THE HOARDERS
 

Anybody watch this series on A&E the other night .....

Quite amazing ... especially the younger couple

Have seen it before in the UK ..but they were
basically old and nutty ...

Re: THE HOARDERS
 

Yes I saw it... I thought the wierdest was the woman food hoarder..... keeping ancient rotting pumpkins on her kitchen floor because "They were very nice when they were new".
Most of the food in her fridge had turned to liquid.... but she still couldn't part with it...
It's a wonder she's still alive!!!
I'm looking forward to next week's episode... a fascinating series!

Re: THE HOARDERS
 

I've got a SIL like that. Basement stacked with piles and boxes of trash she can't part with and two garage sized sheds in the back yard filled to the rafters with the same. She's got some issues.

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My father in law has canned food in a basement cupboard from the 1980's, he washes all food containers and they sit in paper bags in the basement for ever. When he drives around the neighborhood and spots someone putting something out on the sidewalk he'll put it in the back of the minivan and call later to ask if we want it (answer: no). Last autumn he was bringing the neighbours sacks of leaves off the street. He began hoarding presumably as a coping mechanism because of my deceased mother in law's manic depression - keeping everything was a way for him to exercise control when everything else in his life was out of control, her random acts of charity, letting a vagrant sleep in the garage, spending vast sums of money via credit card on the shopping channel and getting deep into debt, the house is full of her tchotchke's. People with this problem are hurting in some way, to anyone who doesn't see the inside of his house he's a top bloke who plays football with his workmates, is active in organizing church choir and the neighbourhood street festival. I knew what I was letting myself in for when I decided to come over here to live, that my wife would never want to move far away from her parents because they need her support. Mom died in January and slowly I'm being allowed to remove things from the house bit by bit. People can hide mental anguish well.

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A friend of ours has some interaction with someone who suffers from this disorder. That woman's obsession is paper - any piece of paper that enters her home doesn't leave. The house is packed with boxes and bags full of paper items. The deed to the house was stuffed in a bag full of expired supermarket coupons and old food wrappers; another box of trash also contained a wad of cash (the person is quite wealthy).
There's debate in the medical community about whether compulsive hoarding is a form of OCD. While there are some common elements, OCD sufferers usually know they have a problem whereas hoarders typically don't see anything wrong with their behavior, even if their home is packed floor to ceiling with rotting trash. It's a very difficult thing to treat.

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Oh God yes ... next week even better ... she looks so normal

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My fiance is a hoarder, perhaps not as acute as described in some of the posts here but he has lived in his house for 24 years and has gathered quite a little stash.

It's been really challenging getting to throw stuff away but he is getting better at it. He's been warned too .............. he'd absolutely better not start hoarding up the apartment in CA before I get there to control him! :eek::fingerscrossed:

Re: THE HOARDERS
 

I saw it too and found it riveting. Those poor kids, walking over the tops of dressers and junk to get through their own bedroom!

The man who had to shower at his health club because his bathroom was stuffed full of junk---he appeared to have made some significant progress by the end and seemed to be enjoying himself quite a bit!

Without a doubt, the woman who hoarded food was the worst, and why do these people always have cats???

Yep, fascinating stuff---I shall be watching next week; Ray, have you seen previews for the next episode?

~SecretGarden

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notseen it but watched life laundry I think it was in the UK and I remember one women saying her junk formed a fortress, from the world, or something like that?

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Watched it and boy was it scary. How people can live amongst such filth baffles me. The fact that the young couple were in danger of losing their children but weren't making any move to clean up their act says it all. However, I was quite proud of the young woman, as once she got into it, she got into it in a big way. That said, she made a very telling statement in saying that no-one had taught her how to be organized. Let's face it, we learn by observing our surroundings, so if she lived that way as a child, how would she know any different?

I know this series is going to be compelling viewing.

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Another show that doesn't come on until 10! DOH, :frown:

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thats for the early birds .. I see the 3am showing

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:eek:

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Thanks for the link, but now I have realized something. This was not the show I watched last week. I saw "Truth Be Told: I'm a Hoarder" on TLC (the woman with the "liquid food" that poster mamasue talked about earlier in this thread was on the show I watched, not the A&E one).

Next week on TLC there is "Truth Be Told: I'm Addicted to Plastic Surgery" and "Truth Be Told: I Have OCD" :eek:

Will take a look at the A & E one this week!
~SG

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In a house like that there surely must be mice.

