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Thread: Hoarders on A & E

  1. #11
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    I am sure that everyone who has been on the show understands the 2 day deadline.

    Most of them have been through cleanups before with relatives, friends, neighbors or strangers helping.

    This show is about a crisis - as in right now!

    It is definitely difficult for the hoarders who are elderly or have serious health issues.

    But if someone is offering you an expensive prize and you only have 2 days to follow through, then you better follow through.

    All of the people on the show are brave to be on there.

    But really, when someone has a house swarming with mice, rats or cockroaches, then they have to clean up quickly.

    One interesting aspect was the woman who was having a harder time with her pets being taken than her kids going to a sisters home (the authorities permitted that rather than putting them in foster care. )

    Her reasoning was that she knew where her kids were going but not the animals.

    Sorry, but people come first.

    She also was spending her husband's paycheck on the animals rather than caring for the home.

    Ultimately, she learned to keep a clean home while having animals and got her kids back but her husband filed for divorce.

    Her oldest daughter quit school because she was teased so much about the show and her home.

    If the hoarder didn't clean her home, then her kids might have ended up in group homes or foster care. So, I think the 2 day plan worked.

    However, it would be nice if a network had a show about long-term cleanups.

  2. #12
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    It is after all just a "reality based" TV show for entertainment of the viewers. When I realize that, I truly feel sorry for the majority of the people that get involved due to money or promises.

    As in any addiction, few can overcome the illness. However, it can increase our knowledge and hopefully our compassion for those involved in these situations from kids, adults, social workers, landlords, and city officials. I wont watch the show again.

  3. #13
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    Trust me, these people have no understanding of what they are about to go through. Every time I tried to clean out, I truly believed I was going to. Every time I tackle a project or a pile, I think that it's going to be easier/faster/more successful than it is.

    there is a huge difference between believing something and understanding it. The people running the show KNOW that the hoarders are in denial. I realize that they help, but it is the help of cutting off an infected limb. Because nobody wants to watch the antibiotic treatment.

  4. #14
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    It is just too resource intensive to give someone like 5 years to clean their hoard with the 24 hour a day help of social workers, professional cleaners, etc.

    Ain't nobody got time for that!

    Also: I am curious as to what has better long term results, the 2 day clean out or the five year plan?

    Think about cancer. Chemo and such can be a nightmare of pain and discomfort. But it can often cure people of cancer.

    Dehoarding is probably a nightmare of pain and discomfort for a hoarder, but maybe it is the only thing to cure them...

  5. #15
    Senior Member HappyHiker's Avatar
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    I've seen the show a few times but I find it too sad to watch any more. It's like exposing the suffering of people and their emotional illness. I feel too much compassion for the children of hoarders. Reality TV can be cruel.
    peaceful, easy feeling

  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by HappyHiker View Post
    I've seen the show a few times but I find it too sad to watch any more. It's like exposing the suffering of people and their emotional illness. I feel too much compassion for the children of hoarders. Reality TV can be cruel.
    This is why I don't watch it either. I watched some as informal research right after it really dawned on me that my mom and dad hoard. But...

    I just don't like the whole racket of reality TV and how it exploits people and (I think) destroys the emotions of people who watch that crap.

  7. #17
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    Chemo is a long term plan.

    Bone cancer:

    Long term (my friend in 2014) - radiation to shrink the tumor, surgery, chemo, physical therapy, so far so good.

    short term (my aunt in 1930) remove arm at shoulder - No recurrence.

    i think the hoarders would do much better if the cleanout was in the middle of the "follow-up therapy". Take some before footage, start therapy, send the organizer and therapist out one day to work with the hoarder when the ability to make decisions shows up, and then bring the two day clean up team in later when the hoarder has had a chance to really understand that help is needed. There would be less swearing and screaming, but the stories would be happier, and possibly more dramatic - instead of "two days and we managed to clean one room" it might be "I can't believe what we did in two days!

    i would bet on the five year plan (obviously). Lifestyle changes, not a crash diet. But I'm pretty sure there are no 5 year plan studies.

  8. #18
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    I think long-term is a good plan but if CPS is taking away your children, then I doubt taking 5 years is a good idea.

    Yes, it is an addictive behavior similar to alcoholism or drug addiction (I am talking hoarding - not a messy house)

    So, if CPS takes away a child from a drug addict, then the person probably gets 30 days of inpatient therapy and a few more months of outpatient therapy. Then they need to spend a lifetime going to meetings and maybe counseling.

    Hoarding goes on around the world so there must be a reason for it that involves the brain. Most hoarders have side issues (often many and many of those are traumatic). Maybe there is a genetic factor or something that hasn't been identified yet.

    Hoarding is often a coping mechanism from what I have seen on the show. There are all kinds of coping mechanisms to deal with stress, anxiety, trauma, depression, poverty and so forth.

    Some people eat too much.
    Some people drink too much.
    Some people turn to drugs
    Some people bite their fingernails.
    Some people won't eat at all.
    Some people pluck or pull their hair.
    Some people become sex addicts.
    Some people hoard.

  9. #19
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    Actually, their is a gnetic factor tha has been identified. I think it's on chromosome 13.

    and honestly, I think that removing the child from the home and putting the hoarder on a long term plan (with lots of visitation) to do the work to get the child back, is probably a better solution that fixing the environment really fast and leaving the child with an unrecovered hoarder. You don't get your kid back if you throw out the booze and stay sober for three days.

  10. #20
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    It is 14.

    But I think that a two day clean out followed by a 90 day institutionalization of the hoarder might do the trick.

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