Having a full-blown hoarding mother and some tendencies myself, a friend suggested I watch a few episodes in order to better see how it affected me as a child and how serious it is. At first I thought it might be the typical exploitative program, but after watching the first episode I was having useful insights. In each episode one or two situations are introduced. Then, some kind of intervention is attempted, usually in response to some external event like threatened eviction or the city being called in. We are able to see how professional organizers approach the hoarders, and how the hoarders respond. In particular, we see all the ways they deny or minimize the problem and thus stay stuck in it.After watching several episodes, I brought my mother over so we could watch together. Each episode turned into a few hours of regular pausing and discussion of what we were seeing. It allowed more objectivity, since we were partly discussing other people rather than ourselves. My mother reported that she had felt enthusiasm and done some cleaning of her own house later that day. There was one professional organizer who had an amazing attitude of respect for the hoarder, not pressuring but simply assisting where possible, in order to achieve the most long-term change. I will always remember her as the model for how I can be towards my mother, rather than judgmental and ultimately harmful towards her progress, not that feeling such things isn't completely understandable.Even though the show is probably mere entertainment for most people (nothing wrong with that!), it's great that it also serves such a valuable role for viewers who also deal with hoarding as well.

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.

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.

Although I've one seen one episode, "Patty and Bill", this show will have me watching from now on, if I don't buy the DVDs first. Reality shows aren't my thing usually, but the situations shown here seem real enough and I really felt for the participants and more so, for their families.There's a lot compressed into "Patty and Bill", and the crew certainly put together something both engrossing and scary. The matter of fact way the team carried out the job to clean out the properties, with interruptions from Patty and Bill, must sure have taken a lot out of them. Of all those shown, I felt the most for Bill's daughter with her beautifully clean and tidy room amid what seemed like a builder's wreckers yard.As someone who's helped to similarly clean out properties though not to such a necessary degree of size and in such a short time, I salute all concerned. What they achieved in three days seemed amazing, despite the final results not bringing satisfactory conclusions in either case.