
"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.

Hospital officials refuse to allow a woman with diabetes to return to her messy home; a woman's filthy home poses a threat to her 6-year-old grandson.

A woman collects human waste in bottles; a woman awaiting the Rapture stockpiles material items for the unlucky souls who will be left behind.

A woman loses her two sons to drugs and a granddaughter to Child Protective Services; a former hoarder relapses, prompting her daughter to issue an ultimatum.

A food hoarder's property is overrun by chickens and rotten eggs; the wife of an incarcerated murderer claims that loneliness caused her to become a hoarder.