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True. :(

~SG

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You gotta get a DVR Cindy, they are a life saver. Well as long as you don't try to use it as a flotation device whilst it is plugged in.

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Ok, the A & E show is on right now, and I *did* see this one, but I guess I also watched the "Truth Be Told" one too. Guess they all ran together... :confused:

The rotten food lady is on now......blurgh....:unsure:

~SG

Re: THE HOARDERS
 

oh that looks fascinating, in a really sick kinda way!
Did you see any of the "Obsessed" series? Like the woman who kept pulling her hair out :eek: They had a hoarder too.
I always feel sad after watching these programs so I try not to, but sometimes I just can't help it :rolleyes:



:rofl:

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I like that one and Intervention makes me feel fairly normal, did you see the one about the woman who felt dirty after having a poo and spent hours showering herself internally and then scraoing herself out with a toothbush :eek:

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I can't watch Intervention ...half I want to help and half I want to exterminate... some both ....

Re: THE HOARDERS
 

NO!!!! OMG...I never even heard about that one!!! :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:




I had to stop watching them because when they do the follow-up at the end, almost every single one of them had skipped rehab, or started drugs again or whatever and were back being shitbags again. I would be so pee'd off that I kept wasting time hoping they would get better and they never did. Although I caught a couple recently and they both succeeded in rehab, so maybe the makers realised they needed to show some positive ones.

Re: THE HOARDERS
 

Oh blimey yeah I saw that one :scaredhair:
Made me feel quite light headed.

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Everything I watch is from my DVR I have to speed through all the adverts.

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So this week ..Steve the guy ..had just given up on everything
but I though he seemes quite articulate ..he will be OK now ...


The stupid women wanted putting down ..2 days of clearing out ..one room done ...her expert helpers was just as useless ....

and at the end she just ran off anyway ...

Re: THE HOARDERS
 

I really admired the woman who was helping that Steve guy out. She appeared to really care about what happened to him and didn't try to shame him into anything--you got the feeling that she was just a very kindhearted person.

I felt very sorry for the woman's kids.

Who's on next week? Can't wait!
~SG

Re: THE HOARDERS
 

The helper was a great treasure .,..deserves a medal ...at least ...



Tara/BettyMonday, August 31st 10:00 pm ET
Tuesday, September 01st 02:00 am ET

NEXT WEEK
Tara has been reported to her landlord and needs to clean out now or she'll be homeless. She's an obsessive collector, favoring things like McDonald's Happy Meal toys, nativity scenes, snow globes and hundreds of teddy bears. Now Tara must finally get control of her hoarding and part with most of the clutter in her home or face eviction.

When fire crews responded to a small fire at Betty's house they discovered her sick husband living in filth. Adult Protective Services removed him from the home because of his medical condition. For the last two months he and Betty have been staying in a hotel--but funds are quickly running out. If Betty doesn't clean up her home and her yard, he may never be able to live in the home again.

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I am already feeling very sorry for Betty's poor husband. This show is a real upper, innit? :(

~SG

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I have to say, I'm obsessed (har-dee-har-har!) with these shows -- Intervention, Obsessed and now Hoarders. They are just really, really fascinating to me.

Admittedly, I get frustrated with Intervention because they spend about 3 minutes on the part where the person goes to rehab and you (sometimes) get to see how things turned around for them. I wish they'd spend less time on filming them doing drugs, etc and spend more time on the actual intervention and recovery. Still, 95% of the time I end up teary-eyed and really rooting for the person and/or their family.

Obsessed and Hoarders are a bit more interesting for me because I can probably relate to them a bit more. I've never done any drugs or hard drinking, etc so the stuff that happens on Intervention is pretty foreign to me. However, I am a messy person and have certain compulsions/phobias that allow me to understand the "obsessed" and hoarders a little bit. I really like seeing how the therapists treat them, particularly with the hoarding, because it's such a hidden taboo that we rarely see or talk about.

Last week's Hoarders episode was great -- one therapist's approach was successful (the big guy who lived in that tiny apartment), and the other's didn't really work (the woman who cleaned half a room in one day, despite having 5+ people helping her). It wasn't until I saw that episode that I realized that there is more than one way to approach hoarding and treating it.

I'm interested to see what other types of people/situations they'll have on these shows.

~ Jenney