I don't watch Hoarders or any other reality show, but I have seen the previews for it. I think it's very sad that there are people who live that way.
I am a very organized person; my sister says I'm a bit obsessive compulsive, I disagree. I don't like to hold on to things that I don't need and things that I do are kept put away neatly where I don't have to see it all of the time. I do have family members who are extreme pack rats though. A couple family members who don't throw anything away. I went to a family members house to visit. I went grocery shopping to make sure that she had food my kids would eat (they're picky). When I got to her place there was no room in the fridge because of all of the junk in there. Juice bottles by the gallons that had expired in 2008! It was crazy to me. The first thing that came to mind when I saw that, and many other piles of junk that she didn't need, was the preview of the show I'd seen. She is a very organized person though-no mounds of garbage in her livingroom or anything of the sort, just neat, organized stacks of things she doesn't need.
The idea of hoarding is very interesting to me being one who always finds something that needs to be thrown out. I wonder what it is with a person that makes them feel the need to hold on to bottles of old grease and stacks of magazines from years ago.
Is there a difference psychologically between people who hoard junk and people who hoard animals? Usually people hoarding animals are compensating for something. They feel that they are lacking companionship or they've lost a loved one, even if that loved one is only an adult child who has just left home; I believe it's called empty-nest syndrome. That I can understand, though it still seems a bit extreme to me, but what type of satisfaction can a person get from having so many piles of trash in their home that they have to sleep outside?
