Trainer Heidi Powell visits Mitzi White’s home, which was stacked, ceiling to floor, with her shopping finds and mementoes of her mom. (ABC Photo)
Piles and Pounds
Nearing her weight goal, White had still not told the “Extreme Weight Loss” team that perhaps her biggest challenge still lay ahead — reclaiming her home. While “shopping for her dream,” White had become a hoarder. Her home was stacked, ceiling to floor, with her finds and mementoes of her mom. She could not even consider going home to eat healthy, because she could not see her stove or dining room table.
She also did not know that her secret was out. The Powells knew. In one of the show’s most powerful moments, they encouraged her to confront her hoarding. As White broke down in tears, Matt Paxton, from the show “Hoarders,” joined the Powells and they gave her three objects taken from the piles in her home — an old sneaker; a tiny, inexpensive tree ornament; and an empty water bottle. They offered her three options, discard them, give them away or keep them.
In a response that revealed just how paralyzing a hoarding disorder can be, White was able to easily discard the bottle, but she struggled with the old shoe and letting go of the tiny ornament nearly broke her heart. She could not throw away the ornament that a friend had made for her. Though it had never been used, she could only give it away.
It took more than 10 people 12 hours to clean Mitzi White’s house after years of hoarding. (ABC Photo)
The seemingly simple decision to toss out an old ornament or sneaker can be extraordinarily difficult for people with hoarding disorders, Tollin explained. When the average person thinks about throwing away an object, they are only wrestling with that single concept. Recent research shows that people with hoarding disorders exhibit a level of brain activity consistent with making multiple decisions when they are faced with the single choice of tossing out what someone else might see as trash.
“Typically, when someone is hoarding, there’s been some type of loss in their life,” White says. “In my case, it was a dream.”
If you want to help someone who is hoarding, White advises, “respect their items, no matter what they are. Tell them you are not going to throw anything away, unless it’s an agreement.”
Beginning with just three, little objects, White was eventually able to watch as Powell, and an amazing crew of friends who has just learned of her secret, cleared her home. It took more than 10 people 12 hours to accomplish the task.
