We always jokeingly called my Mom a packrat. Little did we know. When she passed, my sister and I had the task of cleaning out her house. There were 9 huge leaf bags of containers alone. You know, cottage cheese, margaine, cool whip. We also discovered every Christmas card that they had recieved since 1954! They owned a business so you can imagine how many of them there were. Her house was always clean, but the basement was full. She also had enough toilet paper, kleenex and paper toweling to last for a year at least. But I think that some of this came from growing up so poor during the depression. She also never threw away a button or rubber band. A lot of people her age horded things. She also had a stash of money. She often told me that she was never going to be completly broke again.

Shadow Dancer said: The problem with it being labeled a mental illness is that people with mental illness don't know they are mentally ill. Their behavior although bizarre to us, is perfectly normal to them. Hoarders know they have a problem, they feel shame when their problem comes to the attention of family and friends. But they don't know how to fix it. end of quote

I do not completely agree with people with a mental illness not knowing that they are ill. Sometimes we are aware that our behavior is odd or bizarre but asking for and getting help is difficult. Especially if you don't have insurance or are underinsured, help is nigh unto impossible to come by unless you commit yourself (good luck with finding or getting an open bed) and even then help is not guaranteed b/c stabilization is the operative phrase. Well enough to leave the facility but perhaps not well enough to function in society or even with medications and a followup services. Sorry about the soapbox but I do have a mental illness and a good dr/therapist can be difficult to find.

It would depend on which mental illness is manifesting, whether it is an Axis I or Axis II diagnosis, is it one illness or a cluster. Then there are the different personality disorders which are not mental illness at all. Someone experiencing a psychotic break is not aware they are psychotic.

There are so many factors involved and blurred boundaries when it comes to mental illness. That's why sometimes it takes months if not years for a psychiatrist to get an accurate diagnosis. Then the daunting task of finding the right medications starts.

the show Mon 2/21/11 on the OWN channel is (and I quote TV guide) "A woman has 2000 lbs of quilting clutter." Show is called Enough Already! with Peter Walsh. Should be interesting.

As a one-day-at-a-time recovering mid-level hoarder...I highly recommend the book Buried in Treasures, by Tolin, Frost and Steketee.

Many libraries have it. Here is a link for it at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Buried-Treasur...p/0195300580#_
Note that you can take a peek inside the book to get a flavor for it.

There are many root causes and different types of hoarding. This book is so very helpful for hoarders and their families in dealing with this illness in a practical way and, most importantly, in one that will not increase the resistance of the hoarder.

Is this show off the air? or when will the new season start?

the one with the domestic rats floored me.

EDIT - this show helped me get rid of more "junk" that I was not using. I'm a pack-rat level. I still have more stuff to thin out, but this show did show me what I could live without.