to feel sorry for Mr Richard Wallace, the Obsessive Compulsive Hoarder?

[CheshireDing]

Yes it looks like he lives in a shit hole to be fair and as he said he has not had a bath/shower for years he must stink.

Surely he needs some short of Social Services offer of assistance or something though.

I agree, even though he disagreed with the Psychologist, he does seem to have a mental health problem and does need professional intervention. It was really to see, his family before they died kept the place immaculate condition, I expect that they would not be happy now if the could see it. He does need looking after, when his parents died it just went downhill.

I loved that programme - thought it was great to see some of the villagers rallying round to help, and that help was more effective that the "professional" advice.

Interesting to see that those who had been most condemning of him didn't appear to be there to help.

I also thought it very interesting in that it exposed the limits of professional psychologists. This mantra that you can't help somebody unless they ask for help and that it always involves deep delving into the past is plainly unhelpful in some (not all) cases. Sometimes people just need to be kindly forced to do stuff. I often think this about addiction problems too and like the idea of 'interventions'. Sometimes watching from the sidelines waiting for someone to 'hit rock bottom' or ask for help can have tragic consequences.

I found the programme insightful in a few different ways. The hoarding aspect, the views of the older/arsehole neighbours and the neighbours who were willing and happy to help.

It showed community spirit at its best and worst. Some people were more interested in the village bloom competition than the feelings and well being of a neighbour. But it was great to see the landscape gardener come forward and offer help and get the ball running with other neighbours.

I would have liked to have seen more of the conversation with the psychologist though.

I couldn't watch it, as I knew it would upset me too much. I saw one a few years ago. and I felt awful about the fact that people couldn't intervene more to help. The man in the one I. saw was going out every night, collecting rubbish from the streets to hoard at home and even hoarding his own urine and faeces(fsad). Every now and then, his local council cleared away all the rubbish, but the house would be back to its original state in weeks. IMO, it is a serious mental iillness, and more should be done to treat those poor people who suffer from it.

The thing is .......by law you can't force someone to do something against their will - unless it is a matter of the law being broken (which this was not), or unless it was a matter of child safeguarding (this was not),or unless someone is 'sectionable' under the Mental Health Act (this man would not have been). That only leaves the Mental Capacity Act... This chap would have to have been assessed to see of he has 'mental capacity' to decide to live like that and frankly he would have won ..... He had already represented himself in court against the council over his hoarding and had won.
So there you have it - you can't just force someone in this situation. The villagers were successful because they didn't force him; he chose to accept their help.
Just thought I'd offer an overview of the legal perspective behind it.

I was surprised at how little the pyschologist seemed willing/ unable to help, but there was probably more to it but was edited out.
I really felt for him as he knew his parents would be mortified to see him and the house the way it was.
I too couldn't believe that no-one had intervened when he was eating only 2 boiled eggs a day, not washing and unable to lie down in a bed! I hope his neighbours efforts were genuine and not just for the cameras or the Britain in Bloom competition as it seemed to make a world of difference!

I still think that some of them villagers had a 'Sandford' from Hot Fuzz air about them.

Was a nice program in the end.

Pretty much showed that he kept all of that crap because he had nothing else in his life, as soon as he was offered the hand of friendship by cute gardener man he started parting wih his stuff. If he'd been that set in his ways they wouldn't have stood a chance of getting him to chuck stuff out.

I think he just wanted to feel secure and as though someone cared. It was lovely the way they'd started cooking him dinners.

He looked really happy at the end of the program.

He was a lovely bloke (and nice looking), there'll be single women who've watched writing in. You'll see.....!

:)

Some of the villiagers were ghastly, really false and superficial, I would hate to live in that villiage, all they cared about was that blasted Britain in Bloom contest, and viewed the gentleman as a blight on their community. Good on the landscape gardener and those who rallied around to help clear Richards garden, there are good folk out there.

I used to drive around that house daily as my husband's shop had a contract for delivering to the housing assocation estate directly behind his house when they were all having a bathroom and heating refurb. It is no picture postcard village anyway. The house itself was walled all round, with very high brick walls, and unless you were in a high vehicle (I was driving a large van), you couldnt actually see into the garden.

I did, and to be honest the villagers completely put me off village life till the end, that landscape gardener chap was lovely.

I was appalled at the 'In Bloom' people taking pictures of his fence and garden when he hadn't chosen to participate. They made me shudder.

I wouldn't participate with any of those villagers if I lived there, horrid and existing in abject fakery. Urgh.

ITA with queenofwands he had nothing else in his life so needed stuff....

I also agree totally with the psychologist chap. If he doesn't have insight then he can't be helped- the insight was happening and actually the amateur psychology/CBT that the gardener chap was doing was exactly what was needed. He had such patience and awareness about how long it would take and that things couldn't be forced.

I think the only way anyone could have forced intervention was either via environmental health if it was a threat to others, or if he hadn't the capacity to maintain his own health (again borderline, if the conditions mean that 1 meal a day of 2 boiled eggs was all he could get then malnutrition was a real risk).

YY to the landscaper chap as NinkyNonker says, he was lovely.

