Hoarders

I think this should be required viewing every few years. A dose of reality that things are just things and that relationships are what truly matter. Both of my grandmothers are/were hoarders. My father is a hoarder just on a smaller scale. It's in my blood and something I very much wish to avoid. This series does a pretty decent job of showing the various types and degrees of hoarding and the emotional turmoil it causes everyone close to it. Get some help. Don't be a hoarder.

I like this show. It helps a few people And their families who need help. It also shows that it is a mental disease so hopefully people will have more compassion for the disorder.

When it was originally filmed I always wanted them to help the families paint and fix the house a bit. But I am in 3 episodes of the 2019 episodes and so far that hasn't happened. I hope there are some happy episodes. That's what I liked to see from earlier episodes. When the family triumphs.

I understand why this show might make people feel depressed. My sister is an early stage hoarder and she says it gives her anxiety to watch. For me it motivates me to clean and declutter.

When I first tuned in to this show, I wasn't sure what to expect. After getting a degree in psychology I thought we would see more on screen therapy. The stories of these people are amazing. While some fully acknowledge their illness, the really compelling stories are the ones where the person is in complete denial about their hoarding. I would like to see more of the cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) being done with the people to see how effective cleaning up the hoard over such a short amount of time is for their psyche. Nonetheless - this is definitely worth a watch. It can be downright disgusting and disturbing (people who hoard animals drives me bonkers) -but it gives you insight in to the world of hoarding and obsessive compulsive disorders. I think many of the participants (unwilling and willing) have plenty of other psychiatric illnesses which make it more difficult to deal with, so it's interesting to see if the two can be teased apart.

I'm honestly so surprised that Hoarders doesn't have more awards or recognition. This program has been around for YEARS and the doctors, organizers and others have been there since season one. These people go and help real people and have been consistent in their care and empathy. All of the Doctors and therapists have grown so much through this show. It's so viscerally shot and edited, you get to know these people and professionals. Cory, Matt, and Dorothy are literally the loveliest people. I don't know how they do what they do and for years. Can't imagine that amount of kindness. This series is truly wonderful and fascinating.

I've paraphrased one of my favourite quotes from this show, because as outrageous as it sounds, there's a sharp sting of truth to it.

While it can be a difficult watch, Hoarders - much like its sister-show, Intervention - gives great insight into the many reasons people succumb to the disorder.

Watch enough episodes and you find a common theme: The catalyst is typically some deeply ingrained trauma that has been long-buried. And when burying it psychologically got too hard, these people turned to stuff - physically burying themselves (and their unfortunate family members) in objectively meaningless crap, barricading themselves in from the world outside.

I first saw the show in 2007, not long after a family member - a self-described 'packrat' - died unexpectedly, and left a lot of crap behind. I found it oddly comforting to watch 'Hoarders' while I sifted through the remnants of their life.

Ten years later, after a series of unfortunate events - the GFC, unemployment, financial loss, more deaths and family issues surrounding Life-threatening illness, disability, addiction, alcoholism, depression etc. - the show helped me seek treatment that I doubt would even exist without the awareness programs like this have raised.

When I began watching it, I did so with a smug sense of complacency that there was no way I, or anyone around me, could end up like that. And while it never got to the extremes depicted on the show - I now understand how something that seems so unthinkable can potentially affect anyone of us. Definitely food for thought.