I live in inhuman conditions. ROBIN: This feels
like punishment. You always made me feel
like it was my fault. [sobbing] Oh, re-- PAM: I'm just still
wondering how bad-- how much worse this
story could get. DEE: This is my secret life. Stop stepping on my stuff. My answer is no. [scoffs] I've distanced
myself for many years. What's going on? I'll just call the city. [theme music] I never dreamed
it was this bad. She has so much shame
and so much embarrassment, she just doesn't
want to deal with it. Jan, it's your responsibility
to take care of this situation. I realize this is
painful, but I'm going to ask you to go back in. I'm Jan, and I'm an artist. I pretty much spend the day
making jewelry and playing on the internet, but
not very good at, um, taking care of myself. I live out in my bedroom. I don't come out in the
front of the house at all. My kitchen is the worst room. It's just a mountain
of cat crap. You have to step up to get
in because the cat crap is so high. The bathroom is horrible. There's a pile of human
crap in my toilet. I pee in a bottle, and I poop in
that horrible pile of [bleep].. But the light's off, so I
pretend that I don't know what's going on. I am Georgia, um,
and I'm Jan's daughter. The last time I was there,
there was piles of trash, dirt, and crap. I'm Pam, and Jan is my sister. The reason I quit
going to her home was because of the
smell of her home. I couldn't take it. Cats' urine, cat feces. PAM: The man from
the city said, I need to inspect your apartment. He was in there for about five
minutes and came out and said, I can't let you
go back in there. Because I didn't want to leave. And he was like, no,
you can't stay here. I'm at my daughter's house now. GEORGIA: I love her to death,
but she can't live with me indefinitely. I can't afford to
have her stay with me. I can't psychologically
have her stay with me. It's too stressful. PAM: She's not happy
at all that she's having to have me
in her apartment, you know, and I--
and I understand. It's a terrible burden for her. She doesn't need this. JAN: Kind of always been
messy, but the house looked like a house-- a normal house-- but then
my father died in '92. That was rough,
and I couldn't go. I went to counseling,
got on anti-depressants. And then Georgia's
father, out of the blue, said that he'd been dating
this woman, she was pregnant, and they were getting married. And that's when I had
the nervous breakdown. She was diagnosed with
very severe depression. But I think she had problems
in the house long before that, but I think that's
when it really got bad. JAN: About that time,
my mother had a stroke. She died within three months. PAM: I do recall Jan telling
me that she pretty much quit living in the front
part of the house. She had let the
cats take it over. GEORGIA: At one point
there was over 20 cats, and she stopped taking
care of the animals, and they kind of began
to take over our house. PAM: I let my cats
destroy everything. GEORGIA: I was very worried
that people could smell me. I couldn't even leave
the house without, like, spraying myself with
ridiculous amounts of perfume. PAM: I finally told her,
Jan, you're raising Georgia to be the smelly kid. GEORGIA: It was stressing
me out to a point where I couldn't handle it,
and I moved out, went away to college. I felt very guilty about
leaving her in that situation. JAN: After my
daughter moved out, there really wasn't much
need for me to clean up. There was no one to impress,
no one to be responsible for. GEORGIA: Living with her
was like the very last thing keeping her from just
deteriorating to the point she is now. But I do think that she's
reached a point where she sees, finally, how bad her
situation has got. I live in inhuman conditions. I'm ashamed. I'm very ashamed. My name is Dee, and
this is my secret life. I tend to just collect
everything, actually. Books, clothes, tchotchkes. I like everything. [chuckles] My name is Talia,
and Dee is my mother. She brings home a lot
of things that maybe she hopes to utilize. DEE: You know, I love
finding a good bargain, but then you have to deal with
finding a place for the stuff. No one's been in my house in
the 10 years I've been here. I've never been allowed in. I took her one time to the
house, nine months pregnant. And I had to use the restroom
and she wouldn't let me in, so I can guess that
it's pretty bad. DEE: None of the house is
functional in any way, shape, or form. The bathrooms are
not functional. The water was turned off. I obviously shower elsewhere,
and I don't sleep on my bed. TALIA: She's told me she
can't really walk in the home. And it's very scary for me
to think of my mother alone, all these things
packed to her roof that are a fire hazard, a health
hazard, could block entry. When I leave, she'll
have no support system, and she doesn't know anyone. It's finally come to a head. There are no more options. DEE: I don't know if she
really would do that. I would like to think