He was the only one who said he felt the chap was being picked on. Bar one older gent who said he really didn't want to comment on him.

I have also never seen anyone look as sheepish as the Councillor when he had to admit that he hadn't attempted to speak to Richard before publishing that article asking for complaints.

A lot of people did not come off very well at all, let's fence him in then we don't have to be bothered by him any more.

the gardener bloke was lovely .... am hoping they do a follow up at some point

There's a whole series of these programmes on in America and all of them are desperately sad. That chap lived on his own but the ones with families involved are heartbreaking. I saw one where the woman was a hoarder & had two teenage girls who had never been able to bring friends back to their house. There's episodes where people hoard cats & you can imagine how awful that gets. A common denominator does seem to be some traumatic event that triggers the hoarding. In the case of the man on ch4 I wonder if the death of his parents was what started it. It is a mental illness. If you're getting to the point where social services are threatening to take your children away (as was the case in the USA one) & you still can't stop then there's definitely something out of your control going on.

As a side note, the vicar in the ch4 one didn't strike me as particularly helpful or charitable.

Ninky I thought the Councillor looked very bad when they asked him if he had spoken to Mr Wallace. He is a Councillor fgs and is that not part of his role to try and speak to his "people" and help the community integrate.

Yes, some of them really were a bunch of snobs.

Babe I think you are right about the common denominator. I think I saw a list in a GP Surgery once too and Spousal grief was number 1 for being traumatic, as he had always lived with his Parents I imagine it was equivalent to losing a Spouse for him.

When he was boiling the eggs though I did think if I had been the cameraman I would probably have been pooping my pants about the whole place catching fire and that it took 30 minutes to get to the front door! Not a house for the claustrophobic.

what worries me is that I can see traits of this behaviour in my 12 year old - in fact, it more than worries me, I can visualise her ending up like him and it makes me want to weep. I don't know what to do or where to go for help. Am frightened professionals will just say "it's her age".

Back to the program, I don't think they are mentally ill, just mentally different. Maybe, oh, I dunno how can you want to keep hold of rubbish.

I've also heard of people who wont even throw their own shit and urine away

Does anyone here remember a programme called The Life Laundry? that was good.

I thought of Hot Fuzz too! I'd hate to live in that village. Some of them, like the ex pilot with the 'tache and pastel v necks, looked very capable of lobbing a petrol bomb over the poor chap's fence for the sake of a village in bloom prize. If I had to choose between having a beer with him or the hoarder I know who I'd rather keep company.

I have a relative with OCD that often manifests itself through hoarding and as a mental illness it can be very distressing, but it does make me wonder how much it is amplified by the need to 'fit in' with the rest of society.

Brand new MN member here! I also watched this programme and was in tears. My mother who has life long mental health issues hoarded stuff in this way. My brothers and I were so ashamed and "hid" the problem as well as we could. i was never able to invite friends home and declined invites to friend's homes as I knew I wouldn't be able to reciporicate. Finally, at the age of 73 my older brother managed to get my mum sectioned - it was a heart breaking process. The police had to be involved as my mother had to be physically removed from the house. Then my father, brother and I started the process of empying the house. I had not been home for 8 years (couldn't face it) and was so shocked at the amount of stuff mum had hoarded. oldnewspapers, mouldy loaves of bread, old plug in heaters from car boot sales. My dad who had finally left mum 10 years before had tried on a number of occasions to get the heating and hot water fixed but mum would not let them in. she lived in a housewith no heat, no hot water, broken fridge and cooker and dodgy electrics. You could not walk up the stairs without moving loads of rubbish. The most upsetting thing was that the toilet also didn't flush and she was using various containers around the house to defacate in. After a lot of pushing from my brother, the psychiatrist agreed that mum was not safe to go home. She is now in a long term secure old people's home. They never came up with a diagnosis but mentioned Diogenes Syndrome which is a mental health problem associated with hoarding.

Personally I feel my mum's problems stemmed from unaddresses grief over 2 sisters that she lost at a young age.

I feel distressed and disloyal to mum at posting this but I just wanted people to know that it is amazing what goes on behind closed doors in peoples lives.

Thats incredibly sad howaboutthat. must have been awful trying to sort it all out. welcome to MN!

Thank you Swimming. Yes, it was awful and I feel so guilty that we as a family did not get her the help she needed earlier. However, her GP had always said they will only help people who want help.

Sadly, even though mum is in a home now she is still "hoarding". She has been taking other patients clothes, glasses and newspapers from their rooms. The behaviour is so ingrained.

I think the death of his mother allowed it to escalate. His father sounded a little suspicious, "notoriously strict" etc rang alarm bells with me.

I found the whole thing very sad, especially given he had grown up in the village and his family were integral apparently...as such many of them will have known him for years or since childhood and yet they still washed their hands of him, admitted to not wanting to talk to him etc. So much for community spirit.

He seemed so sad, and despairing of himself, it was great to see people pitching in (bar many of the people involved with the competition oddly enough) and helping him make a start, it must have been hugely overwhelming for him.

I really hope he can get the help he needs ... poor guy :(