You walk through the front door,
and you're hit with unopened boxes of things I've bought.
[dramatic music]
The kitchen was de-hoarded once, but give me five days
and I can hoard it up real quick.
[dramatic banging]
It's my place and my style of living.
I think everyone should have a choice
of how they want to live.
Carl currently owes the city of Tampa
well over a million dollars in code enforcement fines.
To me, it's ridiculous.
[knocking at door]
Who's there?
It's a secret pal from the past.
I've come back to visit Eric,
and I was really hoping that he was able
to maintain the progress
that was made when we were here before.
Long time.
Yes, it is.
- Very long time. - God bless you.
It's been years since I visited Carl,
and so I'm really looking forward to seeing
how he's doing.
I believe that you have the capacity
to have a better life for yourself.
Hi, I was hoping to speak with somebody
in Adult Protective Services.
Yeah, I'd like to make a report.
[soft mysterious music]
[gentle somber music]
[soft mysterious music]
My name is Carl. I'm 77 years old.
I've been a hoarder all my life.
[dramatic bang]
[somber music]
You see a lot of collection.
And the collection is historical, preservation,
and recycling.
And sometimes you have to mix it together
because you don't have the means to separate it real well.
But if you throw it away, you never go back and get it.
I'm Michelle, and I'm Carl's neighbor.
I have known Carl for probably seven,
going into eight years now.
I would say Carl's a hoarder.
It's not just because of the accumulation of things.
It's his inability to part with the things.
This house looks like a recycling place.
I think everyone should have a choice
of how they want to live.
It's my place and my style of living.
In 2015, the police came out here
and arrested me on a felony charge and a littering charge.
I was never notified about those charges.
Just came out here without nothing
and arrested me right on site, without questioning me.
[soft somber music]
- It is good to see you here. - Thank you.
Alright. You ready for this?
[Carl] Yes.
Alright, we've got a long day ahead of us today.
We've got your friends here, you got your neighbors,
they're here to help you.
So there's a lotta people that care about you.
I'm gonna be really challenging you to let go of some stuff.
This is a one-time chance to get all this behind you
and start a new life, whatever that looks like for you.
Do you think you're willing to put forth the effort
to get there?
Yes.
These are instructions I have to keep,
but I had lost these a while back.
- [Cory] Instructions for what? - [Michelle] For what?
[Cory] What is it for?
Is this something that you still own
and need instructions for?
Well, no, but it's history instructions.
Carl, this is not history.
This is an old set of instructions.
I need to keep that.
Don't people have political signs from presidents
from the 1800s?
I'm sure they're somewhere.
[David] This is not from the 1800s, Carl.
- It doesn't matter what year- - This is not history.
It's still poli, yeah, it is.
This is a funnel I have to keep. It's a tool.
That belonged to my family at Ford Motor,
and everything on it, so I gotta keep that.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Tell me why you gotta keep this, Carl.
'Cause my family worked on Ford Motor Company cars
and they gave me that a long time ago.
Okay, but it's an old hubcap cover.
Yes, but I can't throw away a old cap
because you don't see those kind no more.
But does that really justify hanging onto it, Carl?
Yes, it does.
- Tell me how. - I mean,
it's not gonna be in my way.
Yes, it's all in your way.
Each little piece is in your way.
Yes, but where's my history?
I don't wanna crush this guy's dreams.
I don't wanna tell him that his stuff is no good,
that his collections are not valuable.
But at the same time, he's got to recognize
that he's holding on to junk.
If this doesn't work out, what's gonna happen?
- I'm in trouble. - Okay.
But that doesn't mean I gotta throw something away
that's usable.
No, no, no, no. Carl, come back.
You're in trouble. How in trouble are you?
That's in trouble, because I keep a bottle
for soap? - Carl. Carl.
Now I could be in trouble with all that junk there.
That's true. That is not junk.
This is the same as the soap.
- No it's not. - It could be trash bins.
It could be anything. - You can use soap.
I cannot use that, like use soap.
Well, go show me all the stuff. I want you to show me.
Show me the things that aren't useful.
Because right now, what I'm seeing, everything's useful.
[slow somber music]
So the plan is, we're gonna break up into two teams.