that she wouldn't. TALIA: I don't mind
being the bad guy, because at the end of the
day I have to do what's best for her safety. My name is Cindy,
and I'm Dee's sister. I live in Texas, so since she
doesn't live in the same state, it was always
difficult to visit her. DEE: At some point, I did reach
out to her to come and help me. She said she just couldn't. CINDY: So instead, we decided to
pay someone to come in and help her, and the lady
called me back and said, I can't help your sister. TALIA: Her hoarding is one
of my earliest memories. And each year, you
know, it got worse. We had eight, nine cats. Two of the cats passed away and
she wanted to get them stuffed. So to preserve them, she
kept them in our freezer. I was very angry at
my home situation. She's had some major
anger issues towards me because of this. TALIA: The house was so packed
you couldn't walk in it. So she slept in
our bathroom, and I would have to not have fluid
or eat food after, like, 5:30, because my mother
lived in our bathroom. It was such intensely
bad situation. The reason I never called
the city is that I was always scared that at
the end of the day my mom would pick
hoarding over me. I went bonkers. [chuckles] TALIA: It's always been bad,
but when she had that cash flow, it literally hit
100 times worse. I totally screwed up. TALIA: She literally had no
money from a huge settlement that should've kept her
for, like, 10, 15 years. It's definitely a lot more
fun when you have money. TALIA: I've always
wondered what's going to be her breaking point,
what was it going to take, and this is finally it. She really is at
the lowest point. JAN: I want a place where
someone can walk through and not hold their nose. It doesn't have to be
pristine, just human. Hi, Jan. JAN: Hi. Hi, Dr. Zasio. It's nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, too. My name is Dr. Robin Zasio. I'm a licensed
clinical psychologist, and I specialize in
compulsive hoarding. Oh, dear. Walking into the
house, my first sight was animal feces everywhere. It was on the floor, it was on
the furniture, the appliances, everywhere. Jan, you've been living in this? My daughter was moving
out and moving on. So you were living your
life for your daughter. Yeah. When it slowly dawned on me
that I was going to be alone for the rest of my life,
I just thought, well, what the [bleep], you know? ROBIN: So, by living
in filth, you're reinforcing that you don't
deserve anything better. I suppose. This feels like
punishment to me, Jan. As a result of
her low self-worth and her fear of being
left and abandoned, she created a wall around
her, literally of feces. I don't want to
show you the bathroom. I don't want to talk
about the bathroom. ROBIN: Jan did not want
me to see the bathroom, and I understand why. This was one of the
most horrific images I have seen in my life. [coughing] I had to call her
in to face the reality of what has happened in her life. You're punishing yourself. This is some kind of torture. She has to find a way to heal
the scars that are consuming her. I'm Dorothy Breininger,
Professional Organizing Expert. Today I'm going in
with the whole family, so that they can get an
understanding of what this house really looks like. Home sweet home. PAM: I never dreamed it was
this bad, and I'm sorry. ROBIN: What are you sorry about? That I didn't help her more. ROBIN: What do you feel
that you could have done? I could have pushed
her, and I'm sorry, Jan. ROBIN: She has not had running
water for a year and a half, and she's been using the
restroom without running water. OK? TALIA: My mom goes, I
don't have an issue. She goes, I just
need to organize. If I just organize my
things, I'll be fine. [knocking on door] Hi, how are you? Hi, I'm Dr. Green. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. I'm Dr. Melva Green, a
Board Certified Psychiatrist specializing in anxiety
disorders and hoarding behaviors. I kind of blocked myself
in trying to get this love seat out by myself. This is a really,
really advanced hoard. She's gotten lost in it. DEE: This box spring, I
also tried to get out, and I got it stuck. You got stuck a lot of
different places here, huh? Yeah. I-- I tried to make an
effort to do it and then I gave up, basically. MELVA: OK. All of these
furnishings symbolize exactly where her
life has been-- stuck. What's the status of
your utility situation? It's pretty cold outside. Yeah, there's
not been any heat. Do you have water? DEE: No, I had the
water cut off too. So-- It's not safe for you. All of these things are putting
her at a great health hazard. Oh, my gosh. It's a lot worse
than I ever thought. It was difficult just
to take one step. I'm shocked. Completely shocked. I don't even know how she would
live in here and walk in here. How does she get to the kitchen? She jumps up here? I have no idea how she
does that every day how she's been doing
that for years. I never dreamed
that she was having to use the restroom inside. No.
