
"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.

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.

After losing a cousin on 9/11, a woman's hoard grows; a hoarder puts her husband at risk.

A cancer patient must make her home habitable; a man has hundreds of unfinished projects.