The show’s Wikipedia page offers up a few possible explanations for its subject’s extreme behavior: Obsessive compulsive disorder, Pica, Schizophrenia, Psychosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Exercise bulimia, Trichotillomania, Body dysmorphic disorder, Dermatillomania, and Objectum-sexuality.
The man who is in a relationship with 15 inflatable animals
Meet Mark.
Mark had a rough childhood. He was lonely, his mom had mental illness, etc. Mark isn’t lonely anymore. He has 15 inflatible animals who are his best friends.
Here is dinner time with Mark and his family:
He explains, “My inflatables are the funnest creatures I have to hang out with in my life. I’ll eat with them, watch TV together, I bathe my inflatables. I do take my inflatables out swimming… They’re soft, they’re cuddly…It’s really nice to have someone to talk to.”
Here’s Mark and one of his inflatables:
It reminds me of a less cute version of James Franco on 30 Rock. But that was funny because it was fictional.
I’m honestly going to have nightmares about Mark.
The woman who is addicted to eating mattresses
When we first meet Jennifer she is sneaking into her mother’s room while she is in the shower in order to steal a chunk of her mom’s mattress. She explains, “the reason why I’m not eating my own mattress is because I ate my own mattress already.”
The show interviews her brother who is worried about Jennifer’s health because he has seen chunks of mattress in the toilet — after they’ve passed through her undigested. She sees her doctor and he tells her how she is damaging her body. She promises to change — but that’s the thing about addiction, even if “mattress-eating” doesn’t qualify as a legit medical addiction, the issue isn’t that Jennifer doesn’t know eating a mattress is weird and unhealthy is wrong. The issue is that she does it anyway.
The man who is literally in love with his car
Nathaniel is dating his car, Chase. He explains, “It started when I was younger, I didn’t really have any friends.”
In this very special episode Nathaniel comes out to his father about the serious relationship in his life. His dad asks the questions the viewers are begging him to ask, “What do you mean?” and “How do you have sex with a car?”
Well dear reader, as Nathaniel answers, it involves a lot of masturbation.
The lady who bathes in bleach
First of all, I’m not going to pretend I’m not a little bit jealous of this lady. I love cleaning things with bleach, it’s such a cathartic activity because afterwards you just know that its completely clean. It would feel kind of refreshing to feel the same thing with your body?
Gloria loves bleach so much she cleans her entire house with bleach every day. Then she takes a relaxing bleach bath. She goes through 300 gallons of bleach a year.
Tans-a-lot Lady
Does anyone else think she maybe just escaped the death scene in Final Destination 3?
The blow-up doll wife
When “Davecat” first got his inflatable doll, he called it his girlfriend. Since then their relationship has progressed and he now calls her his wife. In one scene he says she is laying down because she “hit the snooze button” so she’s still asleep.
One of their fun couple activities is doing photoshoots together. Apparently, the sex is “fantastic.”
Since the show aired, “Davecat” does a follow-up and explains that “they” are still, “completely supportive of one another.”
The cat addict
Presented without further comment:
“Pony play”
This is the stuff of nightmares people:
On the episode, Nicole comes out to her aunt about her strange habit. She dresses up in her pony gear and demonstrates different gaits — a trot, a high step, and a gallup.
Adult diapers
When people ask me for my favorite scary movie, or what I am most afraid of I usually say The Strangers but really, what I am most afraid of is men who have an adult diaper fetish.
This is an honorable mention because it’s actually featured on another TLC show is kind-of a spinoff. My Strange Addiction featured a female adult baby instead. But this man haunts my nightmares, and now he will haunt yours too.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq-jPBupkuo&w=560&h=315]
Extreme toenails
This lady has 15 inches of toenails. She feels lonely because no one wants to play with her because of her extreme nails. K.
Cat lady part II
The lady with 3 jobs to pay for her 22 cats was bad enough. This crazy cat lady takes it a step further. She cleans them. With her tongue.
Lisa has been eating cat hair for 15 years. It makes her feel “closer to her pets.”
She eats what she finds on the floor of her apartment but, “the best ones come right off the cat.”
This is her cat’s reaction:
What’s so insane about My Strange Addiction is how flexible we as humans are. If you told one of these people they would adjust to live as a mattress-eating addict before it happened, they would have told you they would never let it get that bad. They know what they are doing is bad, and in most cases unhealthy. There’s no knowledge gap. Just like everyone else in the world the people of My Strange Addiction do things they know they shouldn’t. It makes me wonder about what really drives us. 
