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I’m watching Hoarding: Buried alive, not Hoarders, and during the past few episodes I’ve had two really strong ethical issues. Like Cary, the Elvis guy, and the episode I’m watching now Karen/“You’re Not Taking My Kids”-episode.
Like, everyone on the show has issues, but Cary really needed a several months long grippy sock vacation. I felt so bad for him, he was so lost and struggled so severely. He was literally going insane. I wonder if he ever got what he needed and deserved care wise. He just needed care so bad.
And Karen, with her two sons, she is completely detached, she’s out. She, for sure, needed a grippy sock vacation too. In her interviews, that are after the cleanup, she’s still not a functional human being, you can tell she’s ridden with so much anxiety.
I question the show for being so unethical. I mean yeah, they get a free therapist for a couple of days, but these two needed so much more, and especially after having the gold of their addiction stripped away from them. Those two episodes should not have been aired. Especially Cary’s.
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Hoarders: Buried Alive hits differently than Hoarders. My body reacts to watching that show and not in a good way.
So it was never this bad on Hoarders? I have no recollection as I just watched a few episodes when it aired here a few years ago (5-10y ago in my country).
I saw an article with a woman who was approached to join HBA and the production said it was “like Hoarders, but with a softer approach” or something. Idk what they meant as I have no recollection of Hoarders watching that many years ago. I mean, HBA is severe, even if they get a therapist for two days. Two days can’t fix this. They should get a years worth of appointments to having to expose themselves like this. That’s at least what they’re worth and deserve.
That show is unwatchable in my opinion.
I feel the same way about Animal Hoarders!
I can’t stand the animal hoards. I love my babies they say , the poor animals are always in the worse health and they act clueless. It drives me nuts!
I can’t watch any show where animals are abused or neglected.
Curious: why? And how do you feel about them opposite the original Hoarders series?
Like, I know my why. But what’s yours?
Yeah, they are really sick. Was it never this bad on Hoarders, idk bc I only watched a couple of episodes years ago
I like Hoarders because one way or another there was some kind of conclusion. They clean it up and the person gets their life back , the house is torn down, or something in that fashion. I just didn’t care for the way the show moved. HBL has the doctors and experts, I felt like they were studying them more than trying to help. We all know they need help they are on these shows!!!
Thanks for explaining! No doubt they were studying them. Like ofc!
Some of the professionals were actually good tho. I don’t know but I felt so proud when that blonde woman psychologist talked to Eileen on HBA and actually got out of her that she was passive suicidal by not taking her meds/insulin. Idk. From my experience in the mental health system that actually takes a lot to notice, passive suicidaliness, no matter how “clear” the patient is.
I might be biased as being passively suicidal myself, but no one has ever noticed. So I felt so moved when she actually dared touch on that subject.
Dr. Becky. She’s smart, kind, and insightful.
((((Hug))))
Ive read that most of them go back to hoarder after cleanup.
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My paternal great grandma was a hoarder. She would buy a dress, wear it once, put it in a plastic bag, spray it with lysol, put it in a box, then put it in storage. Her and my great grandpa were paying for at least a couple storage units to fit all her stuff and could no longer afford rent. They ended up voluntarily moving into their car for 25 years. Another couple felt bad for them and gave them a VW van so they could sleep laying down (my g grandpa was starting to get a hunchback), but she hoarded that out and they still slept sitting up in the front.
I grew up hearing stories and saw a couple photos of them in the front of the van. I never understood what was actually going on until I watched hoarders. I also realized my mother has strong hoarding tendencies. She keeps it under control. However, I feel like every child on the show that says, “my mom used to have a lot of stuff, but it was manageable until my dad died” makes me think of my mom currently as the ”before tragedy”. And watching the show made me realize that I also have hoarding tendencies, even if they’re not debilitating in any way (yet). I really think the show has helped me from turning into a full blown hoarder 40 years down the line.
This is a wild story. Thank you for sharing 🙂
I’m glad you liked it! When my great uncle cleaned out their units he found thousands of dresses in great condition and donated them all.
Yes, obviously. There should be some aftercare. I’m all for the positives the show gives, to the ones dealing with it and outsiders. Every single one needs help, no doubt, but Cary and Karen needed to be in a hospital. Nothing else could ever help them.
It haunts me that the last post from Elvis Cary on FB is from 2017.
This is why I like the UK version better. They get 6 weeks of therapy, and the process is slow, not chaotic made-for-TV-drama. The people themselves get to the point with the therapy and exercises that they willingly clear out their own hoard.
