Hoarding Buried Alive tonight is another really rough one.

[texanwitch]

I feel sorry for this woman's dogs.

[Myrina]

1. I am amazed they didn't condemn that house.

The psych said she saw structural damage, and like the one guy said - all that poo was a definite bio hazard. Even if she pulled up the carpet, the flooring afterward still looked poo stained.



And you just know, with as much crap as she still had in that house, and in the POD, the hoard was going to return sooner than later.

Is it just me or does it seem like a great majority of the hoarders are, well - for lack of a graceful term - mentally disturbed/developmentally stunted? Some of them are very functional and you wouldn't know if you saw them away from their house, that there was a problem ... but it seems that a good cross section perhaps shouldn't be living on their own in the first place.

[pipi_k]

2. I always have mixed feelings

about the hoarders.

Half of me gets so frustrated with the irrationality of some of the crap they save. Then there are the ones who just let everything go to hell...trash and bugs and feces everyplace.

The other half feels sorry for them because many of them start their hoarding behavior after some traumatic event in their lives...usually a loss of some kind.

Even the ones who live in squalor are horribly depressed, and on some level are "not seeing" the filth.

Since I'm prone to depression, one of my great fears is that I could someday become a hoarder, as I am a bit of a packrat at times, but so far am able to eventually throw out my crap.

Except for yarn.

Although I did give away two large bags of yarn to someone.

There's so much more yarn in my closets...

But it's useful, I swear!

[texanwitch]

4. Being depressed does seem to be a problem for the people on the show.

The episode a few shows back had twins who just stopped growing up at 10 when their brother was killed in Vietnam.

Their house was so bad they had to get another house.

I wouldn't worry about the yarn, just find it a good home.

[Myrina]

6. I completely agree with you

... but even the depression/PTSD - I guess that can be classified as a 'mental disorder' along with the ones I've seen (did you see the twin sisters a couple weeks ago? I'm nearly certain they stopped intellectual/emotional development at about age 12) who seem to have other cognitive disabilities.

I too have depression (emotionally motivated) ... been in & out of therapy and on Wellbutrin for over 5 years and I'm the opposite - I don't hoard, I purge. I keep NOTHING. Nothing can get close to me, I can't be attached/committed to ANYTHING. So in alot of ways, I am as alone as the hoarders because instead of protecting myself from hurt by 'too much stuff', I'm like teflon & protect myself by refusing to take anything on.

[texanwitch]

11. I can understand what you are saying.

I had to grow very fast when I was a kid.

I did keep a wall between me and people for awhile because of that.

After I finished high school I moved on, and found a better life.

Depression and PTSD is hell.

[Paulie]

8. This. +++

Even the ones who live in squalor are horribly depressed, and on some level are "not seeing" the filth.

[texanwitch]

3. I could smell the house just watching the tv.

I felt so sorry for the guys trying to clean the house for her.

Even after she cleaned the house at the end of the episode it was still messy.

I bet the house goes back to the way is was before.

[Yavin4]

5. My roommate is a hoarder. He hoards newspapers. Our living room has stacks of them.

He started hoarding after his mother died and he took early retirement. He's a nice guy and all. He just has issues. He also hoards food. He's got enough food in the kitchen to feed an army.

[texanwitch]

10. My father seemed like a hoarder.

He was a little kid during the 30's and very poor.

He had to have extra food, lots of extra food because of that.

I don't know if he was hoarder or not.

[olddots]

7. Of all the "reality " TV this is the worst .

I wrote about five rants and trashed them .....sad stuff in a world with terrible mental health this is entertaining .

[texanwitch]

9. This one was so very sad.

Sometimes you can see a change happen but not this one.

These poor people have nothing but their stuff.

I have never been one to collect stuff.

At least these people are getting some kind of help even if it doesn't stick.

[aikoaiko]

12. There is an adage in psychology that abnormal behavior is just normal behavior done too much

Hoarding is often really sad.