- We're gonna check out some
more strange addictions. Remember, we're leading
with empathy first, - My name is Mark.
(upbeat country music) I'm 20-years-old, and
I'm in a relationship with 15 inflatable animals. My mother really
(gentle music) wasn't there for me when I was a child. First time I hugged my inflatable whale, I actually started feeling
all that love and compassion. - Could be oxytocin,
(text popping) which is one of the hormones that your body releases
when you're cuddling. This is actually why animal... I mean, it's a little
bit different, obviously, but, why animal therapy works quite well, especially in those newly
diagnosed with autism. Because animals are not judgemental, so you can show an animal
affection, and pet them, and enjoy their company
without them judging you. And there's less risk there
for humans to be hurt, so they enjoy their time with animals. That's why equine therapy
(text popping) does quite well, emotional support dogs, et cetera.
(keyboard clacks) - [Narrator] Now, he's so
dependent on his inflatables. He can't be separated from
them for more than a day. - This is, again, entering the the realm of what we categorize a disorder, because he can't be without them. So, as a result, it can impact his ability to live a fulfilling life, reaching his major milestones, going to work, having relationships, et cetera.
(keyboard clacks) - If I could marry Lila, I would, because I am that much in love with her. - [Narrator] But Mark and Lila haven't taken their relationship
to the next level yet. - Me and Lila dragon
don't have sex together. We keep our relationship clean. - You know, we've talked
about objectophilia, which is when someone falls in
love with an inanimate object or has sexual desire
for an inanimate object. And there's been theories
as to why this occurs. They're saying there's some pattern with those who have been
diagnosed with autism, those who have these
sensory situations where, in feeling certain things, there's a crossover neurologically, that when they see this inflatable dragon that they also engage
their sexual desires. Not because they've trained that way, but because the body's made that way.
(keyboard clacks) - The therapist helped me realized that my inflatables are getting me used to more socializing with
them rather than real people. From now on, I'm gonna start spending a little less time each
day with my inflatables. I'll still have my inflatables in my life, but they're not gonna be
the primary part of my life. (inspirational music) - If something's going on mentally where you are finding a lot
of value in these inflatables, just taking them away abruptly can cause more harm and trauma. Because as you can tell, this person has an
adverse childhood event. I'm actually curious
about his job situation, whose house that is, how
does he provide for himself? Because those are the questions that you really need to
learn about this person, more so than what the diagnosis is, or what his romantic life
is with these animals. That's what's gonna tell
me who he is as a human, and what impact these inflatables
are having on his life. - I'm Amy.
- I'm Becky - [Both] And we're 45-years-old. - And we're addicted to being identical.
- To being identical. - What? (laughs) Addicted to being identical? You either are twins or you're not twins. - For some reason, Amy-
- For some reason- - had gained a teeny more weight than me. - Yeah.
- And people would go like, "Oh, you're the big twin.
You're the smaller twin." And literally from then on out... - Oh, yeah.
- We eat- - Big time.
- the same exact bites of food and drink the same sips of drink. - You know, I know some
sisters and brothers that are like this,
but not to this degree. So I feel like they are closer than what is expected of normal. But that's just cultural expectations. (keyboard clacks)
(playful music) See, this is where it
can cause a disruption in someone's life to the point where it can become a disorder. If you can't be apart from each other for more than 30 minutes, you have to sleep in the same bedroom, that makes accommodations difficult.
(keyboard clacks) - My main concern is that one would actually die before the other, and the other one would be
lost completely without. - I mean, I'm not gonna lie, I would say that's probably a little bit of an irrational worry. Later in life, absolutely, you need to start planning for that. But right now, as young women, to decide whether or
not they need to learn how to be without each other shouldn't be based on the
fact that one of them may die. That's a fairly lower
risk thing to worry about. - I've never heard of them being in a long-term relationship, and that concerns me a lot. - That concerns you, but what if they don't wanna
be in a long-term relationship? That could be totally appropriate.
(keyboard clacks) - [Jillian] So I set
Becky up on a blind date. - [Phillip] Hi, Becky. Becky? - Hi.
