Hubs and I are a couple of the facilitators of a group for children of hoarders. We're not talking a nice pile of Reader's Digests. We're talking overwhelming, unbelieveable, house-swallowing squalor. We've been through many cleanouts with my MIL...a couple yrs ago we cleaned out 150 lawn and leaf garbage bags and it didn't even complete the task by a long shot. We live aroudn 700 miles away from my MIL so we couldn't finish it...we ran out of time.
MIL would always tell us that her house was now under control and that she was regularly seeing a psychiatrist...let's just say that she's an adept liar who will no longer pull the wool over our eyes.
About a year ago my MIL was reported to adult protective services, presumably when a home health care worker came by the home after one of her frequent hospital stays. She richly deserved to be reported. Three construction dumpsters and twenty plus garbage bags of used adult diapers later (the latter were strewn hither and yon) we finished the most recent, highly traumatic cleanout. We wore full organic fumes respirator masks, goggles, heavy duty gloves, and threw away a lot of the clothing we wore into that hell hole. All along my MIL kept complaining bitterly that she had been reported, insisting that she had a plan to clean things up if they had just stayed out of her business. Being that she has had her home cleaned out probably eight to ten times by others (she never helped, of course), doesn't look like she has a clear grip on reality, eh?
After the cleanout, which cost us thousands and used up all our vacation time (what a thing to go in debt for!), we probably had/have post traumatic stress or something. Hellish. Truly hellish.
After the cleanout, my MIL spent six weeks in the hospital, threatening suicide, nearly dying, always asking where her stuff was, never showing thanks or appreciation for what we did.
She is in a senior apartment now with housekeeping each week. She has many problems that we are trying to sort through. Let's just say that the squalor was only the tip of the iceberg. It is unbelieveable.
Seems like since we met the community of people from around the world that just about everyone knows someone like this to varying degrees. A number of resources show photos which is probably the most helpful thing to realize this is way beyond just a little clutter or mess...it's a major psychological issue that they thing probably two or three million people in America are dealing with alone.
If you know someone who is dealing with this you might want to refer them to the following:
Reader's Digest article about hoarding: http://www.rd.com/content/the-hoarding-syndrome--when-clutter-goes-out-of-control/
Our org's web site: http://www.childrenofhoarders.com
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