News Hoarding & Ptsd. A Discussion About Media.

[Deleted member 1860]

Right now I'm watching the tail end of a "Hoarders" episode (Joanne;Kristi, 2012) and the info caption states that a daughter developed PTSD due to her mothers hoarding. I missed most of the episode, so I don't know what else could be going on----but, PTSD caused by hoarding? It just doesn't seem to fit into what can diagnostically cause PTSD by my way of thinking. Of course, I'm not a professional!

Has anyone else seen this episode? Am I missing something? My guess is that there may be something else going on, but the PTSD was pinned on hoarding!

I guess it just frustrates me because people will see things like this and believe that anything can cause PTSD, when that's far from the truth. I get frustrated as to how PTSD is presented in the media and on TV.

Of course, it's not an exclusive club. (Ha). But at the same time, I want PTSD to be accurately portrayed in the media. The misconceptions don't do anyone any good.

 

[Jyar]

I would have to agree, Solara. I cannot imagine how hoarding could possibly cause PTSD.

The media likes to "sexy" things up. PTSD is much more exotic than simple cause for worry. Being that its on reality tv, I would not trust a word those clowns have to say anyway.

 

[Life_in_the_Mist]

Well, I agree it maybe doesn't obviously fit the criteria, but maybe keeping a child in those conditions could be considered a form of neglect/abuse?

 

[kahlan]

As the child of a hoarder (not as severe as the cases I've seen on the promos for thst show...i can't actually watch it because it makes me anxious), I'm do want to lean toward there is most likely something else that caused the PTSD (all people deal with things differently) but I'm sure there could be a case made for neglect/abuse as well.

Personally (I do not have ptsd but suffer from severe depression and anxiety issues) the hoarding to me is a secondary symptom/learned behavior that I will fall back into myself if I don't stay on point because I've learned to live comfortable with uncomfortable. The hoarding I grew up with isn't the cause of how I am, that is the result of a variety of circumstances that happened in formative years. Anyway I'm rambling but again the hoarding itself probably isn't what caused it if in fact she does suffer ptsd(my humble opinon)

 

[Abstract]

I personally don't see how it could possibly cause PTSD and can understand the concerns. I do think it could cause many problems such as depression and anxiety issues as result of living in a neglectful and stressful environment for a child. I also think any parent that steeped in an obsession would find it hard to engage with a child properly. Depending on certain factors and personal reactions (that also applies to PTSD) I could imagine it possibly falling under the Adjustment Disorder umbrella.

 

[twopenny]

Knowing how producers like to manipulate things to fit their own programmes, it's possible that if she has PTSD, it's caused by something else, but they've pinned it on the hoarding because it suits their agenda??

 

[Abstract]

I think that is very possible. And I think that the participants would not have known the exact message that would come across until they saw the end product. A huge amount of manipulation can take place just from how something is cut. That happens in journalism all the time too.

She may well have PTSD but have much more to her story. I often wonder at what people are not discussing.

 

[kahlan]

Reality TV...."you see the reality we want you to see!" * dramatic pause * *cue crazy five second clip*

 

[anthony]

Old episode, old diagnostic criterion which was being abused by criterion creep for the purpose of therapeutic benefit.

New criterion, they no longer meet, so they can't have it.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Gotcha.

I wasn't even thinking about the change in diagnostic criteria. Unfortunately, a vast majority of the public doesn't know about those changes.

Regardless, my guess is that PTSD was exploited, being the "hot" diagnosis of the time.

I think that it's possible for someone to get PTSD living within hoarding conditions, but it would have been from abuse/neglect. Perhaps they didn't want to pin abuse/neglect on the mother, so they pinned it on hoarding. And that way both the mother and the daughter can be viewed as victims in a sense, the daughter with PTSD because of her mothers hoarding, and the mother with hoarding issues that can be viewed as a disorder and thus not fully within the mothers control (debatable, but I think you get the gist of what I'm saying.)

My mom hoarded stuff under the guise that it was for her business. My PTSD isn't related to living in an extremely over cluttered house. (My mom is not as bad as those on tv, but we had very little "living" space amongst the junk).

 

[anthony]

I think that it's possible for someone to get PTSD living within hoarding conditions, but it would have been from abuse/neglect. Perhaps they didn't want to pin abuse/neglect on the mother, so they pinned it on hoarding.

That would be my guess as well... the same as some say they have PTSD because of a relationship breakup, where in fact they got diagnosed due to childhood abuse, and a recent breakdown in relationship tipped them over the edge. It isn't the relationship that haunts them, but suddenly their childhood memories of abuse. They still deny the actual reason though.

 

[Abstract]

I think this happens a fair amount. I know it happened to me. Not helped by the avoidance symptoms. I would discuss absolutely everything except "those" and was totally obsessed by the precipitating experience that seemed to send me over the final PTSD edge. It's weird how deluded we can be.