Does anyone like watching those 'hoarding' shows?

[vmpolesov]

I find them oddly fascinating for some reason.

Our normal hunter/gatherer instincts totally out of whack.

[chodan9]

They are fascinating in a way.

But for some reason I find shows on mental illness hard to watch.
My wife finds the show intervention interesting. But I find it difficult to watch someone in the midst of active addiction. It brings my past back to me very forcefully, and I've been clean 21 years.
I can watch the hoarding behavior with no problem because I never participated in it. I find it to be fascinating in an abstract way because I do not see myself in it. But with the addict I can see myself reflected on the screen. The only part of any of them I enjoy watching is when they are interviewed after they got rid of all the crap and started moving on with their lives.

[JolietKev]

After you have seen one, you have seen them all. We currently have a son and mother hoarding crew at our shelter. They were kicked out of their home due to their hoarding, however they have storage area and also have a van that has a ton of garbage in it. They are constantly pulling all kinds of things from the donation area in the shelter. They are supposed to be leaving soon, however it is really only a matter of time until they are back. Sad really. I really just want to tell them that they have enough now so they can stop, however, I bite my tongue.

[Corbi]

Have never watched any of the shows but we do have one guy at work who hoards like crazy. He will dig just about anything he thinks might have .02 cents value. He actually dug shoes out of the garbage and wears them.

[IR45N]

Seen a few & beyond 'YUCK', I at the amount of disposable (maybe a pun) income they somehow have for this + usually a whipped husband who enable's his wife's shopping and hoarding.

[chodan9]

There is a guy at work who won't throw anything away in our IT department.
Our closets have useless technology crammed in them.
I ask him "why are you keeping a pentium 100 mhz computer with OS2 on it?"
"We might need it sometime." is all he can come up with.
Once per year we wait for him to take vacation and we clean out our closets then. He comes back in and is ok with it, but can't take responsibility for doing it himself.

[Meatpants]

I have an aunt who has this problem. She was kicked out of two apartments, before buying her own house. She has a 2200 square foot house, and there is no room. It is sad. Unfortunately, the show doesn't follow up and show how they went right back to the same thing before the clean up. It is like the alcoholic as well. Once the start again, it picks up very quickly. There isn't much easing into it. I have watched this show, as the human mind fascinates me. I can't even imagine the kind of psychological help one would need to just get a grip on this problem.

[pharmamarketer]

I think they are depressing. My wife made me watch one. That was enough for me

[JolietKev]

I think they are depressing. My wife made me watch one. That was enough for me

The animal hoarding shows are even more depressing.

[Rowyn]

After you have seen one, you have seen them all.

^^This^^ Its clear after you see more than one that these people have something similarly wrong with their brain chemistry, genetics, whatever. They exhibit the same sorts of behaviors even in different socioeconomic brackets and they all also say similar things. The differences are just in how bad their situation has gotten.

Seen a few & beyond 'YUCK', I at the amount of disposable (maybe a pun) income they somehow have for this + usually a whipped husband who enable's his wife's shopping and hoarding.

Oh, lots of men on there too. And people with little money. Doesn't have to do with shopping necessarily, the poorer hoarders go to garage sales, pick out of the garbage, whatever.

There is a new show that was on for a little while called Obsession and now the new one will be My Strange Obsession, looks a little more interesting. I don't like watching Intervention, have had too many addicts in my life to find that entertaining in the least.

[BergMuscle]

I have one long-time friend who is a hoarder - and another friend who plays one on TV (no kidding - she plays "The Hoarder" on Conan O'Brien's new show). I can laugh at one because the other one makes me very sad.

[beachguy498]

I had one friend as a kid whose mother was a hoarder. Newspapers and magazines... dolls... stuffed animals... antiques, you name it. She was definitely a tad unhinged. The house had aisles through it and beautiful woodwork and even a fireplace totally obscured.

I worked with one guy that picked up any appliance that anyone threw out. He had a trailer with a winch on it... no joke. Someone once went to his house for something and his yard was full of old washers, dryers and stoves.

And I have one here at work 2 cubicles down. His cube is just jam-packed with old paperwork that hasn't been touched in years. I can imagine his house... he comes into work with cat hair all over his clothes and his office chair is also covered with it.

BG

[Wildtim]

I find it intereting how many different root causes there are that result in this behavior. I also have amother in law who is a hoarder and watching that show helps keep me from killing her because I can see how uch worse it can get.

[jellodirt]

I find them oddly fascinating for some reason.

Our normal hunter/gatherer instincts totally out of whack.

