Syl Most hoarders would keep their hoarding a secret from families and friends for years. The hoarding becomes intense and the hoarder often risks losing their home or relationships over it. Every episode has two hoarders in two different parts of the country. When they finally reach out to help, the hoarder gets a psychological help and a professional cleaner. The hoarder must decide to what to keep and get rid of. For most of us who don't have a hoarding problem, we don't understand why they can't get rid of obvious garbage. After the hoarder finally gets rid of the first item to the garbage, there is a breakthrough. Often, the hoarders end up fighting over little pieces of items. The hoarders and their loved ones must face the issue of the hoarding. Usually hoarding has nothing to do with the item itself, the underlying issues beneath the hoarder is usually to cover up the pain and agony. Hoarding has become more open in today's society. The relatives are often at their wit's end sometimes in dealing with the hoarder. They can't understand how difficult it must be for the hoarder to let something go.

Eva 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.

noodnix 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.

adamwhite After watching a handful of episodes of this show, I have concluded that many, if not all of the subjects suffer from serious mental illness and are being exploited. I know there is an on-screen disclaimer explaining the psychological condition of hoarding, but I don't feel that it justifies what follows in each episode.At first I was skeptical, thinking they were just slobs who had given up on cleaning their homes. But as I watched Adella in Episode One refusing to surrender any of her junk (and actually going out and collecting MORE out of dumpsters at night to replace what was being thrown away) and Gaye in Episode Two facing similar struggles, I realized that these people have deep-rooted and very tragic mental problems. I feel like the program is a bit sympathetic (in terms of the "experts" it brings in to help – though part of every episode is a mini-commercial for 1-800-GOT-JUNK), but shows its true colors through the editing style and ultimate presentation of these scenarios. "Hoarders" is, I believe, more interested in exploiting these situations for their entertainment value than truly helping people. The heartbreaking story of Sir Patrick in Episode Two is the perfect example; that man needs serious counseling, not to have a camera zoomed in on his face every time he breaks down in tears or struggles to rationalize some aspect of his very lonely life. I came away feeling like I had been rubber-necking alongside a car accident on the interstate, and I don't believe I want to play any further role in perpetuating programming like this by watching more.