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Hoarding: Buried Alive
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Hoarding: Buried alive
Recently, I have become very interested in why people hoard objects, and the amount of possessions can fit into a household is beyond belief. There is a very fascinating show on TLC called, Hoarding: Buried alive; which shows people that hoard objects which could be easy to throw away for any regular person but to the hoarders, they cannot throw away. In my opinion it is slightly sickening that people can live in such close corners piled in junk. Whether people hoard newspapers, to trash, to figurines, it has become an actual disorder that is becoming more aware to doctors. These hoarder homes are filled with dust that could cause big respiratory infections. They are also filled with rats that can cause many diseases such as foot and mouth disease, e-coli, Weils disease, tuberculosis. I wonder how someone can live in such danger with the possibility of contracting a disease? Am I wrong for my opinion?
I remember seeing a man on the show that lived in a tiny apartment that was filled with trash. This man was a very nice man, he seemed very sweet, but there was this sadness about him when you looked into his eyes. When he started taking, he spoke about his problem of hoarding everything. This man later said that if he did not clean his apartment he was going to get evicted. The show finds these people the right therapist for them to talk about why they have this problem. At the end of the show his apartment was cleaned, what a complete turnaround this apartment had! The man even bought a little laptop and he looked completely happy. The look of sadness on his face was gone. All I seen was happiness in his eyes.
When I was younger I can recall a time when my toys were starting to pile up to the ceiling! I kid you not! My mom use to say, “Christine, were going to give some of your toys away to the Salvation Army.” I would get so upset; because they were my toys, I did not want anyone take them from me. Yes I was only ten years old, but the thought of getting rid of my barbies was completely wrong! Even when I tried to get some toys together to give away, I started to feel a pit in my stomach. My heart would race to even fathom the thought of giving anything away. I started to hide some of my toys in the basement and in the kitchen cabinets and even under my parent’s bedroom. I told my mom that I had giving my toys to kids at school; she was so proud of me.
In time my mother started finding toys in the couch and in her bedroom. I remember coming home one day after school and seeing my mom standing there with all my toys lined up and with a lovely smile on her face. She said, “Christine, you lied to me.” I said, “Me no speak English.” She laughed and spoke to me the reasons on why I needed to give away toys. Some children do not have any toys at all to play with.
I started to realize that all these toys that I had were too much for one little girl. Not only did I have too many toys, I had enough to go around the block a few times. I listened to my mom, and picked out lots of toys to give away to the Salvation Army. It felt very refreshing actually getting rid of all these toys; I have not played with in a long time. Me and my mom drive to the Salvation Army and dropped off toys and that was that. I seen families in there looking for clothes and toys and felt happy to give them more toys then what they had. Ever since I and my mom dropped off toys that day, I have been still doing it. I regularly drop off clothes and shop there for a great bargain.
. Reasons why people hoard .
- Their possession are believed to be or will become very valuable.
- Their possession give them comfort, if thrown away that sense of comfort will be lost.
- They may of had a traumatic life, they feel the need to obtain things to keep their mind off the hoarding.
- They feel the need to keep things in case they need them in the future.
- They feel the sense of security that they might not get from others.
. The Dangers of hoarding .
- Being buried alive by your possessions.
- By leaving food around the house, leaves the possibility open for vermin to enter your home.
- Having rats and insects in your home can bring disease into your home for you and your loved ones to contract a disease.
- Isolating yourself from the world.
- Having piles and piles of junk on your floors can actually collapse them on top of you. One can get very hurt or killed.
- You could get evicted from your apartment or house from your landlord.
- The police and firemen can get involved; which means you will lose all of your possessions without a say in the matter.
Hoarders can be helped, only if they want to be. There are places that help these people and their compulsion to hoard objects.
I have found some great sites that have helped many hoarders.
Http://www.ocfoundation.org/hoarding Great site, it has support groups and great articles.
Http://www.Hoardingcleanup.com Find a psychologist/ psychiatrist in your area to discuss your hoarding.
Http://www.Childrenofhoarders.com/ Children of hoarders, awareness.
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Thank you so much for your comment poorconservative. Thankfully, this is not my house. Now I am sort of a clean freak, I can not stand clutter, I can not sleep unless my house is clean.
I found your hub very interesting because I know someone who is a hoarder. She needs to sell her house since she can't afford to make the payments. But her Realtor said she can't help her because she refuses to dispose of the junk (I'm sorry, I mean possessions).
She has dust covering everything and can't even clean up because every inch of the house is filled with things (wall to wall), similar to that picture you have above.
I feel sorry for her but I can't help her either. She refuses to get ride of things and would much rather let the bank take the house from her. She says the stuff has too much meaning to her.
I tried to explain to her that the stuff is holding her back and creating a miserable life for her in two ways...
