Hoarders

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.

OCDs and especially hoarding fascinate me. As this is a US reality TV series, I didn't have high hopes to begin with. However, the concept of involving a psychologist into the process and providing after care funds for the participants gave me a positive surprise.

In the first few seasons, the series really focuses on the mental part of the hoarding. You can see how hard it is for people to let go and they even fail some times. There isn't always success. I really did like that part.

However, in the following seasons it gets worse and worse. The show is trying to have more sensational cases, more extreme filth or huge family fights. The last season is not a show about hoarding anymore, but a very weird mash up of not well done Horror, Home Remodel, Makeover, Family Crisis. While I found it not helpful to show the family the "stat the house is in" in season 5, in my opinion it is completely useless to spend a night in the home and explain to a shaky hand cam how scary and disgusting it is.

The first few seasons are a nice watch, but I would recommend to stop after Season 4. Nothing good coming after that.

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.

Hoarders is a well-crafted reality TV show that follows sufferers of hoarding disorder as they face a personal crisis that forces them to clean up their hoard. The show offers the help of a cleanup crew and psychologist and in return the hoarder agrees to have his or her personal circumstances utilized for entertainment purposes. The stories are compelling on two levels--first there is the battle against the hoard itself, generally the cleanup crew has only a few days to eliminate the hoard. More importantly, however, there is the battle that the hoarder wages in his/her own psyche to let all the stuff go and overcome their mental illness.

Hoarders is the type of show that you watch and wonder why you can't turn it off--it is all about garbage, after all. The reason however, is that it is about much more--there is real drama, because if these people do not get over their problems their lives are wrecked. Thus, the conflicts are real and compelling and draw you in.

The big problem with the show, however, is that it is likely not advisable to treat a mental illness this way--shock therapy and radical eradication of the hoard. Usually this just causes big trauma. It is quite telling that the majority of the hoarders seem to fail in their quest to get over their illness and relapse often without even partaking of the aftercare therapy that is offered. There is of course no ethical dilemma in cleaning up a hoard, but their certainly is if you are a licensed therapist and you engage in questionable treatment in pursuit of a different interest. I guess that in many cases, the hoarders on the show have reached a crisis point and the show does offer a way out, so perhaps the show is redeemable in that aspect.

This show is perfectly valid as compelling reality TV, and can certainly be watched that way. It also certainly raises awareness of hoarding. Beyond that however, you can't help but feel a little guilty for watching a person's life disintegrate because they had no other choice but call the Hoarders crew or face horrible consequences.