Pack Rat?

This afternoon I watched an episode of Hoarding: Buried Alive on TLC. At times, I have been accused of being a pack rat, but I'll tell you one thing: that show made me grab the nearest box of notes and books from school and start purging. When it was all said and done, I saved the textbooks (for good reason, fyi: my sister is taking psychology classes) and a couple notes that may be helpful, but I threw out the majority of the contents of that box.

I once experienced first-hand what it was like to walk into the home of a hoarder. It was easily one of the most overwhelming experiences of my life. The man who owned the home, let's call him Walter, was a nice enough man, albeit a little anti-social. Walter had most likely been collecting things for as long as I have been alive. In every direction, there were stacks of yellowed newspapers, magazines, stickers, paper, mail, trinkets of all shapes and sizes, really everything you can think of, Walter had it, and he had more than one.

The thing that really got me, though, was the spider webs. I'm arachnophobic (which means I have an irrational fear of spiders), and it's getting worse and worse. I went to school for psychology, and I learned all about phobias and how to deal with them, but man it's hard. I can feel myself getting anxious just writing about the little creepy-crawlies now, for example. Walter's house was covered in spider webs. Brown ones. That means they have been there for a while, just collecting things, dirty things.  Ewwww!!

Part of all those psychology classes was learning about hoarding. I think that one thing the show should touch on more is the fact that it is actually an illness. Simple as that. It's a mental illness that needs attention, just like any other anxiety disorder (hoarding is one of them), eating disorder, or depression. Some psychologists look at it as a disease, just like any other mental illness.  If you get a chance to watch the show, take not of how many of those cases have some emotionally traumatizing event that sets it off. Maybe a death in the family makes them hold on to everything, maybe abuse, maybe poverty as a kid, who knows.

As for Walter, my guess is it was the death of his mother, which he never specifically mentioned, but he referred to her a few times and that the house had been hers. I'd wager he was afraid to get rid of anything that reminded him of her, and it spiraled out of control. I hope he eventually gets the help he needs, because living in those conditions is simply not safe. If you know anyone who is a hoarder, don't take it upon yourself to get rid of their "junk," to them, it's much more than that. Instead, get them professional help, preferably someone who has a lot of experience with anxiety disorders.

I'll be here being terrified of the spiders in that memory and throwing out anything I can find.