You'll go in the house with me.
You wanna go in with us, Dr. Tolin?
Sure, I'll come in. Absolutely.
Michelle's gonna stay out here.
And, I think this is really good
that you're able to trust Michelle enough
where we can split up and kind of duplicate
the workload getting done.
Let's get to work.
- All right. - Let's do it.
[somber music]
[boxes bang into truck bed]
[David] So, how's it going in here?
- Slowly. - Slowly?
It is very slow,
and he is keeping definitely way too much, Dr. Tolin.
How much would you say that Carl is keeping
and throwing out? - He's keeping 85%,
maybe throwing out about 15%.
So Carl, what do you think about that?
Well, it's gonna be a lot more thrown away.
Believe me. Believe me.
Carolina is suggesting that you're keeping
about 85% of the stuff.
Well, it may look like it now, but it's not gonna,
it's gonna be more I'm gonna be throwing away.
So, I think we're doing good. I really do.
[deep tense music]
What happened to all the clothes hangers that were here?
We boxed 'em up and put it in for recycling.
I said leave those clothes hangers alone.
I definitely said that 4,000 times.
They were covered with mildew.
They were no longer healthy.
I said, "Leave these alone."
And I said that 4,000 times about this.
Carl's freaking out about the hangers.
You know, we're talking about a couple dollars
worth of hangers.
And in the big picture, I don't get it, but he is pissed.
[David] Why are you getting so upset over some hangers?
All the families from the cigar factory
basically lived here.
They had to make due with what they had to live with.
We were the last family on this damn neighborhood
to have a damn washing machine!
When Carl gets agitated,
he goes on these almost incoherent rants.
We were the last ones to have a damn TV
in this damn neighborhood!
He starts screaming about his neighbors,
and about the government, and about Fidel Castro.
That's that stupid Fidel Castro embargo,
and this stupid country we got has done nothing about it
to fix it to get more jobs in Florida!
And the damn- - Carl, Carl, Carl.
Carl, come here. Come here, man.
What's going on with you right now?
He's so wrapped up in other worries and other concerns
that he can't keep his mind straight.
I don't think that what we're doing is pointless,
but I do think that we have to shift focus
and focus more on Carl's safety
than on his changing his behavior,
'cause I don't think he's gonna change his behavior.
[soft dramatic music]
[tense pulsating music]
[truck engine purrs]
Alright, you guys, we made it.
We had some struggles, but you made it through. Okay.
How are you feeling right now, at the end of all this?
I feel better.
There's a place that I, that I lost, and now you found it.
It's like Columbus finding America.
Well, I'll accept that answer as something really positive
in a Carl kind of way.
I just want to address the crisis real quick.
Okay, the outside is not gonna pass the city code still.
They're gonna be very pleased, I will say that.
When they come back, they're gonna see a huge difference.
And we got rid of 10 dumpsters, which we did.
That's impressive to them. Okay.
You have a lotta boxes,
as you can see- - Yes.
That you're gonna have to go through.
[Carl] Yeah.
[Cory] But all your important papers, your books,
your clothing, everything you wanted saved is here.
The bedroom is something that we were able to tackle,
thankfully.
A place for you to rest and lay your head.
- [Carl] Thank you. - You wanna check it out?
- Yes ma'am. - Alright.
What is this?
[group laughs]
My God.
[Carolina] Jump on it!
Whoo-hoo! - Oh man,
that's the greatest thing I've had in over 35 years here.
It feels like I'm in a Hoarder's Hyatt, Effel Tower.
I feel like I'm living in a real world now.
I was at war with myself. I was at war with society.
Everything was negative.
And now I feel like there's a positive freedom
here at this property that I can come to.
My new home! - Whoo-hoo!
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[group laughs]
[gentle music]
[gentle somber music]
- Hello there, Carl. - Look who's here.
I'm Dr. David Tolin.
I'm a clinical psychologist, and I specialize
in the study and treatment of hoarding disorder.
Long time. - Yes, it is.
- Very long time. - God bless you.
God bless you for the day. - Nice to see you again.
I haven't seen you in a long time.
Yeah.
It's been years since I visited Carl.
