hereIam I think it was this, //you don't know the full story// what I should have said, of course, is that none of us knows the full story, only what we have read in the newspaper. I apologise if you took that to be personnel.
A lot of this can be put down to shame and embarrassment; an unwillingness to admit that you can no longer cope. Help is out there, but pride needs to be swallowed when asking for it.
It used to be called Diogenes Syndrome and its not laziness, unwillingness to ask for help or any other thing; its a genuine aspect of mental illness....I would call it a symptom rather than an actual illness of itself as the cause can differ from person to person. The lady who I best remember had been an Inspector of Workhouses in her youth. When I met her, she had had several small strokes and felt overwhelming guilt about her part on supporting the workhouse system which seemed to have triggered her need to hoard. Another one was a retired nurse and all she could say to explain it was that she had spent so many years paying meticulous attention to cleanliness that when she retired, she stopped. Both were intelligent articulate women and neither felt any need to change their lives. Most odd.
And it's an easy trap to fall into. It must have taken years to desensitise yourself to a situation, when you stop noticing smells or the pain and suffering of others.
I can't see how prison time will help either. There does seem to be more going on here. It is awful for his wife, of course, but hard to tell exactly how much responsibility he is able to take for it.