The show Hoarders

[whitelop]

I really LOVE this show! Like probably in a sick way, I love this show. I love to see this crap! Ughh. It makes me want to clean my house and throw stuff away. I don't know why I love this show so much, I just do.

Does anyone else LOVE this show too?

 

[Gordon]

I've watched it. I think we're all hoarders in some small way, but that show definitely picks out the people who need intervention. :shock:

 

[fuzz16]

lol i love the show too...and i feel like its wrong sometimes i do! so ya i totally feel ya there lol

 

[MiniLopHop]

It makes me want to clean too, but it also makes me feel better about my home because it's not THAT bad.

The sad thing is that I come from hoarders- my grandmother could be on the show. My mom was well on her way until she moved to be closer to my nephews. I am so paranoid that I will end up like them I tend to get rid of lots of stuff.

I'm in a 10-week home make over class on-line and it's great. I just won the decluttering contest by getting rid of 23 trash bags full of stuff. Mostly clothes that I can't wear any more that went to a woman's shelter. I prefer to give things away to less fortunate, it is somehow easier to part with then.

 

[agnesthelion]

Yes I like it in a train wreck kinda way

I'm actually a uber neat freak. Everything has it's place in my house and it's never messy. So watching that show gives me crazy anxiety! Haha

I understand people who collect things or aren't the best housekeepers, like, that's totally understandable. But when your house is so bad that they find dead animals under the clutter???? I'm sorry, but my mind just doesn't understand that at all.

I suppose it's like an addiction like drugs or shopping or gambling. It's just hard for me to understand....

 

[whitelop]

MiniLopHop wrote:

It makes me want to clean too, but it also makes me feel better about my home because it's not THAT bad.

Thats how I feel too. We moved from a 3000 square foot house to a 1000 square foot house, so we had all the furniture and stuff for a big house. It was really difficult.
I'm not perfect by any means and sometimes my house reflects that. My great grandmother was also a hoarder, she was the only one in my family though. On my husbands side, his uncle was a total hoarder. Like thousands of pizza boxes and tens of thousands of soda bottles and cans. Complete with pathways from room to room. hahahaha. Yeah, it was like that.

Lisa, I don't understand how they have dead animals in the house either. I guess maybe because the house already smells so bad, they couldn't smell the animal? Or its probably because they have 500 cats in a 1500 sq. foot house, so they don't know what they've lost.
I also don't understand how their minds work to be able to live like that. I mean, I have fur tumble weeds floating around my house, but I don't have filth.
Sometimes the show gives me real anxiety too, but like you said, its like a train wreck, I want so badly to look away but I just CAN'T!

 

[fuzz16]

I think they get overwhelmed too fast and the idea of cleaning, they dk where to start so put it off then depression sets in and they just stop caring..i know that feeling...my sink is full of dishes and i feel horrid but i spent all day cleaning rooms and litter boxes im burned out lol

 

[dungeonbunnies]

I get overwhelmed with cleaning/organizing, but if I get sick of picking the same junk up, I throw it away or donate!

Problem solved temporarily at least!

I do get depressed if stuff isn't clean. I think maybe their stuff gives them a sense of stability. My nephew is 12 andell on hs way to hoarding. My sister and I are trying to curb it before it goes full blown. Its a hard habit to break.

Edit: phone was being a @#&-(*&'&+!!!!

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

Yes! I use it as a kind of "aversion therapy", if such a thing exists. It makes me step back and look at my clutter and realize that if I keep justifying keeping things, I will not have any space and will end up on that show. I used to be a pretty bad packrat from childhood on (I'd keep the craziest little bits of things with the idea that they *could* be used in a craft, but never did anything with them) but have been breaking myself of those habits over the last 5 years. Now if only I had the motivation to finish the projects I've started...

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Sorry, but I can't watch it. In 2008 a woman in Henderson went missing and he husband thought that she went walking out into the desert and got lost. They ha 2 houses on their property--she was a hoarder. When they started cleaning them out 4 months later they found her dead under a stack of crap that fell over on her and she suffocated. 4 months and you couldn't smell the decomposing body. Last month the city finally got a court order to clean out a duplex a guy got when his mother past. It took almost 30 full truck loads to the dump to clear it out. He could only get in one window and there was about 14 inches to crawl on top of everything. That guy was a super hoarder.