And so I'm really looking forward to
seeing how he's doing.
So when we left- - Yes.
- The last time around. - Yes.
We hadn't gotten a whole lotta stuff out of the house.
We did get a lotta stuff in boxes.
Hopefully you were safer, and we got you a bedroom
that was cleared out, and a new bed and things like that.
Well, I appreciate what you did.
It was a big improvement to get started, everything.
And I tried to keep it up after you left.
Great.
But I had, still had those operations pending.
- Yeah. - That I had to have.
- I remember those. - Yeah.
So it sort of started holding me back again.
[gentle somber music]
There's been so much long-time recovery,
I've had a hard time trying,
keeping up the good job that you helped me with.
'Cause I wanted to do that.
- Yeah. - I really did.
But it sounds like it's just been hard, medically,
to do. - Yes, it has.
- Yeah. - Physically and everything.
[deep gentle music]
Hi, Michelle. Nice to see you.
- You too. - Long time.
Please, pull up a milk carton.
Yes.
Michelle, do you know anything about
how the hoarding behavior has been since we were last here?
[Michelle] Well, the yard looks like
you're back at it, Carl.
Yeah, I got back at it a little bit.
Yeah, a little bit,
little bit. - And everything.
I guess it's just, it's hard to break loose from it,
everything, but you know, just brought in things that,
that are not difficult to move around.
Yeah, and everything, but.
I did move away since cleanup,
and so I haven't really seen Carl as much as I used to.
I do keep in touch with him.
He looks more frail than I remember.
And, seeing him with a cane and his arm in a sling,
you know, it's concerning.
I don't like seeing him like that.
So, because you're in a wheelchair,
I think it's probably best that you not join us,
but would it be okay if Michelle and I
took a look inside the house to see how things are doing?
Yeah, you can.
You know, I mean- - Okay.
You can walk around.
So why don't we go in and take a look, see how it looks.
- Yeah. - And then we'll come out
and we'll talk about what the implications are.
- That's fine. - We'll talk about
where we might need to go from here.
That's fine, appreciate it.
[gentle somber music]
Okay.
[Michelle] This, oh God.
Seeing Carl's house for the first time since cleanup,
I was, I don't know if I was optimistic
or I just didn't really think about it,
but I had assumed it would have stayed clear,
especially since he hadn't been in the house often.
I remember this was cleared out,
and we had at least a way to walk to the bedroom.
Any sense of what's going on here?
This is just Carl.
- Just Carl. - That's what's happening.
I mean, obviously this is just who he is.
I don't really think I had any expectation,
but definitely this was not in my mind.
When I walk into Carl's house, my heart sinks,
because I know we made a lotta progress in that front room,
in the living room.
And, to look at it now, it looks like we were never there.
The clutter has clearly taken over.
Well, we left Carl with a nice bedroom.
- Oh. - If memory serves.
Can we take a look at that? - [sighs] Yes.
Alright. Let's see what's going on there.
[soft tense music]
Oh, my gosh.
[David] I can see you're having a response to this.
I get emotional in this situation because it's,
one, hard to see someone live this way.
But on top of that, it's, I know it's a mental health issue
and I can only imagine how much he's struggling internally.
And I get a little overwhelmed with it all,
to just imagine what it would be like to,
whatever turmoil's going on inside
that expresses itself in what's happening
in the yard and in the house.
Let's go out and talk about it.
See if we can get an understanding of what Carl wants
and needs, and then see if we can put together
some kind of a game plan for how we're gonna get him there.
- Okay. - Okay.
[tense somber music]
I'm Carl, always a hoarder and still a hoarder.
When the cleanup left, it's been a lot better
'cause there's no hoarding in there.
I haven't been doing any hoarding in there.
It may look like it,
but it's been a lot better to get around and find things.
I don't think Carl is in a better place now
than he was when we left him.
In fact, given his physical health,
I think he's in a worse place than he was.
[gentle somber music]
Oh goodness, Carl.
So what'd you think?
Carl, where do you get all this stuff?
I don't know how you did this, Carl.
Well, there's still room to walk in there.
[Michelle] [sighs] Barely. And your bedroom.
