. A lot of it stems from various mental health issues including OCD. I'm nowhere near as bad as some of the folks you see on those shows, I'd like to add, just that I recognise those traits in myself if I'm not disciplined. It is particularly hard on children who have hoarding parents. At some point they start to realise that the hoarding is THE thing that their parents are focussed on and that it is more important than looking after the kids. That really sucks.

I saw the same one you are referring to ,Oh my that was terrible. I wonder where aall the family and friends are to let them get that bad, you know something is not right. I will not understand how someone can let them get to that point. Apparently they need some kind of help mentally, the show pretty much covers hat with a therapist there during the whole cleaning process. I do agree with you about things building up and getting completely out of haned. I do feel terrible for the famiky, especially the children. I have seen quite a bit of the show and I am sure there are some major health problems within the family living in feces, and garbage. Tell me you can't smell what is happening in there.

My step mother is a hoarder yet nothing in comparison to the people on the show. My mother in law has also had problems in the past with animal hording. She just can't say no to a cat that needs a home. My husband said growing up they had over 20 cats and they where told by animal control that they could not keep them all. The got a kennel license and where able to keep several but many had to go and it was hard. My husband was very thankful however because he felt like the animals came before him back then. She still has to many I think 4 dogs and 6 cats. I am surprised a house would still have mice with all those cats. I know my mother in law was trying to get us to get a cat when we had an issue with mice but after my husbands abundance of animals growing up he wants nothing to do with cats. He loves our dog but didn't even want him at first. He said everything he owned growing up smelled like cat pee. So he even smelled like cat pee. It is really horrible for the children growing up in it. My home growing up however was like a musame. Nothing even looked touched. I still think this is not a great way to grow up either. I am happy to live in a home that is clean but lived in.