Rehab for Horders

I've blogged about the program on the A and E network before but after last nights episode I think something is amiss.

Basically, to have any sort of success it seems to me there has to be another way of working with a person who is afflicted with this demon. Truly. It is painfully obvious to me that the "organizer" who slowly and patiently works with the possessed is not enough. Neither is the therapist who, as my better half so lovingly put it, "mollycoddles," their client.

By the time most of these hoarders make it to having help come in they are past the road to ruin. They own so much shit and crap and it lies about everywhere the eye can see. Their homes are full of "stuff" piled high and low. For most of them a pathway from room to room is the only open space remaining. Their refrigerators are filled with moldy out dated food. Their floors must need to be replaced once cleared, given the rot and smell. Inevitably, these people seem to be drawn to animals. Kitty litter unhinged, ugh!

From the outside looking in, most of these homes appear to be uninhabitable. But, we know they are not. There are families locked inside them both physically and mentally. Many have lost relationships, friends, family, and any social aspect they may of once held in their homes. The saddest story was yesterday when even the children were removed from their family due to this nightmare.

Failure to change is the running theme with this diagnosis. Not an organizer, not a therapist, nor loss of any anything else seems to be able to chase away this rabid bug. It appears to take hold of the participant and simply owns them. It appears to me quite hopeless. And yet. I have a better idea. Albeit, it's really another A and E program. Intervention.

No one is going to be "cured" or "helped" in three small days. Do you realize how many days it took for most of these homes to end up looking like they do by air time? For most, it has been a long painful obsession over many years. So here is my proposal...

Long term rehabilitation for the hoarder. Yep, just like Betty Ford. 90 days and up to six months, locked-in, inpatient care. I don't care if it's 12 step, or massive therapy but something has got to be able to unhook the need to fill your self up with "stuff." It's an addiction, a habit, just like any other addictive disease. Can you imagine the emptiness a person who has this need must feel? And then, if they didn't already feel empty and lonely enough they create a situation that in the end only creates more social isolation.

I don't know if we've ever had a first lady who had this malady, but if we have it's time for her to come out of the closet and open up a rehab center. Good God, they say there are at least 3 million people in the country who are faced with this problem. I'd say that would keep a number of therapist employed and rehab facilities open for quite some time.

In addition to that, instead of slowly pawing through pile after pile and box after box why not work with the ill from the inside. To give them hope that upon their release they can go home they can truly start over. Other then photos, everything else is tossed. Leaving of course necessities like clothes, food, furniture, etc... No storage lockers and not a million a one plastic boxes labeled full of crap. They arrive home to a clean out, uncluttered, non-critter infested home.

Hopefully, after serious therapy and not just 3 days the homeowner can truly feel free at home.