My name is Carrie.
And I'm a hoarder.
This house is a disaster.
When I make a mess, I don't fool around.
My name is Elaina, and I've been a friend
of Carrie's for 20 years.
And it's always been a mess.
It's always been filled with just garbage.
And I would fill part of it and then
live in a different part of the house.
It kept getting full.
And I kept moving down further and further in the house.
I haven't had heat for three years.
There hasn't been any water for almost as long.
I'm Trish.
And I'm Carrie's daughter.
It's disgusting.
And I just don't understand how someone could do that.
CARRIE: The city has decided to deem
the property uninhabitable, which is correct.
They tell me that if I don't make the different repairs that
are necessary for it to meet code,
I will have to accept a lien on my property.
It could lead me to lose to property.
I feel like my life could have been so much more if I had had
a stable upbringing and a structured home
and a responsible parent.
CARRIE: Oh, I feel terrible.
Are you kidding?
She dreamed of a "Father Knows Best" kind of life,
and I couldn't give her that.
My name's Matt Paxton.
I'm an extreme cleaning specialist.
We're here at Carrie's house to help her out.
This is a very serious home.
And I've got to get the family in there
now so they can understand how bad this really is.
How long's it been since you've been in there?
Over three years.
You're already getting emotional before we
even walk in there, OK?
And that's OK.
Guys, it's been a long time since you've been in there,
I know. - It's been over 10 years.
MATT PAXTON: 10 years.
Let's go.
Do not step on these bottles.
Don't step on those bottles.
Walk on the clothes.
I walked in the door, and the stench and the filth
was just so much.
[music playing]
ELAINA: Just so much.
[vomiting]
Oh, go outside. Go outside.
Uh-oh.
Physically, it's pretty bad, but smell wise, it's horrific.
[vomiting]
That did not go well.
We'll just try to sit.
ELAINA: Oh, my god.
My son's puking.
I couldn't take it, man.
Fricking made me throw up.
It's horrible.
ELAINA: I started puking.
It's disgusting.
I can't understand how this can happen to somebody.
TRISH: Ew.
MELVA GREEN: Carrie. All right.
MATT PAXTON: Hold it.
Do you know why I wanted to come in here?
I'm Dr. Melva Green.
I'm a board-certified psychiatrist,
specializing in obsessive compulsive disorder
and hoarding behaviors.
Well, yes.
Cause I'm sitting on my butt not pitching in.
No, no.
Not, not that.
That's-- that's not it at all.
You know, let's-- can do something?
[chuckle] Not a chance.
You got to answer that question.
MELVA GREEN: No, because avoidance
is how we got here, right?
Avoiding pain, the trauma, the hurts, the disappointments,
and if you're going to start a new life--
you say you want to--
I do want you to experience this.
I do want you to take a look at it and acknowledge it.
We know she's had trauma.
We know she's got losses, but she has not been able to move
past her suffering.
So she's been able to look at it very openly,
but she has not been able to grow from it.
Hey, Carrie?
Carrie?
I want you to know that this is not easy for me,
and because I don't show you what I'm feeling,
it's because I've been conditioned
to hide my feelings.
Well, you didn't--
Since I was a child.
Did you hear that?
No, I'm not doing this.
MELVA GREEN: No, this is the therapy
that you need to get better. CARRIE: I'm not doing it.
To get better. ELAINA: Carrie?
Carrie?
I'm not letting her spin her tale.
I'm not.
I can't.
TRISH: It's hard to watch my mom shut down and not really deal.
I really want her to process through and realize
where this is coming from.
Trisha, should tell your mom what you're experiencing
from your heart, not your head.
Well, the only emotion I'm feeling when
I look in that house is shame.
Well, let's talk about the shame,
because we haven't mentioned that at all.
It makes me feel like--
like white trash.
Trish, it's not your story.
I grew up in that.
Let her finish.
Carrie, let her finish.
She didn't grow up in it the way it is now.
I know, but I--
I grew up in it when it was pretty bad.
And I got called that.
I know.
You got called what?
White trash.
You know, it's interesting.
Trish seems to think that she was to come here, and fix
her mom, and help clear out the house,
and sort of save the day.
But the reality is Trish is coming to terms that she's got
to deal with her own issues.
Breaks my heart to go in there and see that, and see
these people going through all this stuff,
and wondering what pieces are buried
in all of that that were something,
that meant something.
What memories are we throwing away?
What-- what-- and why?
Why?
Why would you do that?
MELVA GREEN: Carrie, I feel you closing up.
Is just too much emotion for you?
I mean, she's being honest with you.
No.
I hear her honesty and her pain.
I do.
I totally do.
But I don't have an answer to the why.
I don't.
I know that I have a lot of wounds
from growing up and having a mother who does this.
I throw a lot of different means,
but I mean, it's an ongoing process,
especially when it continues to happen.
So when you go, and you see it, and you're in the middle of it
all over again, it just kind of reopens everything.
There's a lot of pain here.
I know.
MELVA GREEN: There's an awful lot of pain here.
TRISH: Yep.
You look like you want to hug your daughter.
I do.
I don't think she'd let me right now.
No, I'd let you.
MELVA GREEN: I don't think she'd deny you.
Here, you didn't let me throw away my other shoe.
ELAINA: Kick!
Awesome.
ELAINA: Good job.
Yay!
This is an empty bag.
Fill it up.
MAN: Get a couple bags ready.
Carrie let go of 55,000 pounds of stuff.
I mean, she's ready.
She's ready to change.
She's ready to move on and have a better life.
TRISH: Come in over here.
Oh, wow.
Look at that.
CARRIE: This is amazing.
How does this feel?
It feels wonderful.
This is what you deserve.
I'm so excited that we were able to transform
this room for Carrie.
I think it's going to give her an opportunity
to get some insight into what her life can be like,
that she's actually deserving and worthy of having
a space where she can really get back to the roots
of her spiritual foundation.
TRISH: This is your journey.
CARRIE: No, but this is also your beginning, too.
TRISH: OK, go ahead.
[chanting in foreign language]
The relationship with my mom and me
now, it's getting better.
And I hope now that this has happened we can come back
together and be a family again.
CARRIE: I feel alive.
I feel a future.
I feel a dream that I haven't felt
for a very long time coming back, and a second chance.
And I'll make the most of it.
[chanting in foreign language]