By Christine Champagne
It’s hard not to talk to the television while watching Hoarders. I have caught myself blurting out “Why can’t he throw away that 10-year-old can of beans?” And “How many dolls can a grown woman own?” Or “Tell me she isn’t going to keep those dirty diapers!”
I’ve also repeatedly asked myself, “Why can’t I stop watching this show?”
I’m sure many other viewers have asked themselves that question, too, because, frankly, Hoarders is not easy to watch. Still, although I oftentimes find myself incredibly frustrated with the show’s subjects and sometimes even repulsed by how they live, I never miss an episode of the A&E documentary series, which airs on Mondays at 9 p.m. EST and is now in its fourth season.
I tell Dr. Robin Zasio, a licensed clinical psychologist and licensed social worker, who works with hoarders on the show, “I’m obsessed with Hoarders. It is my compulsion.”
“Oh, good. That’s a good compulsion to have,” she replies with a laugh.
So why do people watch Hoarders?
Certainly, the sheer shock factor provides the initial pull. “Hoarding is bizarre,” Zasio acknowledges. “You’re sitting there watching it going, ‘Really? No! This can’t be happening!'”
Once the disbelief wears off, people stay tuned because they are intrigued by the condition, Zasio theorizes, and some viewers might even realize that they or someone they know , a neighbor, a parent, a sibling or a friend , has the affliction.
Zasio, whose book The Hoarder in You comes out in November, says there are varying degrees of hoarding, with hoarders falling on a continuum ranging from mild to extreme. As for what makes someone a hoarder, “Every person is different. We tend to see a genetic predisposition to compulsive hoarding, and usually it’s complicated by both environmental and psychological issues,” Zasio says, noting that we need to have compassion for hoarders. “People don’t make a decision to be a hoarder. That’s important to understand.”
There are an estimated 3 million hoarders in the United States, though Zasio believes there are likely many more who go uncounted because hoarders tend to keep their condition secret due to the stigma. However, she also says Hoarders, which was recently nominated for its first Emmy in the category of Best Reality Program, is inspiring more and more hoarders to get help.
The people featured on the show are truly in crisis. Their houses and apartments are unlivable, and if they don’t rectify their situations, they could lose their homes, their children and even their lives in some cases. Despite the dire consequences they face and the help they get from therapists as well as professional organizers and cleanup crews, many of these hoarders have a tough time letting go of anything; they cling to seemingly inconsequential items, such as rusty towel bars, empty soda cans or broken toys.
As we see on the show, Zasio encourages the hoarders to deal head-on with their greatest fear: letting go. “You need to confront your fear,” she says. “You need to let go of the stuff and sit with it, and ultimately you’re going to see that what you fear you’re going to experience, for example, loss, regret, ‘I’ll never get over it,’ that kind of thing, isn’t typically going to be there.”
The producers of Hoarders often assign Zasio to the most severe cases, requiring her to enter houses full of human waste, rotted food and dead animals. “I’m pretty fearless,” she says. “Not a lot bothers me.”
Still, there are times when even a trained professional can find a hoarding situation difficult to face. Those of us who watch Hoarders will recall the episode featuring Glen, a hoarder who lived with thousands of pet rats roaming around his house. Zasio was assigned to work with Glen, but simply entering his house proved challenging. “I was scared,” she confesses. “It took me three tries to walk in the house. Glen and I would walk up to the front door, and my heart would start pounding when I thought about what was on the other side of the door, so I would say, ‘Okay, wait a minute. Just let me take a deep breath.'”
Once she got inside, Zasio couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “It was surreal,” she recalls. “I’m standing among 2,000 rats. They are literally coming out of the walls.”
Soon enough, Zasio, an animal lover who counts a bird, turtles and a dog among her pets, grew accustomed to being surrounded by rodents, and she later adopted two of them. “We were telling people, ‘We have 2,000 rats, and they need to be adopted,'” says the doctor, whose practice is based in Sacramento, California. “And I was encouraging people to do it, and I went, ‘I have to be a role model.’ So I drove to San Francisco, and I adopted two brothers , Laurel and Hoardie.”
Just to be sure: She named her rats Laurel and H-o-a-r-d-i-e? “Yes,” Zasio confirms with a laugh.
Glen was a Hoarders success story by the way. He was able to let go of his rat hoard, keeping just a few of his beloved pets. “It is so rewarding going into these extreme situations and being able to make an impact,” Zasio says. “That’s why I am passionate about this show.”
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