Well, I had to put those books
and all that stuff somewhere.
The impression that I get Carl, is that the behavior,
the hoarding behavior is still outta control.
Would you agree with that?
It may still be a problem,
but I think it's been a little bit better, to me, you know?
Yeah, I think Michelle's having a reaction
to what you're saying.
I'm just taking it in. It's fine.
What do you think about what Carl's saying?
[sniffles] That's what Carl does.
- Uh-huh. - I [sniffles].
Well, I am gonna stop it.
I mean, I ain't gonna continue. I wanna get myself better.
You know?
I can't handle this guy, man. I can't handle him.
[Michelle sniffles]
He's going to have to make a promise that,
not to stop hoarding, because that's part of him.
He can't, at this age, he will not stop.
He needs to cut back.
And if he doesn't cut back,
I'm not willing to put forth any more help in that regard.
Let me make sure we're all on the same page
about where things have been and where things are going.
So, you moved outta this house
and you moved into an extended stay hotel.
My understanding is that your acquiring and saving behavior
was such that the extended stay hotel
asked you not to come back.
You're now staying in the nursing home
because of your injuries,
but you're going to be discharged
from the nursing home.
[Carl] Yeah.
So what happens after you're discharged?
Well, I don't know where to go
because the doctor has said that I still can't be on my own.
And he has, he wants me to get extra therapy
for this arm here so I can start moving it
the other way around.
It sounds like the sort of imminent crisis
is that the nursing home is about to discharge
an injured, older gentlemen to the streets.
This is where Adult Protective Services
probably comes into play.
It's easy to demonize state services
and think that they're the bad guy or they're the boogeyman,
but they're not.
Those are the people who can put you in touch
with the help that you need.
And right now, Carl really seems like he needs it.
Believe me, if anybody's got a better idea than this,
please let me know.
But I'm wondering whether Adult Protective Services
needs to help out.
Well, I'm not for Adult Protective Services, everything.
And I think we can do it on our own a lot better,
a lot more peaceful.
I don't think you can, Carl.
Well, I think we can.
I don't you can. I think you're facing homelessness.
Carl, could you speak a little bit to that resistance?
What would make you wanna resist their help?
It's not really a workable thing for certain people.
Carl, let's kinda face the facts here, right?
What are the facts that we know?
You're about to be discharged from the nursing home.
Your doctor has told you you can't be alone.
You have no safe place to go.
I mean, what else are we supposed to do here?
Yeah, I know.
My opinion on Adult Protective Services,
I think it's an option.
But can I tell Carl, you have to do this? No.
Am I comfortable saying that to him? No.
The best I can do is encourage him to
get help in any way it's available.
I would like you to really think about
the Adult Protective Services option.
At least think about it.
And Carl, I'm going to encourage you
to take whatever help you can get.
It's not going to be comfortable.
This is comfortable for you.
Right.
Anything else is not.
You're going to have to make some changes
that you may not like, but you need help.
And I can't be the only one.
Yeah, I know that.
But you're gonna have to trust other people.
It's hard. I know.
But, the only way you can find out
if something's good or bad for you is by trying.
[chuckles] Yeah, that's true, you know.
If Carl and his friends and his neighbors
and his attorneys can get a good treatment team in place,
that can supply him with wellness checks.
It can supply him with mental health treatment.
It can supply him with physical rehab.
It can make sure that he's got a stable
and safe place to live.
But you gotta have the team in place.
You can't do this yourself.
And Carl certainly can't do this himself.
Hi, I was hoping to speak with somebody
in Adult Protective Services.
Yeah, I'd like to make a report, please.
[gentle somber swoosh]
[gentle melancholic music]
Well, Carl, Michelle, this is where I leave you.
I will say it's always lovely to see you, Carl,
and you Michelle, and I'm very happy
to be able to talk with you again.
I will say I'm leaving today a little worried about you,
but I hope that we're going to be able
to put some things in place
that will get you the help that you need.
Carl, best of luck to you.
Alright. - Yes, sir.
Thank you for coming back. - Michelle, good seeing you.
Appreciate it.
Alright. Best of luck.