I could see myself being a hoarder if I lived alone. Those shows irritate me when they start throwing out a lot of stuff I would keep or at the very least sell.

[StressMonkey]

Unfortunately, the show doesn't follow up and show how they went right back to the same thing before the clean up.

Actually they have done a follow up show before. One lady admitted to dumpster diving the night the cameras started rolling. Only one person had completely turned their life around. The fact that he was (compared to the other people they profile) very young and didn't have years of this behind him.

[Marius_Ursus]

My favorite part about watching those hoarding shows is feeling good that I'm not THAT fragged up.

[buff_dad_dy]

My job of the past 21 years has had me delivering to some pretty good awful places i'll tell you. I cannot fathom how some people can live like that. They truly seem to think it is normal.

[V-240]

Those shows are fascinating and depressing. It's like watching a train wreck, I can't look away even though I'm in an hour-long *cringe* as I watch!

The animal hoarding ones are the worst... THOSE I can't watch. I tried. I cried. It's effed up for the critters more than the humans.

[StressMonkey]

The ones that completely fascinate me are the ones that are in complete denial. "I'm not a hoarder, I'm a collector!" Meanwhile he's literally climbing a tree to enter a second story window because the front door is blocked.

Those shows are fascinating and depressing. It's like watching a train wreck, I can't look away even though I'm in an hour-long *cringe* as I watch!

The animal hoarding ones are the worst... THOSE I can't watch. I tried. I cried. It's effed up for the critters more than the humans.

I can't watch the animal ones.

[hochspeyer]

Sick is sick. Like many thing, theres a fine line between hoarding and saving thing for a rainy day, I suppose. Way back when, when I lived in California, I used to dumpster dive for aluminium. However, the cans I collected were quickly converted to cash in automated recycling machines.

My wife and I today keep an eye out for things folks are discarding on trash days- it seems the equal but opposite behavior in America is the disposable lifestyle. Our situp bench (IMPEX), for example, was a trash day rescue. Several pieces of lumber are now parts of furniture or storage around our house and garage.

[crupiea]

I like alot of oddball shows but i dont watch this one. these poor people clearly have some mental problems and for people to think that they can cure them by just throwing their stuff out bothers me.

They need more help than that. i think its a replacement for the love that they dont have in their lives. i think its the same with people who like to shop alot. I like to shop alot and I know for a fact it is a replacement for the love that I dont have.

[gympunk]

YES! Guilty pleasure. I can see the crazy old coots living that way-- but the relatively 'normal' people living in squalor is amazing.

[hochspeyer]

I like alot of oddball shows but i dont watch this one. these poor people clearly have some mental problems and for people to think that they can cure them by just throwing their stuff out bothers me.

They need more help than that. i think its a replacement for the love that they dont have in their lives. i think its the same with people who like to shop alot. I like to shop alot and I know for a fact it is a replacement for the love that I dont have.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to crupiea again.
QFT!

[justboo2u]

I would say I am a 'binge & purge'er...

I will get into the 'save it for later' mode...

then,

a year later I stumble across something I 'saved' and think 'Why do I still have this?'...

which leads to a 'mass dumping' mode.

After a while it starts again...

Until the next time!

Tho I have to admit I HAVE recently hit the 'why didnt I keep that?' derivative... It quickly passed.

Absolutely will NOT watch the shows... I enter the 'purge mode' just LOOKING at all that crap!

[StressMonkey]

YES! Guilty pleasure. I can see the crazy old coots living that way-- but the relatively 'normal' people living in squalor is amazing.

When they say that they're a teacher or a nurse that seems most shocking to me.

I like alot of oddball shows but i dont watch this one. these poor people clearly have some mental problems and for people to think that they can cure them by just throwing their stuff out bothers me.

They need more help than that. i think its a replacement for the love that they dont have in their lives. i think its the same with people who like to shop alot. I like to shop alot and I know for a fact it is a replacement for the love that I dont have.

They are provided therapy and/or sessions with an organizer after the show. A lot of times the expert they have flat out says that without follow up care the houses will go right back to the way they were.

[vmpolesov]

I ask him "why are you keeping a pentium 100 mhz computer with OS2 on it?"
"We might need it sometime." is all he can come up with.

Laughed my ass off!

[vmpolesov]

I like alot of oddball shows but i dont watch this one. these poor people clearly have some mental problems and for people to think that they can cure them by just throwing their stuff out bothers me.

I have noticed the two shows (TLC and discovery, I think) differ in this regard. One show is basically part commercial for a disposal company (1-800-junk or something like that) and involves a fleet of the trucks showing up at the person's house. The other show seems to take a more gradual approach and includes psychologists/organizers, etc.