ROBIN: Come here. Come here. No. And that hurt to see that
she had come to that point. Come over here. Come over here. [sobbing] [sighs] It was
emotional in there. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. We're going to take care of it. I thought I knew
what to expect, but I wasn't prepared for that. [sobbing] JAN: Bye, really
crappy water cooler. Bye, stupid back chair. Bye, rake. DOROTHY: What's really
interesting is that she was avoiding doing any of the work. Family members in there
shoveling, dusting, you know, getting stuff
off the walls, and Jan, outside having a cigarette. ROBIN: She just wants
to be a spectator. She has so much
shame and so much embarrassment over
what's happened, she just doesn't
want to deal with it. Jan, it's your responsibility
to take care of this situation, OK? I realize this is
painful, but I'm going to ask you to go back in. This is your responsibility. Part of getting healthy is
being a part of this process, not asking everybody
else to do this. Can you go back in? Yeah. Go, go, go. PAM: Feels good, doesn't it? I know that's not easy. We'll pick up the entire-- entire bit of it.
We got it. MAN: Got it? HAZMAT TEAM MEMBER: Yeah. Who doesn't have a
drawer full of these? We got it. [inaudible] DOROTHY: Come here. I think your support is needed. I need you to gently explain
to Jan what you've experienced, OK? OK. Well, while we were
doing our clean out, we noticed that there
was cats that were hiding in the bathroom, and one of them
was hiding behind the toilet. And it did run out, eventually. And, uh-- GERALIN: My name
is Geralin Thomas. I'm a certified
professional organizer. I specialize in chronic
disorganization and hoarding. I don't think Dee's aware
of just how much she has, so we'll be hauling things
out of the house to show her. TALIA: What about this? Yeah, I'd like to keep this. That's my key. I'm keeping that. I am keeping that, and I
would like to keep these. I'm keeping this. Those are keepers? Unless she starts letting
things go, all we're doing is sorting and boxing. What I would like to
suggest is to empower your sister and your daughter. Give them permission. They don't know
what I want to keep. GERALIN: Well, what
about just obvious trash? Obviously ruined. I would like to see what
you're throwing away, actually, to tell-- to tell you the truth.