[gentle guitar music]
I'm Eric. I'm a retired journalist,
flight attendant, electronic technician,
[gentle guitar music continues]
and I'm a hoarder.
[alarming music]
When you walk through the front door,
you're hit with unopened boxes of things I've bought
that I haven't even opened yet.
It's just a very helter-skelter,
higgly-piggly look to everything.
It's just all junked up.
You get into the kitchen,
the kitchen was de-hoarded once,
but give me five days
and I can hoard it up real quick.
[alarming music continues]
I'm a master hoarder, so I know how to hoard.
[alarming music continues]
[somber piano music]
I was starting to suffer from insomnia, so I couldn't sleep.
I would spend five to six hours a day online shopping,
looking for things to buy.
It just became a habit of mine to see what was out there.
[somber piano music continues]
I feel like I'm drowning, like I can't breathe
because it's taking away my oxygen.
It takes away from my quality of life.
I just feel like I'm chained, I'm enslaved to this.
[alarming music fades]
- Good morning. - Good morning.
How you doing? - Hi, Eric. I'm Dr. Zasio.
I'm Dr. Robin Zasio.
I'm a licensed Clinical Psychologist,
and I specialize in helping people struggling
with anxiety disorders, which includes hoarding behaviors.
I'm curious, you have a wheelchair on your porch?
- Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. - What's that for?
That was my wife's.
Sylvie was my wife for 30 years.
She was the love of my life.
[gentle pulsating music]
She had a very rare cancer called ependymomas.
There were tumors that grew on her spinal cord.
Eventually they metastasized to her lungs,
and that's what caused her to pass away.
[Dr. Zasio] And how long ago was this?
Well, she passed away a year and a half ago.
And so you were her primary caregiver?
- Yes. - Okay.
- Yeah. - Okay.
After Sylvie lost her battle with cancer,
my hoarding went into overdrive.
I just had a overwhelming urge to fill up this empty house
with things that made me feel good,
that made me feel like I had some control over.
She was, sort of, my bond to reality.
She was a anchor to my wayward ways
as far as things I would buy.
She said, "We don't need that. We don't need that."
She always kept me in check.
Without her here, it's just harder
to make those kind of decisions that
I don't need this,
and I don't know how to really accept her being gone.
And so I think I clutter up my house
and my life just to assuage my emotions.
It is very common that individuals
who are in this situation and dealing with loss,
that they turn to shopping and acquiring
as a coping mechanism.
Those hoarding behaviors has to be dealt with.
This is never about a cleanup process.
It's about dealing with what has led to this problem.
[somber piano music]
[reverse beeps]
[dramatic music]
- Good morning, everybody. - Good morning.
- Morning. - Good morning.
I'm Dorothy Breininger, Professional Organizing Expert,
and I specialize in hoarding.
Good to see you.
There are 18 of us here today for a very good reason.
This is about honoring Sylvie.
Yes. Yes.
And reclaiming your life, what you want.
And that all starts with the stuff.
[Eric] The stuff.
And then goes through the doctor,
because we've gotta not just declutter the house,
but maybe what's in your head a little bit.
Oh, that's difficult stuff to hoard.
That's been collecting for some time.
That's it. So let's head that way to the front door.
[energetic music]
[Eric] You gonna pick out piece by piece?
Well, I just wanna see if you can
start making some decisions.
How about these?
Oh, sweatpants.
You always gotta have your sweatpants.
Okay. So, we're gonna keep everything that's in this box
and everything that's in this box, too?
That's the tragedy of all of this.
I've become very attached to all my clothes.
I mean, I'm gonna say, "Throw it all away."
Then I'm gonna sit around naked all day
in my underwear and tank top?
[animated music]
You know we don't want you to get rid of everything,
but you have thousands and thousands-
- I know that. - You probably have
well over 10,000. - You're not even telling me
anything I don't know.
- Okay. - I know I've got thousands
and thousands of pieces of clothing,
but I'm not a man who can make quick decisions.
That's why we're here is to help you change that pattern.
Well, I'm not feeling any change.
There's no hope and change here right now.
But have you made a decision to change?
Because what I hear you saying is,
"This is who I am
and you want me to be somebody different."
