
"Hoarders" is an often painful look inside a disease that can bury its sufferer -- literally at times -- in its symptoms. Each hourlong episode profiles two people on the verge of a personal crisis, all caused by the fact that they are unable to part with even the tiniest possessions, and the cumulative effect becomes a mountain of junk and garbage overtaking their home or apartment. If they don't respond to professional help, the consequences sometimes involve eviction, kids being taken away, or even jail time.

A firefighter's co-workers worry his hoarding is affecting his job performance; a woman's two sons suffer due to her unkempt home.

A woman faces the loss of her mobile home and her daughter if she doesn't get help for her hoarding; a single father must clean up his home if he hopes to keep his two special-needs children.

A young stay at home mom and her husband fear that child protective services may take their three children away because of their hoarding; a woman has two freezers and four refrigerators full of food in various stages of decay.

A woman's compulsive shopping depletes her family's finances, fills every room in her home and leads to her divorce; a man faces eviction from subsidized housing because his apartment is filled with garbage and excrement.