- Every single thing? I'm just trying to help
with the trash, that's all. For me to ask if a
book that's completely soaked with warped pages and
it's ripped, it's hard for me to say, can I throw this away? [inaudible] I'm just
only doing the trash. I'm just-- I'm just
getting them, Talia. TALIA: If you have to look
at every single thing, we won't get anywhere. Dee is really
micromanaging the situation. I want to look at everything
that's going to go in here. MELVA: She wants to see every
single thing that's coming out of the house, including trash. We have to focus on
getting rid of stuff. I felt it important to stop
so that we could really get to the center
of why we are here. Your daughter loves you,
and you want a relationship with your grandchildren. OK. Why don't we start with
what's most meaningful for you in here? OK. Well, um, any, like, ethnic art,
anything that I've got boxed. I mean, whatever it is though-- ooh, can you get
your foot off that? Think you need to
step back a bit. You're breaking things. She's got a lot of anxiety. She's really bottled it
up really, really tightly. I mean, she's a stick of
dynamite, ready to go. I just don't want you
walking over everything. Can you step out-- OK. --now? MELVA: Are we still on track? Do you still want
to see this happen? Yes. I want you to stop
stepping on my stuff. And it's stuff
that you have not-- have not taken care of. None of this is being
honored, none of this is being cherished. Yeah, it's totally
not being honored now. The things are breaking
because the-- it's a factor of the condition
of the environment. It's not any of the people here. I think most of
what we're saying is rolling right off Dee's back. We're not making
room in her life for the stuff that's
really important. We're not working
on her relationship. We're not making her
home a better, more safe, inhabitable place for her. TALIA: We still have to get
rid of a lot of this stuff. - We haven't even made it--
- Yeah. --10 feet in the door. TALIA: It needs to
accelerate, or else I'm just going to leave. And I'll just call the city
and have them deal with it, because I'm not going
to tiptoe around. That has been done enough. Why don't you let me
sort through here and then I can figure it out? MELVA: I'm going to tell you
what you're going to have. You're going to have
all your stuff in boxes. So you will still be nowhere
near your goal, which is to have your
grandchildren over. - Mm-hmm.
- Are you clear about that? - Yeah.
- Are you OK with that? We noticed that there
was cats that were hiding in the bathroom, and one of them
was hiding behind the toilet. And it did run out,
eventually, and, uh-- DOROTHY: It came over here
and laid down and died. Ah. Yeah. So let's go over. Oh, Randy. PAM: It's surreal. It's kind of the pinnacle of
how awful the conditions are. Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry. PAM: I'm just still wondering
about how much worse this story could get. Aw, sweetie. When we talked to
Brandon, the bio hazmat guy, he said that cat has been living
in really dangerous conditions for such a long time. BRANDON: Doesn't
usually happen as fast, but that kitty could have been
carrying feline leukemia-- Yeah. --from the situation
that it was living in-- I've lost some cats. --and the bacteria,
and it-- it happens. This cat dying the
way that it did really shows us how incredibly
dangerous and hazardous this environment is. Jan has no concept
of how bad it's been. The ammonia that got
released when they cleaned the poop mountain killed him. When we started-- No, no, no, no. What I'm hearing is, the cat has
been breathing in the ammonia for extended periods of time. It wasn't the removal of the
toilet, correct, Brandon? No.
That is correct. ROBIN: It was really,
really disturbing to see she blamed the cat dying
on the fumes that were coming up when the toilet was
removed rather than taking responsibility for the fact
that this cat has been living in high levels of
ammonia for years. [train whistle blowing] It's not worth saving. I need a fresh bag. OK. DOROTHY: We're
getting everything out of every cabinet. The closets are being
cleared, and lo and behold, we come across more cats. We actually captured them
and the 1-800 Got Junk guys put them in these two boxes,
and we called animal control and they picked
them up immediately to give them attention. GEORGIA: I remember you
moved the litter box in here and then it became my fault
because I didn't clean it every day. I mean, you always
made me feel like it was my fault because she
was my cat first, you know. If we hadn't gotten the
cat in the first place, this never would have happened. JAN: Well, I didn't mean to
make you feel like you were responsible for all these cats. Well, you did. I know you didn't
mean to, but you did. ROBIN: I predicted that
once this house started to get in order that a lot
of the emotional issues in this family were
going to come up, and that's exactly
what happened. This is such an important
dialogue right now, because she feels in some
way responsible for what's happened. Isn't that what you're
saying, Georgia? You know, this used
to be where I lived too. It was like after a while there
wasn't anywhere else to throw anything, and I feel bad. I'm like, well, I
contributed to this mess. But then I guess
on the other hand, what else did I-- could I do? What can you say to her? JAN: It was rough growing up,
especially towards the end, when you very wisely
chose to leave. I'm sorry, darling. This has been really,
really, really a lot to ask. GERALIN: This has been an
extremely frustrating process. And now it's freezing cold
and raining, which just really brings us to a screeching halt.
We know we're going to take up this whole space. We're just going to do the best
we can to get that stuff out of the rain. We'll bring in all
the boxes and we'll go from here to the ceiling.
