Hoarders

Hoarding is a mental illness, and I do not know why I have not watched this yet.

I was in a horder's house earlier this year and it is a facinating experience.

IJAG, is that the British cleaning show? That show rocks.

 

I watched last night for the first time and was so horrified by the woman and the cats. Clearly, she is mentally ill. I know they claimed she loved animals, but she didn't really seem that fazed by the dead cats' carcasses.

 

Sadly, many reporters and eds I have worked with over the years could be on this show.

 

My grandmother was like this near the end of her life. I go along with the idea that she never had anything for the first 65 years or so of her life and she spent the last 15 keeping everything she had, no matter what it was, just because it meant she had things.

My mom and my aunt would make a point of getting grandma out of the house when we visited so that my cousin, sister and I could clean out her fridge. I found one thing once that I couldn't tell whether it was meat or cake. I just know it was brown and looked soft.

When she couldn't drive anymore, she wanted keep the car. She let my cousin have the keys so she wouldn't be tempted to go anywhere. She just had to have the car.

When she passed away, we had to call in one of those rental trash bins, the one that's about the size of a small dump truck. We filled it once and filled it halfway again. However, she at least didn't save things that were dangerous. Mostly it was papers, clothes, food and knick knacks.

So if I had a chance to watch this show, I kinda wonder how often I'd say, "That's grandma."

 

You couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a dead cat.

 

Shows like this are reminders of how much untreated mental illness there is.

 

Do you mean the people on the show, the people who watch it, the people who post here about it, or all of the above? ;D

 

I kind of feel like a dick for my post above. Sorry if I offended anyone.

 

I wasn't offended, Bodie ... I think I pretty much agree with your sentiments ... although I think the one redeeming quality of the show is that there's an effort to get the people help ... I don't think the show glorifies the people or makes them into stars at all. I'd be embarrassed as hell to be on that show ...

 

People probably said the same thing at one point about Jon and Kate.

 

I don't think your post was offensive. I think it represented what a lot of people who haven't suffered from (or loved someone who suffered from) a mental illness. Until you've lived through that hell (and I don't wish that on anyone) it's very hard to understand.

 

I had forgotten this ... some folks down the hall from me in my first D.C. apartment (1985) were hoarders, apparently. I walked by as they were cleaning out the apartment and there were piles of newspapers as high as man's head and the apartment walls, up to about the height of a man's shoulders, was almost black.

A month or two ago, the guy living in the apartment in front of my work-week "bachelor pad" got evicted and the cleanup crew came in with hazmat suits. Fleas, mostly.