Hi Barb :)
I have never seen that show.
The previews seem to be a lot like Jerry Springer type treatment of topics.
Fortunately, there is a LOT more positive information and treatment of the subject on TV and internet now than ever before.
Intelligent people have been being educated.
People who laugh and make fun are doing that to make themselves feel better about all their own shortcomings, many of which are a lot worse than hoarding.
Ignore the small minded people, let them stay happy in their ignorance.
Concentrate instead on the videos, books, internet bloggings of the professionals in this field.
The small mined people want to tear you down.
The professionals want to build you up and see you prosper.
(((hugs)))

I have been disturbed by the previews for the Dr. Phil show on hoarders that will be airing sometime in May. The short clip shows Dr. Phil eliciting laughter from the audience as he pokes fun at the guest for items she cannot throw out.
I have to say that I am not a Dr. Phil fan. He seems to me to be an egotistical, self-centered and self-serving man who will do whatever it takes to raise his ratings. One of his strategies is to appeal to the audience's need to label villains and heroes. The audience is encouraged to choose sides in the discussion and TV viewers are asked to Twitter responses which are read on the air.
I understand that we hoarders have to face the problem before anything can be done. I'm grateful that my awakening took place with the support of friends---not glaringly in front of jeering spectators across America. Hoarders need help, not more shame and ridicule.
Over the past year, I have been encouraged by the efforts to educate and to expand services for hoarders and their families and also people in mental health services and governments to solve this problem. I hope that sensationalizing hoarding on the Dr. Phil show will not be a giant step backward.

This weekend one of my favorite TV shows, BBC's Doc Martin, touched briefly on the topic of hoarding. The episode is Season 6, Episode 4 "Nobody Likes Me". A man's hoarding is discovered when a pile of stuff falls on him. Although the character is depicted in the beginning as a cantankerous, anti-social curmudgeon, as the show develops he is treated with compassion and understanding. That's quite a change from the disgust and horror and judgmentalism I usually see from the media. PBS airs this program on different dates and times across the country. Chicago's WTTW will air it again on May 17. You can also download it from Amazon.