- Yes. TEAM MEMBER: And make sure
we have a pathway here. Yep. TALIA: Do you want
to donate these too? I'm keeping that one. TALIA: OK. I need one of these. What were you going
to put in there? Whatever I can. Like what? I definitely feel conned by the
whole experience of being here. This? Yes, I want it. TALIA: She's not willing
to part with the items. She's really not come
to terms of hoarding. So, keeping all of this? Yep. MELVA: So, Dee, as you're
going through this, keep in mind you've got more
wine glasses than you could ever drink from in a lifetime. Yeah.
I know. MELVA: So--
- I know. I'm going to go through them. Dee having a sense that she
has to touch everything, be in control of
everything is merely part of the hoarding behavior. I'm going to go through that. OK. So are you saying you don't want
me to go through it with you? I just want to go
through it myself. OK. No problem. JAN: OK.
MELVA: Dee. Mm-hmm? MELVA: Your daughter's
trying to help you. Let her know how
she can help you. DEE: I just want to do
it myself, that's all. CINDY: So I came to watch
you go through each dish? That's what I came for? DEE: You've been helping
me, and I appreciate that. CINDY: I have not been able
to pick up hardly anything without you getting upset. It makes me feel
uncomfortable. I'm sorry, it does. CINDY: It's real frustrating,
because Talia and I see the mess and we just want
to help her get through it. TALIA: We need to
get rid of a lot more stuff at a much faster pace. GERALIN: Yeah, I agree. And one way to--
to do that is, again, to authorize Talia and I to
help go through and say, OK, that's broken, that's
torn, it's trash. I mean, if you can't
trust Talia and I, who are you going to trust? TALIA: I don't think
it's feasible that we're going to get the house livable. That's what scares me. So, you know, time's a
wasting, so let's get to work. TALIA: Obviously you are
not capable of making healthy, good decisions
at this point. I mean-- Yeah, I am. That is why we are here. No. No, you're not. MELVA: What authority would
you like to give your daughter and your sister, if any? [sighs] I need more of a commitment
or I'm not going to be here. I want to see where
you're throwing out. CINDY: We're not going
to get past not even these two rooms then. Not even. So they're going to leave-- There's no point. She's getting ready to
walk out of the door, Dee. I don't want to stay and keep
investing time and not getting anywhere, 'cause
I'm very frustrated. I'm really trying to help you,
'cause I've distanced myself for many years, but I'm here
and I'm trying to help you. But you have to help yourself,
or I'm not going to stay here. I'm just not. Slow down for a second. I'm going to go hang this up. Dee, can you slow
down for a second? Slow down for a second. What's going on? I feel I just didn't
go through enough things on the first two days,
and the last day's here. MELVA: Dee has really,
for the first time, come to the realization of
exactly how severe things are for her. This is it. She's got to
release more control or continue to be stuck. I would like an
armoire right here. One right there and
one right there. And then I am going to have
room to put my things in there. [inaudible] GERALIN: They can't get
an armoire through here. Yes, they can,
once this is moved. I would like those
two armoires in here. But I-- I don't think you're going
to get the furniture in here. Yeah. If she keeps
processing these boxes and doing what she's
supposed to do, at some point the house will be
less full and then she can bring more furniture in. TEAM MEMBER: Those are
pretty big armoires. That's OK. I want this in there so
I can put stuff in there. GERALIN: You already re-hoarded
what we just decluttered. I want two of my
armoires in the house. - But Dee--
- I-- I just-- --I want you to stop a minute. I want my armoires. GERALIN: I hear you. OK, will you please
get them in for me? Pretty please? GERALIN: I'm not to get
your armoires in, no. My answer is no. [scoffs] The answer is
not more storage. The answer is less stuff. DEE: I want to have
them in here so I can put my things in there,
which was the intention to begin with. TALIA: That wasn't the