I don’t know how I can watch the UK version? (Norway).
I just watch it on YouTube. Lots of them are on the "Only Human" channel.
Is that the one with Dr Stellios?
Yes
Agree, it’s better.
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Of course they do, it’s TV, they have to, right? “Lol”. But my issue is, do these two people in particular have the sanity and sense of self to actually rightfully sign the papers to appear on the show? I don’t think they do. Especially Cary, he was so broken down and clearly had severe, severe mental issues. Any humane human would say “you know, this isn’t right to air”. And if they have the money to “let’s get him some real help while we clean out his place for him” when they meet him and see his situation.
And the woman with the two sons, she was still so broken in the interviews which they film after. She needed serious help.
Grippy sock vacation means trip to the looney bin, right?
I generally only watch the more “normal” episodes and avoid ones with bad animal stuff, child neglect or actual insanity. But sometimes you don’t know til you’re deep into it.
cary's episode broke my heart. the way his "friends" treated him was repugnant. i can only hope he's doing better now
I'm watching Karen's episode now, didn't realize it was going to be kids and animals. Those poor kids look like they've given up and that dog is in BAD shape. She needs serious help, like impatient treatment.
Season 8 episode 10 is so cruel. A 16 year old is being belittled and attacked in a bedroom hoard. This girl is subjected to all daggers toward her from a family that pretends to help. She clearly has issues with her mother’s controlling nature and her messy room is not a problem. It’s terrible the family treats her so badly and she is only a child. That family needed some family therapy to address their need to control a daughter in a phase of childhood. The title is the worse, diagnosis bipolar. Thanks for cementing her mental illness as her identity. She was too young to consent to this and had no advocate!
I agree...this girl and the little boy should have NEVER been on TV
It's terrible. Hoarders works woth people and provides aftercare funding. It's not perfect. But you can see that they actually care.
Hoarders: Buried Alive is basically just trash (pardon the pun). They always seem to stage it so that their first "caring" family member or friend agitates the Hoarders to a tipping point, often boiling over. Then the experts step in and wonder why no one wants to part with anything. They're literally traumatizing these people.
Obviously you think mental health commitment is funny, but the sobering reality is that there are not nearly enough inpatient beds for just the people who pose an immediate danger, let alone everyone who is passively self-harmful. Even if these inpatient beds existed, few people have the means to fund appropriate mental health care.
Why the fuck would I think that is funny? You better read my post and responses a second time, love.
The mental health system is fucked everywhere? I just wish a show that dealt with these people actually gave them help. That they had somewhere for them to recover.
What is your problem?
“Grippy sock vacation” hardly communicates the seriousness of inpatient mental health care and compassion and understanding for those who need it. Grow up.
I dunno, I've worn the socks, i call it the grippy sock vacation as well
It’s a term a lot of people who have been in in-patient psychiatric programs use.
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Yeah I also found it off-putting, when I realized what it meant. Just call it what it is! People who need help deserve respect, too.
Those grippy socks are the shit though, I was super stoked to snag a pair from the regular hospital the last time I went
Not the blue thick ones unfortunately , the yellow thinner ones
Anyone know where to watch for free ?
Have you tried YT? There are probably some episodes of Hoarders there, and Hoarding: Buried Alive, but Hoarding: BA is on Discovery, not free tho
The use of “grippy socks vacation” very much sucks
I saw Karen working at a big box store.
How did she seem like to you? Did she seem as disheveled and shaking as she was on the show? I wonder how her kids are doing now, and where they are and have been 10-ish years after filming.
Not shakey but still disheveled and moving oddly while she worked. I've seen her several times.
I'm watching Season 3 EP 3 right now. It came out in 2011 and I am so pissed because they straight up lied to Renee. They say they said one thing when they literally aired them saying another (re throwing out nothing but food). If this hadn't come out 13 years ago I'd be commenting on Discovery's Instagram right now. They act like Renee is having a meltdown but she's freaked out because the organizer basically lied to her.
These people are mentally ill. Browbeating them for 2 or 3 days to "make decisions" and constantly harping on "time is running out" is almost cruel and in no way comes close to solving the problem. The audience watches for much the same reason that people watch auto racing....to see the wrecks. Reality TV? More like Exploitation TV!
Late to the party, but I've seen that Karen at her job a few times. I recognized her right away but didn't say anything.