- And the show obviously tells them both to go.
- Don't be weird out, but- - Twins. - Beautiful.
- My sister and I... I told Jillian I would go on this blind date.
- Absolutely, yeah. - And I technically lie. - She just left a little part out. - [Becky] We just left a little part out. - [Amy] Which is me. - It's not exactly how I envisioned it. - So has anyone of you-
- They have the same watch. I love it.
- have been married or... (laughs) tell me.
- Wow. We're kinda-
- Well- - married to each other.
- To each other. - Yeah, talk about setting
up a guy for failure without giving him a heads up. The date didn't fail because there's something
different about them. The date failed because the
guy didn't get a heads up that they're very unique. It's like setting up someone, who doesn't want to be married, on a date and then the person goes and says, "Do you wanna get married?"
And they say, "No." And then the date ends horribly. (air whooshing)
Could have seen that one. (keyboard clacks)
(tense music) - Oh!
(person screaming) - That's a lot of cockroaches. You know what's funny?
(keyboard clacks) I grew up in Brooklyn and
okay, maybe it wasn't that bad, but there were cockroaches
in certain areas all over the place.
(keyboard clacks) - Hi, my name is Shelby
Counterman, I am nine years old, and I collect cockroaches. - Oh. Oh wow.
(Shelby smacking) She kisses them.
(keyboard clacks) - When I started collecting
roaches, I only had five. - You know, what I just
found out the other day? There are roaches or some kind of insects that look like roaches, that
breathe through their body that make kissing sounds, and it literally kept me up all night. Can you imagine this thing
(hand thuds) walking next to you, and
it's going (imitates hissing) - [Shelby] Now, I have thousands. (playful music) (bell dings)
- Wow. (bell dings) (bell dings) - I mean, roaches don't, like, bite. They may scratch you
accidentally or something, but they don't bite. But they do spread diseases, like bacteria especially, salmonella, strep, staph.
(air whooshing) They can even cause cholera, dysentery. So you gotta be careful with these roaches.
(keyboard clacks) - I could do without them. - (chuckles) The father says,
"I could do without them." - These are my Madagascar hissing cockroaches.
(cockroaches hissing) - I knew some of them hiss. - [Shelby] Sometimes they're
too noisy I'll hiss at them. - They're not actually hissing, I think they're breathing.
(keyboard clacks) - They're not harmful at all except they may be a little stinky once in a while.
(keyboard clacks) - Yeah, also you're keeping, like, 10,000 of them in, like,
a Tupperware container meant for Legos. I don't know if that's
ideal storage for roaches. Like why do you need a thousand? Can you have one roach, - My name is Samantha. I'm 20 years old. I consider myself pretty
responsible, independent, like to have fun, and
I'm addicted to tanning. - Oh, tanning is so bad. I mean, tanning
(text whooshing) is incredibly problematic, especially as a young person. If you're below the age of
20 and you tan even once, your risk of melanoma goes up like 50%. - [Samantha] My typical tanning day is going to three
different tanning places, 20 minutes in the bed for an equivalence of an hour a day. - I think you're almost, like, guaranteeing yourself cancer at that point.
(keyboard clacks) Not only are you increasing drastically your chances of developing cancer, you're destroying your appearance, because skin becomes dried out, becomes poorer quality, looseness occurs. - [Samantha] Tanning is my everything because it makes me really happy. Anytime I'm sad or upset, going tanning just makes
me, like, perk right up. - There is some evidence showing that going tanning a lot and then stopping can cause, like, withdrawal symptoms. So we try and help that
by setting the patients or working with them to go to therapy or even take medications. - I think about tanning when I wake up, I think about tanning in the shower. I don't think there's
actually ever a point where I don't think about tanning. - That's worth exploring. Is she thinking about, well, how she feels in the tanning booth? Is it afterwards? Is it the appearance? Is it something she
doesn't like about herself? Like all these are
questions that one might ask in a visit to try and figure out where the source of thinking about tanning comes from.
