"Hoarders" on A&E?

its new but man oh man is it screwed up in a way that makes me unable to look away.
I come across people like this in my business sometimes.

I always think how long has this been getting worse for them.

of the hoarder when they clean up is hard to watch. The woman who hoarded food put terror in MY eyes.

she seemed pretty normal when she was talking, until they started finding all the rotting food, and then she'd just talk about what a nice pumpkin that had been. And then she'd argue with them about throwing away food that had long since expired; it was fine because the container wasn't bulging out. Have you ever smelled a rotting pumpkin? It's horrible. I can't imagine what her house smelled like. I hope she can recover from her problem.

cleaned out the whole house while his mother in law(the hoarder) was in the hospital having routine surgery.

just took care of it all without asking or anything.

The lady went completely berserk upon returning and pulled a knife on the son in law.

the mess was bad but her reaction to this uninvited intrusion(as she saw it) was worse.

She also keeps dozens and dozens of animals that she is hard pressed to take decent care of. Cats, dogs, ducks, chickens. She raised ducks in her front bedroom. And her house stinks to high heaven.

I tried to get her to get her cats spayed and neutered, even offered to pay for it. Not one was taken care of. It's one of the strangest behaviors I've ever seen.

She lives on my land, in a home that I bought for her, and I've gotten numerous summons for creating a health hazard, because she won't throw anything away and leaves it in the front yard, to rot. What was weird for a while there was that she was telling them that *I* would not allow her to clean the mess up, and THEN giving them my address so they could issue a summons to me! Finally, I talked to enough health department officials and they've gotten to know me well enough that they give HER the summons' now, and not me.

one of several drugs for obsessive-compulsive disorder? If you haven't tried that, please talk to her/your doctor about it. IIRC, it helps maybe 70% of this population.

That's assuming that I could GET her to take one of the drugs. I'd never give her an SSRI, though. Those compounds wreak hell in our family. I think we've got a little too much serotonin floating between those synapses anyway, and that crap turns us into paranoid schizophenics, hallucinations (no delusions, though) and all.

What other class of compounds are you talking about? I might just get some for her and tell her they're antibiotics, or vitamins. She's almost totally trashed the inside of the home I got her, but if she could get well, I would gladly start all over again, and buy her another one. She's a wonderful, loving, and very nurturing person. I would like to see her happier, if that's possible. When she first moved into her new place, her kids came over to visit, and friends came over. Now, she's right back to square one, in terms of living conditions. And no one wants to go over there because it stinks so badly.

And I know she's lonely.

there is no cure for hoarding -- docs don't even know yet what exactly makes ppl do it. Has she gone to behavioural counseling for it? How does she get her "stuff"? Does she go out to work every day?

My sympathies go out to you. I knew an old woman many years ago who hoarded. Her kids would come from out of town, clean the house out completely, and the next day she'd be out with her wagon or shopping cart, going through trash to find stuff to bring home. It was heartbreaking. If I remember correctly, her house burned down one night and she was not able to escape.

NEVER. She doesn't work. I support her. She's in her sixties and gets a little social security, but not enough to make it on, so I supplement her living expenses. I think she hoards that money, too, but that's okay.

Before I made her "retire," she threw the newspaper for a living. She would go to dumpsters and dig out other people's trash and then leave it in her (my) front yard to rot. She's not in good health, and I think it's from living in cat piss surroundings. The ammonia smell is awfully strong in her house.

that there is much more you can do about her problem. It's a tough one to solve, and the hoarder has to be upset with her own behavior. Good luck, Th1onein.

I've thought about getting one of those automatically emptying cat boxes, but it would surely be overwhelmed by the cats in her house. And, of course, the ducks and dogs wouldn't use it. Sometimes, you just have to throw up your hands and live with things you don't like.

I made sure to catch the re-run of this show last night. My husband & I were compelled to watch & horrified at the same time. I've seen similar shows & it's always the same, but the woman who would not throw rotten food out was something I have never seen before. I have to say, if I were her landlord, I'm not sure I would be so accommodating.