Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hoarding is an anxiety disorder. It is often a component of OCD which is also an anxiety disorder. The hoarding is about the anxiety that is caused when asked to throw something away. They NEED that item in order to feel safe, less anxious, protected, etc. It really doesn't matter if it seems completely irrational to others, for them it feels right.
There are funds provided for after care if the person chooses to accept it. Some do. Others just fill their houses up again. It really is not something that can be solved in two days. I really feel sorry for most of them. The pet hoarders I have a lot harder time accepting because it is cruelty.
I've watched this because my mom is a hoarder (I'm in no way a hoarder!) and it helped me understand her problems. On a scale of 1-10, she's probably a 5 or 6. But it frustrates me to no end. And I've always known that someday, she'll die and it'll all be my problem to clean up. She has fibromyalgia (and takes tons of prescription drugs) and I've noticed that many hoarders have fibromyalgia.
I am a pack-rat so I understand a little of some of the people. People that have normal stuff, they just are worried they will have a use for it. There was one lady like that - I mentioned that she didn't want to part with a lid - I relate to that. I'd say but the lid goes to something! I'm going to find that something and need the lid!
But there appears to be many different sorts that I cannot relate to. Like buying things to hoard.
One lady buys too much food to hoard and doesn't want to give it up even when it's spoiled.
I don't like to waste either, and there are a few things that could go in the trash, like stale peanuts, that I won't toss because I need to give them to the squirrels.
Anyway, I understand to an extent about the people with regular stuff that find it hard to part with.
I don't think they NEED it necessarily - I think it's like me that each decision in and of itself is hard to make. THAT part produces anxiety, not it being gone once that is done.
But maybe I am wrong about that. Maybe once they are made to toss it or decide to, they want it back.
I only want something back if soon after I donate or trash it, I find a need for it and go oh damn! I had one of those. Now I have to spend money.
Financial has to play a role - everyone I've seen on here is poor. So for regular stuff there is anxiety about needing it and having to spend money later on.
For the people that buy things on and on that is something different. One lady's toilet was stopped up and she used buckets - that is something else entirely.
Financial has to play a role - everyone I've seen on here is poor. So for regular stuff there is anxiety about needing it and having to spend money later on.
I'd imagine there are more affluent hoarders out there, that it's only the ones who need the money the show pays who agree to go through with the indignity of being on Hoarders.
I'd imagine there are more affluent hoarders out there, that it's only the ones who need the money the show pays who agree to go through with the indignity of being on Hoarders.
True. That lady on Duck Dynasty might qualify except she has room for as many things as she wants to store. She could build more sheds or whatever she wants to keep it all forever. It doesn't create a problem in her life or anyone else's and if it did they have the means to help her.
I'd imagine there are more affluent hoarders out there, that it's only the ones who need the money the show pays who agree to go through with the indignity of being on Hoarders.
Frankly I don't think the show pays enough! One man went for years to 'after-care' therapy but IDK how much of that the show paid for.
Some of the people don't even get it all cleaned in the two days - one lady her daughter had to help her finish it.
They don't pay for any repairs either. I think if one lives in a shack that would not help. If you clean and clean and get down to lack of proper flooring, your doors are falling off, and stuff like that it's not very motivating!
I could do without the drama of the adult children coming and screaming at them.
Imagine that the hoarder is your mom or dad... you then, I'm betting, would be the one screaming at them after months if not years of trying to get them to stop hoarding... It all changes when we become emotionally involved.
I'd imagine there are more affluent hoarders out there, that it's only the ones who need the money the show pays who agree to go through with the indignity of being on Hoarders.
Well -- while technically true, they've shown a few people who inherited real money (like a million) and they wasted it on what we see -- garbage. Some of the bought "treasures" that they thought would increase in worth, but were scammed, or the bottom fell out of the market (dolls), or worse, didn't have the knowledge they thought they had, or worse yet, their hoarding ruined something that could have been worth money... but in the rotted up condition is now worthless.
It's a sad disease, and while the show get it out there, I'm not sure that's the best thing for the person who is suffering from the disease.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
