How stupid does a person have to be to live like this?

[Archae]

I mean, even the Freepers (I guess) know when to pick up and throw out the trash. :mad:

2 West Milwaukee Children Found Amid Filth, Decay
Toddler Dials 911

POSTED: 11:15 am CDT May 20, 2005

WEST MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- Police found two children living in squalor last month in West Milwaukee when one of the toddlers who lived in the home dialed 911.

The kitchen counter was filled with trash, decaying food and dirt. Flies circled the wastebasket.

Amid all the mess, were children's toys and clothes.

"It's hard to describe the conditions other than totally unsanitary," West Milwaukee Police Chief Eugene Oldenburg said.

When WISN 12 News went inside Thursday, the scene was the same as it was the day the officers first found the children.



http://www.themilwaukeechannel.com/news/4512280/detail.html

[benburch]

1. Depression sometimes does this to people.

But of course we would rather assign blame than find causes and fix them.

[FreedomAngel82]

2. That's so awful

:( I'm glad the kid called 911.

[MrMonk]

4. Drug addiction, too.

[UdoKier]

5. I have to agree with you.

It's easy to ridicule when you don't know these people at all.

The scrawlings on the wall remind me of the walls of our apartment when our kids were smaller. We certainly never slept on dirty beds without sheets, or failed to change our kids' diapers, or left feces on the floor, BUT, there have been times when our apartment got pretty messy because two small kids and two jobs and living in a pretty small apartment were just too much to keep up with. The laundry alone can be overwhelming.

Now mix in poverty, or drug addiction, or lack of training in how to keep a house when the parents were growing up, or whatever is the cause of this mess, and it's easy to see how bad things can get.

I hope these parents can get themselves together and create a suitable home for their kids. It's sad, and I couldn't call them "stupid" without knowing them.

Thank God their babies didn't end up like the one in "Trainspotting".

[amazona]

3. it's clinical depression

When any animal ceases to clean itself, it's near death or feels that it is.

I've known a couple of people who suffered from this symptom, and it has destroyed their lives. One of these men was heavily 12-stepped and therapied and was able to overcome his addictions for several years but still couldn't or wouldn't keep his environment clean. The other was a throw-away as a child and has never been able to get any psychiatric help to my knowledge. That one gets into moods where he won't even bathe. It's too bad, as he was a talented business associate, but he just can't achieve his potential because of his lack of ability to keep clean and pass as normal in the population. Forget about washing clothes or cleaning up an apartment. He just never got motivated to do it. At the present time, last I heard, his colleagues had given up on him and he was again homeless. In his case I think an SSRI would be worth a try since it never has been tried, although I realize that drugs are no guarantee of a cure.

On edit--the more severely affected guy, the throwaway, has never used drugs for fear of what he has seen them do to others. Neither legal or illegal. I think in his shoes I might go ahead and at least try the Prozac but I can't make that choice for him.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[benburch]

6. As a person with Clinical Depression

I know exactly what it is like.

Some days I cannot function even WITH the SSRIs. But I have forced myself to learn how to compensate for it. Some people cannot even do as well as I do, and my heart just goes out to them.