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.

NotSuchASmugMarriedNow

If you are really concerned about your daughter please speak to your doctor. It may be that there is nothing to worry about but if there is a problem then your doctor will be able to refer your daughter to specialised child mental health services for assessment and treatment. If you do decide to speak to your doctor make sure you describe all the factors that might be involved - for example, whether she seems anxious, low in mood, withdrawn, behaviour problems, school problems, problems with friendships / social interaction or anything else that might be relevant.
The worst thing to do is to do nothing if you do have serious concerns. If children need support with emotional health issues it is by far better for them if the problems can be addressed early rather than later.

I also thought of Hot Fuzz too, made me chuckle. The guy needs some therapy. i believe he is unhappy.

The main thing I hope is that one of the proper friendly neighbours invites him round for supper and lets him loose on their internet so that he can see that the newspapers already have fantastic digital archives

My father never threw out a newspaper for years and years and years - in case he missed an article in a back issue
the internet has cured that problem as he now knows he'll never miss a newspaper article

once the paper collecting is gone other things will gain proportion
and yes, I think his late dad was probably an utter bullying monster
paid for Richard to go to boarding school (once he was nourished the accent reappeared) but demolished his self esteem

Amusingly I just read the Daily Mail article
I did not see any copies of that paper in the Documentary
and sorry but I do not believe the back story
it does not fit the attitude or evidence of financial independence of the man

must send Simon Pegg to that village though
their garden fences deserve Nick Frost

I would be interested to see if the house actually gets cleared tbh and not just the garden. The psychologist couldn't help as he was unwilling to agree to keeping the 'stuff' in a storage facility which is what the chap wanted to do originally.

The thing is even if you forcibly clear out homes that are this bad unless there is proper support/counselling then it makes no difference and the hoarder goes straight back to square one again.

It was lovely to see the gardener chap help him and offer friendship, really nice. The thought of living in a village like that makes my skin crawl though!

I thought it showed the best and worst of village life. The snobbery of some of the people was breathtaking. As for that councillor, I enjoyed watching him squirm when they asked if he had spoken to Mr Wallace.

However, the landscape gardener showed what difference one unstuffy person could make. I thought it was really good at the end when someone said that people had been popping in dinners for Richard. He looked so much healthier by the end. To be fair to some of the people who were quite anti-Richard who did change their tune by the end once they had actually got to know him.

Yes I thought that was lovely too that they invited him over for dinner :)

Going back to the point about newspapers being available on line - that misses the point of what this sort of hoarding is about. Look at him wanting to keep that raggedy old kid's umbrella - makes no sense whatsoever really - except to him

agreed - but his main rationale was to make an archive - scan and store -
so if the paper could be removed, the rest becomes manageable (and less of a hazard)

Nahhh that was his excuse imo.

valium
I'm the daughter of a newspaper hoarder
it is not an excuse so much as a trigger
but it can be broken if treated sympathetically
which is why if they can help him to get broadband and therefore get his "fix" of information and learning and filing, the need for the tangible paper will fade away

talkin but isn't that just swapping one addiction for another? The need for psychiatric help still remains.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/telly_addicts/1367978-Obsessive-Compulsive-Hoarder-C4-Now This is the discussion thread while it was on.

VERY pleased to hear on Sparkling's thread that the corner has been turned.

His addictions are - like other OCDs - a form of hiding
with people to properly talk to he will have no need to hide
in a year's time he'll be a different man

Mr Trebus was different - he had been traumatised by his war record
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Trebus

I have just watched this prog on Skyplus and felt really sorry that anyone gets to that state and doesn't realise its a problem. I was really concerned that the pyschologist felt he couldn't help him and confused that the firemen
just gave him smoke detectors (with all that paper around I would of thought it was a major fire hazard) but maybe human rights comes into action.
A gentleman I knew from where I used to live - his wife died and he started doing this. No one knew what he was doing although he was a well liked man. As he tried to go through one of these tunnels into his bedroom the rubbish collapsed on him and he was found dead. They had to get him out through the bedroom window. He was around 53.

It confused me how abruptly the programme ended but aside from that I was bowled over by the kindness and friendship extended to Richard by that lovely gardener. As has previously been said I also think that was what was missing from his life, a companion or friend. Lonliness does strange things to the psyche.

It must have taken Mr Wallace great courage to allow the film crew into his home and record this. He struck me as a very kind and well educated fellow who knew he had a bit of a problem with his collecting.
The majority of his neighbours seemed very false, only concerned with how things looked in the village so they could win a little paper certificate.

What an absoloute gentleman and friend Andy turned out to be, kindly offering a helping hand and not judging Richard at all and his good friends rallying around to lend a hand too.

I feel that without Andy's help and support Richard would have been unable to make a start. The Psychiatrist could learn a lot from Andy's actions.

It was interesting to note the main complainants did nothing to help but continue with their scorn; they have a valuable lesson they should learn from this, but I fear they are too aloof in their opinions to recognise it.

Sometimes when you know you need help and are struggling to cope, it can be hard to accept it when it is offered. Force and sneering neighbours will always have the opposite effect.

Best wishes to Richard.