MovieChat Forums > Hoarders (2009) Discussion > Getting someone on the show

Getting someone on the show

posted 7 years ago by will51224
4 replies | jump to latest

Does anyone know someone who's been on the show? My neighbor is definitely a hoarder, but I feel bad asking her if she wants to be on the show. I was wondering if there's a way for it to be done anonymously.

[–] vgarci2003 7 years ago

Sometimes neighbors have to go right to the city...they will take it from there.

[–] TheGodsHaveSpoken 7 years ago

Instead of trying to force her into the limelight of this show, which places value in entertainment and profit before peoples' health, why not try offering her help yourself? That or try putting her in touch with someone that can help her. By that I mean mental health help, not a call to the city.

[–] Devans00 7 years ago

TheGodsHaveSpoken
Instead of trying to force her into the limelight of this show, which places value in entertainment and profit before peoples' health, why not try offering her help yourself? That or try putting her in touch with someone that can help her. By that I mean mental health help, not a call to the city.

Are you kidding? Do you think a random person can do the same mental health care as the therapists and cleaning experts on the show?

Most episodes, the hoarder mainly reacts and improves because of the stranger therapist or expert. Otherwise the family and friends would have resolved the issues ages ago. I don't find this show exploitive at all. In fact, many times the people with the3 show are more kind and understanding than the sometimes nasty and ungrateful hoarder deserves.

No two persons ever watch the same movie.

[–] TheGodsHaveSpoken 7 years ago

Do you think a random person can do the same mental health care as the therapists and cleaning experts on the show?

Not necessarily, but you've missed my point. There are mental health services that can help a person with this disorder. However, I would venture to say that a very large majority of people with this disorder would not want help from this show because of its very premise - it's a reality show for the purposes of entertainment. Sure, it draws attention to the disorder, and it provides money and services to those afflicted, but publicly and for the trade off of filming the process.

Think about it this way, if you had an illness that you couldn't control that was causing you distress to the point of isolating yourself from the world and not being able to live normally, would you want to have the most embarrassing aspects of your life and your behavior put on display for everyone you know (and then some) to see. Scrutiny, judgment, anxiety, depression, ocd, etc all play a role in this disorder, and I can't imagine that being televised while trying to work on it is any help.

Furthermore, what you see on the show, in addition to being heavily edited, it only the very beginning of addressing a very serious and ongoing condition. And I'm not sure that it's even a very successful way of beginning to address the disorder, when the results are not often effective.