1. She'll lose the house someday and can't sell it ahead of time.
2. She already lost her business because she hoarded there too and customers didn't want to come in.
It's sad.
I voted up.
Hi Christine, i have never see the show but it is very sad to see people with this kind of behavior and to live like they do, hopefully with the shows help they can get some much need help .
Awesome hub !!!
Thanks Glenn for your comment, I hope everything works out for your friend. I know how hard it must be for her.
It is so sad what people go through in the daily life struggle. Did she ever try therapy? I think talking to someone is always good; becuase they do not take sides, they get to the root of the problem.
Thanks kashmir for the comment, this show is so interesting, I can not turn the channel. Once I start I always want to see if they clean their house at the end of the show.
Christine, Per your question above, no she never went for therapy. I tried to get her to understand that she needs help. But her answer was "I just want confirmation for what I can do right." I didn't know what to do with that statement. She let's things happen to her before she does anything for herself. That's part of the disease of being a hoarder, I guess.
Sorry to hear to Glenn, I always wonder to myself, what can you say to a friend when you know that what they are doing may be wrong?
Nice hub!
I think every child feels the way you did about giving away their toys or even sharing for that matter.
However most of us outgrow the need to hold onto everything we've ever owned. In fact we discover the joy of giving to people we love and care about as well as to those in need.
Recently I saw an episode of Hoarders where a man had lost his wife in a bad car accident and he let his home literary go to the rats.
He would pour food on the floor for them. According to accounts of the investigator this man had over 2000 rats in his home while he lived in his garage.
Clearly the loss of his wife was the trigger that caused him to change his lifestyle.
Very interesting hub!
Yes, I have a tendency to hold on to keepsakes, sometimes there is a fine line between being a sentimental packrat and a hoarder. I have to make certain that that line is not crossed. Thanks for an informative article.
Thanks dashingscorpio for your comment! I did not see the rat episode yet. Not too sure that 2000 rats are a good idea to have. I can see how some people can hoard things because of a bad time in their life.
What's ironic is they keep everything in case they need it, but when they do, they can't possibly find it.
that was a very touching story, it was nice of you to finally give your oys away :)
Thanks Niify for the comment! I agree to what you wrote. People keep everything for that just in case moment. But when they need the item, it's covered in dust.
Thanks Chouji-Von-Lycan for the comment. I do get to visit Sasha, my Turtle, all the time. She has gotten so big!
Great hub! I've never watched the TLC show, but there used to be a similar show on HGTV. I honestly cannot understand why people would risk their health and safety to save stuff like this.
My grandma had a similar problem. She was moving out of her huge farm house and moving in my with aunt, uncle, and 7 kids. She had a really hard time getting rid of things, and now she's adding to her collection again.
Thanks Rachelsholiday for the comment. I really find it very interesting what people go through on a daily basis just finding there way through their home with all of their stiff. Sorry to hear about your grandma hoarding again, hopefully all will work out!
I, too have seen the Hoarding show on TLC. My wife is a regular Lifetime Channel viewer and this is one of the shows I have watched with her on occasion.
The show reminds me of my Mother's Great-Uncle Jack who lived in small, rundown house on a few acres of land in what is now the Rochester, NY suburb of Gates or Chili (I forget which). I was a very young child (probably about 4 or 5) when he died. While I never actually met him, I do remember accompanying my Father and a couple of my great-uncles to his home one Saturday morning sometime after his funeral. My Great-Uncle Walt was the executor of Uncle Jack's estate and I guess the point of that trip was to take inventory for the estate.
All I remember is walking on a narrow path through the house with things stacked from what seemed to be from floor to ceiling on either side of the path. Some years later we were discussing Uncle Jack and I mentioned this memory adding that, because of my small size at the time, the memory was probably exaggerated. My Father, however, quickly corrected me saying that, yes, the stacks on either side of the path through the house were from floor to ceiling.
The best that I can say is that, while there was a hoarder a few branches above me in our family tree, at least he was a least an organized hoarder as one could walk through the house on the, albeit narrow, path rather than having to climb or swim through the hoarded mass of possessions.
Thanks again for a great Hub.
Thanks Chuck for your comment, and your story about your uncle. I find it very interesting that there are some people that can hoard millions of possessions and know exactly where they are. I have only found a few hoarders that have that skill. Most hoarders can just loose themselves and their possessions within a small amount of time.
This is very interesting. I enjoyed your hub so much. God bless you precious heart.
Sometimes I feel like I am on my way there. I have a closet that really needs to be cleaned out. Half the time, when I clean out these neglected areas, half the stuff goes in the trash. You can't save every scrap of fabric, yarn, etc. You think that you will be able to use the stuff some day.
Thanks Dolores for the comment. I can relate to your closet. ha. I have a closet full of stuff from my childhood, pictures and dolls that I can not seem to throw away. I have given away 99% but cant get rid of the 1%.
