I have seen every episode of this show so far.   And they are horrifying
as I've been trying to clean out my mother's house and get her to make
decisions on what to keep and not keep since moving here to Florida from
Illinois.    There are several interesting underlying themes to the
show.    First, there are folks for whom hoarding is considered a mental
illness.   There are other examples where folks due to their health or
simply do to not being able to face decision-making, put off tasks like
throwing items out, cleaning up, etc.    I think in many cases it is a
problem of being
mentally overwhelmed -- unable to start, or if you can start, quickly
losing resolve.

Like records, many of these folks have no concept of the life cycle of
an item and at what point it is no longer useful or obsolete.
Unfortunately since television and the presence of television cameras
change reality, many of these people are clearly embarrassed on camera
and say things like "well, it was a good pumpkin when I got it" (last
year!).    When trying to get my mother to dispose or give away three of
the four flyswatters I find on a hook, she'll say "well, they' paid for"
or "they're mine!"

Dean


Dean DeBolt
University Librarian, Special Collections
John C. Pace Library, University of West Florida
11000 University Parkway
Pensacola, FL  32514-5750
850-474-2213
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