Have you seen the Dr. Phil episode about the extreme hoarder? I know, I know… I talk about this topic all the time. But it’s all over TV and there is so much to say about it. Especially this episode of Dr. Phil.

Ok, so let me set the stage… the extreme hoarder was a mother of three, divorced or widowed (I can’t recall), with a live-in boyfriend. She owned one home and one condo. Both of them were FULL of stuff. She had an alcohol problem, in the past she had a drug problem. She lost her job as a nurse because she was writing herself prescriptions for drugs. She had an eating disorder and she would hoard food. She had 7 refrigerators full of spoiled food and used coolers to store the food that wouldn’t fit in the refrigerators. Her live-in boyfriend was abusive and claimed he was a recovering alcoholic. The children had no bedrooms to sleep in because the home was stuffed. Two of them slept on the couch, in the living room together.

So you can imagine, this is an extreme case. And not only is their hoarding in the home, there are tons of other issues as well. Addiction appears to be the core of the problem. Dr. Phil barely skimmed the surface of this family’s issues in a one hour show. I was disappointed to say the least. Not that Dr. Phil didn’t solve their problems, of course. But because this family’s problems were just too serious and too big to obtain any sort of understanding or deeper knowledge of the situation.

There was no educational component to this episode.  It was simply a bird’s eye view of what is happening in this particular family’s household. Dr. Phil made no attempt to explain the mental illness and addiction that was very apparent. He didn’t even provide a hotline to call or resources for viewers if they are experiencing similar situations. So this is where my disappointment lies. It means nothing to merely ask a few questions and air a family’s dirty laundry on TV. In my opinion it’s simply degrading, disrespectful and childish. I will step off my soapbox now.

I am sure I have now sparked some sort of urge in all of you to see this episode. You can view it by going to http://drphil.com/shows/show/1080. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.