(keyboard clacks) - I'm not really worried
about the premature aging because that's why they have Botox, plastic surgery, facelifts. - The problem is that doesn't
enhance or solve the problem of what tanning creates. Like if the materials
themselves, aka your skin, and the the foundational
blocks that make up your skin are damaged permanently, all those things that you
just discussed do not target or solve that issue.
(keyboard clacks) This is a a perfect example of an individual that would benefit from meeting someone who
was also addicted to tanning and seeing them 10, 20 years later just to get a sense of what can happen. 'Cause I think that's a good reality, wake up call from many.
(keyboard clacks) - You're actually very fortunate. I don't see any signs of
skin cancer, which is great, but the risk of melanoma is
still huge in someone like you. - I'm pretty excited that the doctor didn't find any skin cancer. So now I can go home and
tell people, "I told you so." - That's not how it works. When we say it raises
your risk of skin cancer, it's not right now. It's across your whole life. A lot of young people
have that mindset of, "Oh, I don't even wanna
live 'till I'm 40 or 70. I'd rather get all my fun in now." And you only say that up
until you're 30, or 40, or 50, and then you realized how much more you want to keep living life and enjoying the different stages of your life.
(keyboard clacks) - I am Sydney, I am 29 years old, and I am making my neck long. - What this thing does is
not make your neck long. It can make the appearance
of your neck long by pushing down the clavicles, which are your collarbones here, and literally changing the
angle of your top ribs. So it looks like your neck is longer but it's actually not becoming longer. - [Sydney] Because of the necklace, I had to change everything in my life. Even the way I eat. I can feel my throat pressing against the back of
the necklace when I swallow. - If you're limiting your range of motion, you're actually creating restrictions and blood flow weaknesses in the stabilizing muscles of the neck. And as a result, they're
setting yourself up for future tension headache,
(text pops) compression headaches,
(text pops) maybe even circulation problems, depending on how tight the
neck rings actually are. - The idea of stopping
has not crossed my mind because it's been in
my mind my whole life. Look where she's at and look where I'm at. I would love to get my
neck as long as hers. - Remember, the way that the ribs move, follow a very specific pattern to allow maximal expansion of your lungs. And when you're limiting rib mobility, and changing the rib mobility, you're actually decreasing your ability to take a full breath. And as a result, starting to impact your cardiopulmonary performance.
(keyboard clacks) - [Sydney] I don't feel very good after removing the necklace. Wow, it is really bruised. It's a little upsetting
to see the bruising. (keyboard clacks)
- When you have constant pressure on your skin, you could actually
cause pressure necrosis. This is basically what
happens in a hospital when someone stays for
a long period of time and is bed-bound, can't walk,
can't rotate in the bed. They could actually
develop pressure ulcers. They could get so deep to the point where the skin gets broken down all the way to the bone, past even the the adipose or fat tissue. (keyboard clacks)
- This is my destiny and this is what I've chosen for myself. (texts thudding) - People take risks all
the time doing things that they find valuable and pleasurable. And if this culturally
means something to her, who are we to judge?
(keyboard clacks) - I'm Justin Jedlica, I'm 32 years old, and I'm a living doll. - A living doll? Is that a profession? Is that a hobby?
(keyboard clacks) - I've had 125 procedures. - It's a lot of procedures
(blower whirring) - And I spent $158,000 to make
me really resemble a doll. - See, I wonder if at any point, did his doctors have a discussion as to why he wants this? Is it healthy to keep going
for surgical procedures? Are there other options,
like, getting in shape where your muscles can look big without having to get implants? And I'm only saying that because that's a healthier
alternative, not necessarily he has to do that.
(keyboard clacks) - I started having a couple
other nose revisions. Then I'll get a little
fuzzy after a while, but at the end, I've
had five nose jobs now. - Because I'm not a plastic surgeon, I don't know what the qualifications are of a person that should
not get plastic surgery. But I think if you're getting
multiple facial revisions and you're doing it to
replicate an imaginary being, I think that's worth an evaluation with a mental health specialist, at the very least.
(logo whooshing) Click here for a clip of
my interview with Steve-O, where he shares his biggest regret and his most painful injury. As always, stay happy and healthy. (gentle upbeat music)