 

[agnesthelion]

I read that story online Larry!!!

(((shudder))))

 

[kkiddle]

It's actually a form of OCD (well, technically it will be in that category around May-ish of next year.)
I'm a psychology minor, so I find shows like this fascinating, yet devastating. There have such bad thoughts (obsessions) that force them to hold onto things (that's the compulsion). A lot of people think it's disgusting, but it's almost like an addiction. They are aware of how gross it is, but they just can't stop, no matter what people tell them. Psychological treatment seems to have good results, but it's hard to get them there.

 

[sugarbunnies]

I love Hoarders... it makes me realize I'm not so messy at all.

 

[whitelop]

kkiddle wrote:

It's actually a form of OCD (well, technically it will be in that category around May-ish of next year.)
I'm a psychology minor, so I find shows like this fascinating, yet devastating. There have such bad thoughts (obsessions) that force them to hold onto things (that's the compulsion). A lot of people think it's disgusting, but it's almost like an addiction. They are aware of how gross it is, but they just can't stop, no matter what people tell them. Psychological treatment seems to have good results, but it's hard to get them there.

Do they really know how gross it is? Because I watched one a few weeks ago where this lady--hold on to your hats folks, this is going to be gross, not for the faint of heart!--was pooping in a bucket! Yes, a bucket; a 5 gallon bucket. She would then take the bucket and dump it into her yard. Then not wash her hands. It started out with her AND her mother using the bathroom in bottles. Those bottles filled the WHOLE bathroom and half the yard.
She didn't understand why it was gross. She didn't understand the dangers of being exposed to raw sewage ALL the time. She didn't understand why eating food that was contaminated in fecal matter wasn't okay to do, she ate a box of salad that had be out of the fridge for who knows how long, in her poop covered house!
That is a true mental disorder. I'm not mocking this, she was seriously ill and needed to be committed. But what breaks in your mind that tells you its okay to stop using the toilet after 30 some-odd years?
I can totally understand what its like to be overwhelmed by your house and your chores, I get that. I can also completely understand what loss is like and the void it leaves inside of you. But what I CAN'T understand is having 113 dead cats in my apartment or my dead wife in my house that the cadaver dogs can't sniff out because of the smell of the REST of my house.

The show is devastating and I do think we're all hoarders in some way or another, I think its a natural trait to want to keep things, but I guess with some people the ability to say NO that's enough spoons isn't there. The switch never switches off.

 

[katherine at sacred stories]

Me too, Larry. I can't watch it. The only one I happened to tune in to had a woman who was hoarding stuff AND animals and it was heartbreaking to see. The poor animals and the poor woman who seemed to love them but couldn't see that she was abusing them.

 

[audrinasmommy88]

I watch it. i also watch the one on animal planet about Animal Hoarders. It makes no sense to me. I have OCD but I am the one who likes everything clean. Im not a spotless, neat freak, but my house is clean. When it starts to get cluttered I get really overwhelmed. When Audrina has her toys everywhere I get really anxious. Im getting ready this month and next month to get rid of alot of stuff for when Liam gets here. My baby shower is next saturday and Im already anxious because I know alot of stuff is coming into the house. So I need to get rid of stuff to feel better about it lol.

 

[kkiddle]

whitelop wrote:

Do they really know how gross it is? Because I watched one a few weeks ago where this lady--hold on to your hats folks, this is going to be gross, not for the faint of heart!--was pooping in a bucket! Yes, a bucket; a 5 gallon bucket. She would then take the bucket and dump it into her yard. Then not wash her hands. It started out with her AND her mother using the bathroom in bottles. Those bottles filled the WHOLE bathroom and half the yard.
She didn't understand why it was gross. She didn't understand the dangers of being exposed to raw sewage ALL the time. She didn't understand why eating food that was contaminated in fecal matter wasn't okay to do, she ate a box of salad that had be out of the fridge for who knows how long, in her poop covered house!
That is a true mental disorder. I'm not mocking this, she was seriously ill and needed to be committed. But what breaks in your mind that tells you its okay to stop using the toilet after 30 some-odd years?
I can totally understand what its like to be overwhelmed by your house and your chores, I get that. I can also completely understand what loss is like and the void it leaves inside of you. But what I CAN'T understand is having 113 dead cats in my apartment or my dead wife in my house that the cadaver dogs can't sniff out because of the smell of the REST of my house.

