[music playing]
LINDA: I'm Linda, and I manage a storage facility.
When a person doesn't pay for their unit,
we auction them off.
But if it has a value of $300 or less,
we can dispose of that as we please.
Then I take the stuff and sort through it,
see if there's anything good or whatever.
And then I bring them home, wash them up,
and have a garage sale.
It gives me something to do, make a little extra money.
And it's got to be more than I would imagined it.
MELVA GREEN: I'm Dr. Melva Green,
a psychiatrist specializing in hoarding behaviors.
As I approach Linda's house, there's
a sign on the door that says go to the other door,
because I actually can't get in.
- Hi. - Hello.
I'm Dr. Green.
I'm Linda.
Hi, Linda.
Nice to meet you.
LINDA: I kind of just walk between things.
I have my little paths here.
You can see I've made an attempt at sorting, but I get so far.
I get frustrated and overwhelmed.
What am I really looking at, Linda?
What does this signify?
I guess maybe if I don't think about it,
I don't have to deal with it.
But this is what denial has gotten you into, right?
Yes.
MELVA GREEN: It was very clear right off the bat
that Linda has barricaded herself, both physically
and emotionally.
Are you guys ready to get started?
Yeah.
All right, let's go.
All of this stuff can go except for the firewood.
First day of the rest of your life.
Yeah.
CANDIE: Look, this is our dining room.
Look at these pictures.
These are memories.
You can't have these memories if it's covered up.
Look at dad's.
LINDA: I don't want to look at them, Candie.
CANDIE: Come here.
LINDA: I don't want to look at them.
If you let the house get clean,
Mom, you can have the memories.
Yeah.
Yeah, but Mom, these are my memories too.
But how could they be your memories?
You were too busy doing drugs.
And you're too busy hoarding now.
Is it hard for you to look at Candie?
No, it's hard for me to look at him, my husband.
She's trying to help you to connect to what has been
at the core of your hoarding.
LINDA: No, I'm not going to have that thrown in my face.
CANDIE: I'm not throwing it in your face, Mom.
LINDA: You are throwing Norman in my face,
and I don't want to see it.
CANDIE: I'm not throwing Norman in your face.
LINDA: I'm done.
MELVA GREEN: No, no, no, no, no, Linda, Linda!
Why is it so hard for you to look at what she's showing you?
LINDA: Because it's my husband, and he's dead.
MELVA GREEN: Linda, this is what all of this is about.
You haven't gotten over it.
You haven't grieved it.
This is the result. And if you're
going to have any level of success,
you have to let yourself feel.
For this to actually be therapeutic,
Linda has to recognize that she indeed
has a problem because she's the one that's got to fix it.
Holes in it.
The moths probably got to it.
You don't want that.
CANDIE: Donate?
LINDA: Yeah.
CANDIE: Good job, Mom.
LINDA: Oh my goodness.
It has been difficult. You have been frustrated.
But is it worth it?
Yes, and I stuck in there.
I didn't give up.
WORKER 1: You sure did.
LINDA: It was really hard, but I made
myself push through it anyway.
And I came out better through it all.
Wow, this is really nice.
Everything I went through is worth it
because if I had my house back.
My mom, she's let our guard down finally.
I see the mom I used to have coming back.
Well, we hope this is just the beginning.
It is a beginning.
I know that.
Good.
Because I've made up my mind.
[laughter]