Your opinions on hoarders...

[Enola]

I agree, and I do have some sympathy for their plight...as long as their spiritual constipation doesn't turn into explosive diarrhea and gets splattered my way.:shock:

 

[molten_dragon]

What are your opinions on hoarders? Just lazy ass people who refuse to clean up their houses? Obsessive-compulsive disorder?

True hoarding is definitely not laziness, it's a mental illness.

 

[Slartibartfast]

What are your opinions on hoarders? Just lazy ass people who refuse to clean up their houses? Obsessive-compulsive disorder?

Its a disorder, to me it seems like an addiction. People can get trapped in a feedback loop where they feel bad about something, and find some behavior that makes them feel better. If, such as in the case of hoarding, that behavior also makes them feel worse, they become trapped in it. What makes them feel worse also makes them feel better. Its really sad.

 

[Helix]

What are your opinions on hoarders? Just lazy ass people who refuse to clean up their houses? Obsessive-compulsive disorder?

i have OCD, so i understand it somewhat. as a little kid, i felt sorry for some inanimate objects and wanted to protect them like i'd protect an animal. however, like the rest of OCD, one has to try to think his or her way around these things. or perhaps i just got lucky and my bond to people, animals, and other living things is just much greater than my tendency to keep sentimental items.

if i had to guess, the hoarding thing is largely fueled by OCD, but there's something else going on, also. maybe it's OCD and a certain set of environmental factors during childhood.

anyway, the older i get, the less i like clutter.

 

[radcen]

It's clearly a mental disorder, but my sympathy for their condition isn't strong enough to overcome my disgust for their living situation-- if they're incapable of taking care of themselves, they shouldn't be living on their own. They're a public health and safety hazard.

This is pretty close to what I think. It's a mental disorder, but when I watch them there are times that I want to jump in the tv and grab the person and shake some sense into them when they're stressing over throwing away a 20 yr old flattened cardboard box.

 

[Utility Man]

What are your opinions on hoarders?.......

They are some of the nicest, down to earth people I have ever met.

 

[Risky Thicket]

I'm OK with hoarders as long as they are disease free and they don't abuse the hoars. :shock::mrgreen:

 

[Real Korimyr #9]

This is pretty close to what I think. It's a mental disorder, but when I watch them there are times that I want to jump in the tv and grab the person and shake some sense into them when they're stressing over throwing away a 20 yr old flattened cardboard box.

You're more charitable than I am. When I see them on TV, I want to padlock the doors and set the place on fire.

 

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Hoarding is a manifestation of OCD. True hoarders cannot throw anything away or give anything away because doing so creates in them the sort panic that a more normal person feels about throwing / giving away a prized possession, a pet or, in extreme cases, a child. People who live in filth by choice are also mentally ill. There are several illnesses that can cause people to feel so worthless that they do not take care of themselves or their homes, do not realize they are living in filth or believe the filth has some sort of magical power.

Having worked in child protection and having removed kids from both hoarder and non-hoarder filth, I can tell you that living in filth and hoarding are not the same. While both type homes are likely to have vermin, most hoarders will store truly unsanitary items (used diapers, sanitary napkins, etc.) in a manner that limits health risks from keeping the items. With hoarders there is usually some rhyme and reason to the structure of the clutter (hoarded items are grouped with like items). With non-housekeepers there is no pattern. Hoarder will attempt to clean things up (usually unsuccessfully because cleaning with much clutter is nearly impossible). Those with a pathological reason for living in filth will often not attempt to clean even when faced with losing their children and/or commitment.

 

[Josie]

Hello, old thread! I forgot about this one.

 

[Enola]

I bumped it cuz I didn't want to start a new one if an old one was in existence. I see now why I never really watched this show. It won't happen again with me sitting through a whole hour of watching this crap. I just don't have the patience and then I feel guilty because they ARE mental. So It's best I don't stress myself over it

 

[radcen]

I bumped it cuz I didn't want to start a new one if an old one was in existence. I see now why I never really watched this show. It won't happen again with me sitting through a whole hour of watching this crap. I just don't have the patience and then I feel guilty because they ARE mental. So It's best I don't stress myself over it

As frustrating as it is, I think the show actually serves a purpose. Granted, the core reason is to draw in people who are obsessed with watching train wrecks... myself included at times, to be honest... and to make money, but... it also helps highlight the issue and helps other people who aren't necessarily familiar with it learn something. I feel like I have a better understanding of it now, though that doesn't mean I still don't want to wring some of these people's necks at times.