Yeah, I want to be able to change,
but I don't find the ability to change within me right now.
I just don't.
We're gonna give you a little bit of a break.
Maybe if you can, pluck through some of this stuff,
see if you can make some decisions.
- Alright. - Okay. Alright.
I appreciate you.
- Drop back by. - I will.
[edgy music]
You see that couch back there?
That's a thousand dollar couch.
I just bought that.
What is that doing in there?
[Dorothy] I have no idea.
That's unacceptable. That really is.
Well, that is on you.
I know, and I apologize.
I pointed out to get rid of some furniture
and it got thrown away and it caused a big ruckus.
The thing is, I don't know
what else is gonna get thrown in there,
because people are assuming things they shouldn't assume.
I didn't know it was going in the actual trash.
I just thought it was going somewhere else
and we were gonna deal with it in an auction
or get rid of it or something like that.
I didn't know it was going in the trash.
I didn't give any permission to anyone
to throw anything away.
I mean, I can do this myself.
I can throw this all in the trash
if that's what I want to do.
When Eric was upset this morning,
that was a stepping stone
for him getting in touch with his feelings.
[Laurie] I'm sorry that that was on me, okay?
- It's alright. - I'm sorry. I really am.
So, it was actually healthy for him to get angry.
And I'm sorry that he was angry,
but it was a very cathartic process for him
to begin the grieving process with Sylvie.
At this point he said
he needed to take a break and go inside.
[tense music]
I don't know if you remember some
of the conversations we had,
but I talked about this very thing.
That this is what I was most worried about,
was that the stuff was
covering up all that pain.
In order for you to get better,
you're gonna have to feel these feelings.
[Eric] All I could think about is
that this place without Sylvie
is just a house, it's not a home.
It didn't feel like a home to me anymore.
Like my stuff made me feel, was my replacement for Sylvie.
And, you just can't- [sobbing]
You just can't buy anything.
[Eric sobbing]
I don't know how to go on from here, I just don't.
I just don't, because you empty this house,
it'll just be one big echo chamber of my memories of her.
[melancholy music]
And I just miss her so much.
I sit here and say, "Where's my Sylvie?" every night.
"Where's my Sylvie?"
And she's not here. She's not here.
This conversation was probably the most
powerful conversation he has had since Sylvie passed.
- [Eric] Thank you, Dorothy. - You're welcome.
You did a good one here.
[Eric] Thanks for taking the time to talk
and to come here to my house.
[Dorothy] Oh my gosh.
Thank you for really telling the truth today.
I'm hoping that this will be the first step
of his grieving process and build his confidence
that even though it's gonna be painful, he can do it.
[melancholy music fades]
[upbeat music]
After the discussion in the kitchen,
we had our morning meeting
and I saw a different Eric than the previous day.
I feel very ashamed of what I'm expressing with my house.
My house is supposed to be an expression of who I am.
And my house did not express that at all.
It expressed chaos.
And it really made my wife sad.
She saw it happening bit by bit,
encroaching on the very thing that she loved,
which was her home.
And I tried to fill it up with stuff when she died,
And in the process of her being ill and becoming bedridden.
And it doesn't work, you can't replace a person with stuff,
even if I'd call 'em treasures, they weren't treasures.
She was the treasure of my life.
I appreciate all that you're doing to help me realize
what was taking place in my life.
And it's a psychological warfare
for me to go through all this.
This needs to happen.
I want it to happen.
I'm glad you're all participating in this
and you have the heart to be here.
Thank you for, you know, giving us
the real landscape of how things are for you.
And that matters, 'cause we all do care.
[upbeat music]
[Eric] Eh, just put that, keep that I guess.
Coming at you.
You think I should keep any of these?
No, I do not.
[upbeat music continues]
The tag is still on it.
[Helper] You wanna get that?
[gentle piano music]
Oh wow. My goodness.
I'm just flabbergasted by what this room looks like
compared to just a week ago at this time.
It didn't look like this.
And it's remake is remarkable.
[gentle piano music continues]
I would just like to say, Sylvie, I love you
and I hope this brings a smile to your face.
I'm sure it does. And I just miss you.
And I'm glad we had this chance to give your home back.