Very useful and informative hub! I usually will watch this show with my family, and it is very depressing to watch these people suffer in with their OCD issues. It is not amusing to watch these people being "buried alive" in their shelter; animal hoarding is very similar except with owning an excessive amount of animals. Thank you for the photographs to give us a visual of how serious this mental problem is.
Thanks Cici for the comment. I do agree with you, it is sad to watch people struggle with OCD issues. But it does show that it is a real problem that people struggle with. Also, it may be helpful to the people dealing with the issue because, people really try to help them.
I just thought of this hub today (3/16) when I was driving to McDonalds for lunch and I saw an accident on the side of the road. What caused the accident, you ask? The guys mini-van was so packed with garbage that he couldn't see fully out of his windshiled.
Hoarding can also be harmful to family that have to clean it up after you're gone. My dad saved many things in his workshop and in the chicken coop, and we had to clean it all up. We did it though, with quite a few trips to the landfill, and the place was sold. Interesting hub.
Thanks Rachel for the comment. That is insane about that man! I hope hes ok, maybe now he realizes he has a problem.
Thanks Alexander for the comment. I agree that it is harmful for the family of a hoarder. But, it is good to have family around you.
I think it is a similiar form of mental illness as we might observe in homeless people. As you have seen, the homeless frequently acquire shopping carts and load them with just tons of things that something in their mind tells them they will need later on. There is definitely a mental attachment. My wife recently observed a homeless woman who had lost her cart. She had all her stuff in two big bags which she was moving by "relaying" them along as she walked. She would carry one up twenty yards then go back and get the other and carry it 20 yards past the first one. She worked here way to her next destination doing just that....obsessive-compulsive I would say and that may well be what is at the root of hoarding. Thanks for a good hub! WB
Thanks Wayne for the comment. I completly agree with you about homeless people possibly having a hoarding problem.
Christine, watching an episode of Hoarding, buried alive is enough to turn anyone into a clean freak. I am fascinated by the psychology behind the impulse to hoard. As for myself, I feel closed in if I have too much stuff around me. Rated up.
Thank KoffeeKlatch for your comment. I do agree with you in your comment. After watching this school, I feel the need to clean my room.
The subject of hoarding has always been fascinating to me. Why people feel compelled to hoard - what is the pay-off for them. Your hub is a very good read. I loved hearing about your "liitle lie" to your mother about giving away your toys. Thank you. Voted up!
The subject of hoarding has always been fascinating to me. Why people feel compelled to hoard - what is the pay-off for them. Your hub is a very good read. I loved hearing about your "liitle lie" to your mother about giving away your toys. Thank you. Voted up!
Thanks vocalcoach for your comment! People really fascinate me and their lifestyles. My fiances mother reminds me of a hoarder. Her attack is filled with old copybook, VERY OLD decorations, clothes never worn and about 250 vases. I remeber a time when I was attempting to help her clean one of her spare bedrooms which was filled with stuff. I asked her what she wanted to keep and throw away. Nothing was thrown away execpt trash. It was an....interesting experience.
Awesome hub voted up! I think my parents are becoming hoarders, not because the things they own might be valuable, but because they can't be bothered to throw anything away!!
Thanks Ryan for your comment. I understand completly how you feel. hah! I tried to help my parents clean our our gargage a few weeks ago and it went no where!
Thnak you for this excellent article. My Grandmother, who died three years ago at 93, hoarded things—but not trash! She simply kept everything she ever bought. She had lived through the Great Depression and could not bear to get rid of anything of the slightest value. Her home was piled to the ceiling and she had paths through the piles to get around her house. It looked far more organized than anything I have seen on the television program you mentioned. But it was hoarding nonetheless.
I read your hub again. It is a very good one. The bad thing about hoarding is that it makes it so difficult to keep a place clean. God Bless You Precious Heart.
I recall in my teen years coming across a neighbor at my Grandparent's complex, the person would keep his kitchen and bathroom clean. I never understood what made him have the need to store so much things all over his place. Not really understanding the issue, I simply thought he was a "messy" guy. It is good to have a better understanding of this behavior. Goes to show how complex the mind is.
poorconservative1 14 months ago
Wow, who trashed your house. Must'a been one hell of a party... Sorry, I couldn't resist. Ya, I know what you mean by this. Coming from the back ground that I come from I seen tons of this type of thing when I was a kid. People unable or unwilling to part with things once they obtain them. We used to insensitively call them pack rats. But that's why every year or so my family and I have a yard sale. Hey, I admit it. I'm not too snobbish to stand out in my yard and sell my used stuff if your not to snobbish to come up and buy it. So I recommend yard sales to anyone and everyone, especially the people your talking about in this Hub. Although I don't think that there is a big yard sale market for newspapers. But anyway Thanks ChristineVianello.
I voted this Up and useful