Having respect for dirt and germs is something very common in society, and even more so today. But what happens if this respect turns into paralyzing fear? This is when we find ourselves faced with mysophobia, also known as germophobia.
Being afraid of dirt and bacteria can limit the life of people who suffer from it, such as avoiding going to places that they consider unclean or maintaining limited interpersonal relationships. In this Psychology-Online article, we are going to explain What is mysophobia, its symptoms, causes and treatment most effective psychological treatment to overcome this fear.
What is mysophobia
The meaning of mysophobia is excessive and irrational fear of dirt, bacteria and other germs causing difficulties in the life of the person who suffers from it. This person will spend all day thinking about strategies to avoid getting dirty or coming into contact with germs, these thoughts being very annoying, since they break into everyday life.
For example, many of the people affected They will avoid going or approaching places that they perceive as unclean or they will avoid behaviors that they consider could put them at risk, such as ordering food at home.
How to know if I have mysophobia
Mysophobia or bacillophobia is a specific phobia and, as such, it is a anxiety disorder. On several occasions, mysophobia occurs along with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Here you can see the different types of.
OCD is a psychiatric disorder where the person presents thoughts, impulses or images recurrent and persistent, which lead to significant discomfort. To try to alleviate or reduce this anxiety caused by obsessions, they establish behaviors or mental acts such as: washing their hands many times, praying or counting up to X number. These are the calls compulsions.
In mysophobia, fear only appears when the person is faced with a situation where they are in contact with something dirty. On the other hand, fear is present practically all the time the person is awake. For example, in the case of mysophobia or germophobia, if a person who suffers from it invites some friends to his house and they offer to wash some dishes and put them in the dishwasher, when they leave, he takes them out and immerses them in the dishwasher. sink for proper disinfection that is up to standards. It may also be that she feels the need to clean the part of the house where they have been, once they have left.
At this point, we can ask ourselves what the symptoms of mysophobia are, what causes mysophobia and if there is treatment for it.
Symptoms of mysophobia
Next, we are going to see the main symptoms of mysophobia and what they entail:
Excessive fear of dirt or germs
The person who experiences mysophobia has a exaggerated fear of dirt and germs, as well as towards all objects or places that they perceive as contaminated or dirty. The fear that occurs interferes with the activities of daily living and usually causes Lots of suffering. According to different studies, those affected by mysophobia usually wash their hands about 40 times an hour and change their clothes up to five times a day.
Although people who have mysophobia or germophobia may have a fear of dirt and germs in common, each person may have slightly different fears. There are those who may be afraid of microbes or there are other people who may only be afraid of what they perceive as dirty: brooms, mops, bar tables, etc.
Avoidance of feared situations
As with most phobias, one of the symptoms of mysophobia is that people avoid what they perceive as harmful. In this case, the person will avoid contact with any situation, object or person that warn as possible germ carrier or dirt. Some of the situations that most tend to be avoided are:
- Visit other people’s homes.
- Eat out from home.
- Use public sinks, bathrooms, changing rooms.
- Go to the shopping centers.
- Take public transportation.
And even not to go out on the street so as not to be exposed to dirt, which indirectly leads to a . This is usually very disabling and cause all kinds of problems on a daily basis, in addition to making it impossible for the person to enjoy many activities that they would do if it were not for mysophobia.
Depending on the severity of the mysophobia or germophobia that the person experiences, the phobia may be more or less disabling.
Anxiety
When the person faces the feared stimulus, their body reacts with:
- Difficulty breathing.
- Pain or pressure in the chest.
- Feeling dizzy.
- Excessive sweat.
- Palpitations.
- Nausea.
- Dizziness
- Feeling of losing control or dying: in the most serious cases.
The anxiety experienced in the face of the feared situation, fear of dirt or germs, is one of the main causes that causes individuals to avoid all situations in which they perceive risks.
Causes of mysophobia
Mysophobia is usually multi-causal. Let’s see what are the types of causes of mysophobia:
- biological causes: Most anxiety disorders have a hereditary component. Various studies have shown that certain biological differences would cause some people to be more predisposed to developing anxiety disorders such as phobias.
- Environmental causes: the result of an interaction between the most biological part and the environmental part, such as having lived traumatic experiences related to the subject. Also as a result of an upbringing that is too demanding with cleanliness or with a great fear of dirt. In this article, we tell you.
Mysophobia treatment
As has been seen, mysophobia can be a very disabling disorder. If you are wondering how to treat mysophobia, today there are various psychological techniques that have proven highly effective in treating specific phobias.
Psychological treatment
First of all, one of the treatments for mysophobia is . In this type of therapy, the person learns by exposing themselves to the stimulus progressively. Generally, a hierarchy of fears is developed. Let’s see how it’s done:
- Systematic desensitization: You start with that situation or object that is least scary and, little by little, you move towards those situations or stimuli that scare you the most. On many occasions you start by doing it in imagination and then in real life.
- Gradual exposure to the feared stimulus: reduces the anxiety response and helps change our irrational perception of fear and adjust it to reality. Here you can see more information about the .
Other alternative techniques that have also shown effectiveness are acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and hypnotherapy.
Pharmacotherapy
In the most serious cases and where mysophobia is very disabling, pharmacological treatment should first be considered to reduce extreme anxiety response. Once reduced, cognitive-behavioral treatment will begin. When anxiety levels are very high, it is difficult to perform CBT, since the anxious response itself would paralyze the person. The objective of the drug is to reduce this anxiety in order to subsequently work on fears. Discover .
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Mysophobia: meaning, symptoms, causes and treatmentwe recommend that you enter our category.
Bibliography
- American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing. 2013:451-460.
- Belloch, A., Sandín, B., Ramos, F. (2008). Manual of psychopathology. Madrid: McGraw Hill.