And people can remember you in a better way, in a fond way.
I am really concerned that Eric kept a lot of things,
got rid of six tons worth of stuff,
thank you very much.
But you also have the equivalent
of 3000 boxes still in the house.
They're in the attic, they're in the sunroom,
they're in the garage.
What I'm most concerned about is when I leave.
There are a lot of people right now giving him support
and he is gonna be alone in this house.
This is really when things are gonna kick in for him.
He's gonna have to find the strength
and the determination to not open up that computer
and go to the web and start shopping.
[contemplative music]
[contemplative music fades]
[gentle piano music]
[knocking on door]
[Eric] Who's there?
[Dr. Zasio] It's a secret pal from the past.
I've heard that voice before.
Good morning, Eric.
Hi. Good morning. - How you doing?
Good morning. It's nice to see you again.
Long time no see.
Just wanted to swing by and see how things are going.
Well, they've been better, but-
Okay. Can I come in?
- Sure. - Alright.
I've come back to visit Eric
and I was really hoping that he was able
to maintain the progress that was made
when we were here before.
So, let's talk a little bit about this room.
Dorothy had created this music area for you.
Looks like it's still usable,
but there's a lot of stuff here that wasn't here before.
Imagine that.
I'm curious how you felt when we left
and, sort of, how things are today.
Well, I was appreciative of y'all's efforts.
After the initial sheen of having things
as, I guess, cleared up or organized,
I began to realize that it doesn't solve
my inward problems.
It was an outward experience,
it wasn't an inward experience.
After the cleanup, things have deteriorated back to
a condition I would say is even worse
than it was before.
I like to say there's good news to announce,
but there's not.
[gentle pulsating music]
At the end of the cleanup,
Eric had gotten rid of thousands and thousands of items
and dumpsters full of his stuff.
And even though it was like a tornado going through
and it was fast and quick
and maybe a little overwhelming at times,
his house was livable.
He didn't have pathways anymore,
and even though a few rooms were still filled with stuff,
it was only the stuff
that he had not yet made decisions about.
And it was boxes of his stuff that he needed to go through
with his aftercare support.
Well, after the cleanup,
I was given a couple of people to talk to, a organizer.
I was also given counseling
by a local psychologist.
But in the end, it's all up to me to do these things.
It takes more energy than I have at this point in my life.
You're a complex human being
and a lot of things have happened to you
that many people have not experienced.
Yep.
Although I'm here just to check in,
my goal is to help Eric get into a place
where he can have a renewed confidence
to get back to the purging process
and also go back into therapy,
to get to a place where he can really deal with the issues
that are keeping him hijacked in his own home.
I'm gonna give you a challenge.
Alright, fire away.
When you have cleared 10 bags of garbage
and when you can go one week
without going to a thrift store, you're gonna gimme a call.
- Okay. - Okay?
You know why I'm doing that?
I'm sure you have your dastardly reasons.
[Dr. Zasio laughing]
No one's ever said that before.
You've gotta show me that you're gonna put in some work.
Okay? - That's the four letter word.
- Mm, it is. Okay? - Yeah.
And I think that's a fair enough challenge
to get something on the other side.
So you're throwing down the gauntlet
and you want me to pick it up, huh?
You want me, a guy who doesn't pick up stuff very much,
to pick up that gauntlet, so.
I accept the challenge. - Alright.
I believe you wanna feel better.
This is not helping you to feel better.
You can't expect to feel better
by doing things that are perpetuating
the very soul that you wanna heal.
I basically gave Eric this challenge
because I want to see that moving forward,
he is willing to invest in helping himself.
And if he's willing to invest, then I'm willing to invest
to see what I can do to find him resources
that will actually allow him to continue this process.
So, I'm giving you this challenge because I care.
I'm giving you this challenge because you are worth it.
And I believe that you have the capacity
to have a better life for yourself,
but you have to invest in that.
Okay? - Okay.
It may seem strange to hear,
but I have aspirations to be free of all this.
You know, it's the old adage, you know,
'It's your mess, you need to clean it up.'
It's broke, it needs to be fixed.
I'm broke, I need to be fixed.
[somber music]
[electronic music]