The show is devastating and I do think we're all hoarders in some way or another, I think its a natural trait to want to keep things, but I guess with some people the ability to say NO that's enough spoons isn't there. The switch never switches off.

You have to keep in mind that this is a reality TV show. Some things are not going to be 100% real. If it really is a true portrayal of how she is, then it's possible she's completely unaware. But these people started out as "normal" so she has some inkling in the back of her mind that it's not normal. It all depends on the person; she might just be too stubborn to admit she has a problem--or fear that her compulsions might be stopped are driving her into denial. But yes, in the diagnosis, they are somewhat aware of their problem. Why do you think they agreed to go on the show?

No form of OCD is exactly the same. When people say, "I have OCD because I can't stand my house being dirty" it may not actually be OCD. It's a very overused term ,; of course, I am not a clinical psychologist--(I'm not saying that you don't have it Rachel, I've obviously never met you and wouldn't say anything like that without more information.) There are thoughts--obsessions--that literally drive that person's actions to the point that "something bad might happen." So if they don't clean their house, their children will die--that type of thing. Having unfocused anxiety when your house isn't clean--that's actually pretty normal. It might be general anxiety (when you sweat the small stuff to the point that it actually messes with normal functioning.) Anyway, I'm no expert but I do have some knowledge on the subject. All I know is that to be diagnosed, it must be really affecting the person's life to the point that is not considered normal.

Hoarding isn't actually considered a part of OCD at the moment. When the new diagnostic manual (DSM) comes out, it will be. It's basically a checklist that gives you guidelines in diagnosing a patient.

 

[audrinasmommy88]

I was on medication for it when I was a teenager and up until I was 22. I washed my hands constantly, would check the door to make sure it was locked a million times before I left the house. It has gotten A LOT better since I have had audrina. Sometimes, if I get really overwhelmed I will literally tear the house apart and spend an entire day cleaning everything. My husband hates when I do that because he cant help me get through it. I have to do it myself. I make him take audrina and leave so I can get it done. But I really have gotten alot better. My psychiatrist says the reason I'm not obesessive about the house is because I grew up with a stepmother who was and I didnt want to be like her. I always swore I would have a house that at least looked like it was lived in lol. Her house was always perfect. YOu would think it was a show house for the neighborhood or something. You couldnt tell there was me and my 2 stepbrothers, my dad, stepmom, a cat and 2 dogs in it.

 

[agnesthelion]

I've seen that poop one too Morgan. I also saw the one where the lady was pooping in plastic grocery sacks. Same kinda story.

There was also one where a woman was keeping chickens inn her mobile home. The conditions were out of this world disgusting and she was in complete denial.

I don't think they know how gross it is because they are mentally ill. Its hard for me to understand it but like i said earlier, I compare it to an addiction. There is a show on right before Hoarders called Intervention and those people usually don't know how sick they are either. And it's hard for me to understand that too but I do know it's an addiction and a disease.

 

[kkiddle]

audrinasmommy88 wrote:

I was on medication for it when I was a teenager and up until I was 22. I washed my hands constantly, would check the door to make sure it was locked a million times before I left the house. It has gotten A LOT better since I have had audrina. Sometimes, if I get really overwhelmed I will literally tear the house apart and spend an entire day cleaning everything. My husband hates when I do that because he cant help me get through it. I have to do it myself. I make him take audrina and leave so I can get it done. But I really have gotten alot better. My psychiatrist says the reason I'm not obesessive about the house is because I grew up with a stepmother who was and I didnt want to be like her. I always swore I would have a house that at least looked like it was lived in lol. Her house was always perfect. YOu would think it was a show house for the neighborhood or something. You couldnt tell there was me and my 2 stepbrothers, my dad, stepmom, a cat and 2 dogs in it.

I am so glad that it has gotten better for you. I know it's a life-long disease, and I commend people who go through it. It's painful just learning about this stuff in school; I can't even imagine going through it myself.