intention to begin with. DEE: Yeah, it was. It was making the entire
house safe and livable so your grandchildren
would come. So now it's just armoires? There's literally no
space, and it's crazy because you would think she
would value that open space. I want to put an
armoire right here. [interposing voices] Can I have the first
armoire in, please? Dee is hyper focused. I mean, she's unable to
really, really move forward. I want you to
bring my armoires in. Dee, we can't do that. DEE: Now, what is your
problem with this wall space? MELVA: Dee, I don't have an
issue with your wall space. OK. Well, then, let's
bring an armoire in. This is-- this
is not going well. GERALIN: Look at that paint. DEE: Beautiful. Looks great. Beautiful. You did a great color scheme. [cheering] Yeah, it looks fabulous. Thank you. You know why we
did this, right? This is symbolic-- Of what you can have. --of what you can have. Mm-hmm. MELVA: Let this
be your reminder-- OK. --of what it can be. But what happened? I thought I was going
to have curtains. I need privacy. And my armoire. MELVA: She's got
a-- a new kitchen. It's a great space for her,
but she's still very, very focused-- I want this in! MELVA: --on her armoire. [groans] MELVA: This process
was just the beginning. Dee's got a long way to go. [groans] DOROTHY: Open a bag
or two and present it. Do we want it or are
we getting rid of it? Way to go, Jan! You're just really chucking it. Look at this. I'm tossing these. Oh, please. OK. DOROTHY: Can you see? She's wildly committed to this. Jan was on her feet
the whole time. She went the distance. She got rid of five
tons worth of stuff. Not a single thing is
left in this house. Completely biohazardly cleaned. We have been able to
accomplish everything. ROBIN: As a doctor,
my job is not just to help somebody with
their mental health, it's to help them look at their
whole mind, body, and spirit. So with Jan, I thought I needed
to take it a step further. We are in a van and you
must be wondering why. Are you curious? Well, uh, I mean, I-- there's not a lot I can do. I'm in the car, so-- You're finishing
as they're coming in. We're asking you to do the
impossible and we want it fast! Right. I'm so glad I've got
full on professionals. One room gets cleaned,
one room gets painted. One room cleaned, the
next one gets painted. ROBIN: So how are you feeling? Are you nervous yet? Oh. [chuckles] Hello. Hi, this is Jan. Hi! Welcome to Montage, Jan. Hi. ROBIN: Jan has been
living in filth for years. She doesn't believe that
she deserves better. So what I wanted her to see is
that she does deserve better. And by taking her in,
getting her hair cut, getting it washed,
getting some makeup on, she could see what a truly
beautiful person she is, and hopefully that will spark
an interest in her continuing to take care of herself. Jan, you look amazing! I like it. Looks good. Looks really good. ROBIN: We're on a journey
to heal the mind, the body, and the soul. DOROTHY: OK, so
I'm all wound up. It's time for Jan to get a
really wonderful space back. Oh, my gosh. Walk in, babe. Walk in.
- Is it locked? DOROTHY: I'm right behind you. No, it's not locked. Oh. Oh, my-- GEORGIA: Oh, wow. JAN: [gasps] How beautiful! Oh! Jan knew that we
might try to clean up-- Oh, my goodness. DOROTHY: --but she never
expected all of this. - Oh.
- It's a kitchen! DOROTHY: She has
a place to live. There is relief,
there's gratitude. [sobbing] You deserve this. I love you. Oh, my goodness. - It's pretty amazing.
- I have a place to sit. Oh. DOROTHY: As we walked
from room to room, Jan cried more and more. There's a bathroom where you
get up and you go use the toilet and flush it. Oh, wow. [sobbing] You're home. GEORGIA: Whoa. JAN: Oh, my gosh! Tell me. No, say something. This is so pretty! ROBIN: There was a complete
transformation with Jan. By taking care of
herself and seeing that she is worthy of
being taken care of, I believe the future
for Jan is very bright. GEORGIA: It's been a big
shift in how she sees herself. I want to see her come back
here and start piecing herself back together. It's a home. I mean, I have a home! It's amazing, and--
and I am so grateful. I can live again. I can be a person again.
