
"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 woman has more than 30 sickly cats; a teacher's hoard has already cost her a job.

A hoarding woman may lose her daughter; a groom never moved in to his wife's cluttered house.

Residents of a Victorian home fill their expensive abode with mountains of stuff; a man fills his house and eight storage units with worthless junk.

The suggestion of discarding useless items raises a mother's rancor; a woman of privilege descends into hoarding following the murder of her husband.