 

[Enola]

My SIL is borderline hoarder. When they lived here, you couldn't even get in her room. I told her to clean it up. I watched as she attempted. Trash...like empty styrofoam cups, wrappers from candy bars...they all went in a box to be stored in the corner. I finally said enough is enough. Its going to attract bugs. She had to go. So..she moved. I don't regret it.

 

[Superfly]

I have never really watched this show before, but I have today. This womans house is FULL of cockroaches, black widow spiders, used sanitary napkins just tossed all over the floors, used needles. She is obviously a fruitloop. And whats worse, her kids live in that dangerous trash heap. She just whines about her fibro, her diabetes, etc. It is clearly a mental issue, so my question is why are those kids not taken away and that woman slapped in a nuthouse????

This is disgusting. And harmful not only herself and her kids, but neighboring homes because cockroaches travel.
I'm just flabbergasted. Shame on the show for airing it and continuing to film it and nobody does anything about the potential hazards to everyone...including the neighbors.

I saw this thread and came here just to comment on that episode last night. I'm sorry, but that woman was just disgusting, and lazy. Nothing else about it. I know nothing about mental illness, but she blamed every single problem in her life on her CHILDREN. Come ON, lady. She was like, "Oh, I have 13 different disabilities and I can't even get up and go outside and take out the trash." Her husband was like, "I've seen you shop. There's no reason for you to not get up and take out the trash." She blamed everything that was wrong in that house on her children. She had piles of used adult diapers in her bathroom - was that her children's fault, too? Disgusting. She got out of bed in the morning, woken up by her daughter. Her daughter brought her a drink, she gave her her slippers, she made her breakfast. She cooked every single meal. This woman was just out and out lazy, and I felt terribly sorry for her children. They should be removed and given to their father. What kind of life have those children had?

Millions of cockroaches. The exterminator said in all the years he's been in that line of work, he's never seen that much of an infestation. Just disgusting. I don't doubt that there are many, many instances of mental illness that cause this type of behavior, but I just don't believe that woman last night was anything more than just lazy.

 

[Superfly]

Oh, I liked the part where she just threw the pizza box on top of the growing pile of soda cans, and then later on in the episode, she was like, 'Well, you should see the kids - they just throw things everywhere and don't bother to throw them away!'

GRR>

 

[Aunt Spiker]

wow - I didn't see it (popped into the thread ot see why it was bumped) . . . just reading about the situation is shocking.

I did watc ha few episodes when it first aired and I stopped BECAUSE of the families - seeing people wit htehir chidlren being raised like that. I can't watch that type of depravity . . . it just makes me too angry with people and frustrated that people don't step in more often and actually help rescue children.

 

[X Factor]

Awe man, I didn't notice the date of the OP, saw a post by TGND and it thought she was back. .

Anyway, the thing that strikes me about hoarders, at least as seen on that show, is they're kinda mean. It's like family comes to help them sort through years of ****, and it pisses 'em off.

 

[Superfly]

they do, X.

Hoarders season premiere came on tonight, and there was a guy on there who's girlfriend died, and he couldn't even get her down the stairs. EMTs couldn't even get to her to remove her from the house.

I'm one of those people who watch the show. I know, I know, it's like watching a car wreck - I shouldn't, but I can't help it.

 

[X Factor]

they do, X.

Hoarders season premiere came on tonight, and there was a guy on there who's girlfriend died, and he couldn't even get her down the stairs. EMTs couldn't even get to her to remove her from the house.

Did he decide to keep her. :mrgreen:

I'm one of those people who watch the show. I know, I know, it's like watching a car wreck - I shouldn't, but I can't help it.

It seems too, that the professionals on that show treat the hoarders like they're made of thin glass that will just break if you tell them honestly that they're never going to clean 20 years of garbage by deciding on one gum wrapper at a time.

 

[Superfly]

Yeah, they said something like that on the show tonight - this woman and her TWO ADULT SONS who still lived at home at like 40 years old were living in a hovel. It was awful. Not as bad as the million cockroach lady, but still very bad. The sister was disgusted and was going to wait until the camera crew left and just bring in a bulldozer and run everything through. The therapist was like, 'OOh, no you don't want to do that. That would cause extreme emotional distress, up to and possibly including suicide.'

 

[Dicentra]

Serious hoarding is a mental illness-- at the very least, a debilitating depression. I don't watch the show, not sure I watch anything on the so-called learning channel.