Excessive fear of dirt and germs? You suffer from mysophobia – Online Psychologists

If you are afraid of dirt, bacteria and other germs, we will tell you that you suffer from mysophobia. What exactly is mysophobia? Here we explain it to you along with its symptoms, causes and treatment.

Mysophobia is a specific phobia which is characterized, as we have already mentioned, by a Excessive and irrational fear of dirt, bacteria and other germs even causing difficulties in the life of the person who suffers from it.

The thoughts to establish strategies and thus avoid getting dirty or being in contact with germs are intense and disrupt the normal development of daily life.

People who suffer from mysophobia They avoid going to places that they perceive as uncleanin the same way that they do not carry out practices that they consider may put them at risk, such as ordering food delivery.

Since it is a specific phobia, it is a anxiety disorder which on several occasions is presented together with the obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)).

What is OCD? It is a psychiatric disorder where the person has Persistent, recurring thoughts, impulses, or imagesThis causes discomfort that is sometimes serious.

For deal with or reduce anxiety caused by obsessions, establish behaviors or acts such as counting up to a certain number, washing hands constantly, repeating daily actions, etc. This is what is known as behavior compulsion.

In the case of the mysophobiafear only appears when the person is faced with a situation where he is contact with something dirty. On the contrary, in the OCD Fear is present practically throughout all the time in which the person is awake.

Being careful with germs and trying to keep things as clean as possible is a healthy, learned behavior that has helped us advance as a society. The problem appears when these behaviors become obsessive.extreme and disabling.

Mysophobia has three main symptoms or signs which are the following:

People who suffer from mysophobia have a exaggerated fear of dirt and germsas well as all objects or places that they consider contaminated and dirty.

As we have noted, this fear interferes with your daily routinepreventing them from carrying out common activities. Constant thinking about dirt causes a lot of suffering. In fact, according to different scientific studies, people with mysophobia are capable of Wash your hands up to 40 times per hour and They change clothes up to five times a day.

However, although all those with mysophobia have a common fear of dirt and germs, Each of them may present slightly different fearsThat is, there are people who are afraid of germs, while others are only afraid of what they perceive as dirty: public toilets, bar tables, mops, etc.

In the same way, there are derived fears such as phobia of bacteria (bacteriophobia) or phobia of microbes (bacillophobia).

When a person is faced with a stimulus that they are afraid of, their body reacts with anxiety symptoms such as:

In the most extreme situations you can feel a total loss of control. The anxiety experienced in a dirty circumstance is one of the reasons why people with mysophobia They avoid certain plans in which they perceive risks.

As with most phobias, people try to avoid the situations they fear. What happens with mysophobia is that it is Eliminate contact with any person, object or place where there is dirt or germsFor example, some of the situations that tend to be eliminated are:

In the most extreme situations it also comes to Do not go outside to avoid being exposed to dirt. This entails a social isolation and a serious problem, as it is disabling and causes inconveniences in daily routine. Depending on the degree of mysophobia The phobia may be more or less disabling..

Mysophobia can be caused by:

Most anxiety disorders have a hereditary component. Several scientific studies have revealed that certain biological aspects cause some people to have greater predisposition to develop anxiety disorders such as phobias.

However, mysophobia is also believed to be the result of an interaction between the biological and environmental parts. Have experienced traumatic situations related to the issue may be a cause. In the same way that the trigger could also have been a overly demanding education regarding cleanliness.

Mysophobia can be a debilitating disorder. However, all is not lost. There are currently various psychological and pharmacological techniques which have proven to be highly effective in treating specific phobias.

On the one hand, there is the cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This type of treatment consists of progressively expose oneself to the stimulusTo do this, you need to create a hierarchy of fears, starting with the one that is least scary. Over time, you move on to the situations or stimuli that are most scary.

This process is called systematic desensitization and it usually starts by doing it in the imagination and then in person. By gradually exposing oneself to the stimulus, the anxiety response is reduced, which helps us to change the irrational perception of fear.

On the other hand, there are also alternative techniques that have shown great effectiveness, such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Hypnotherapy.

In the most severe cases and where mysophobia is very disabling, it is advisable to consider pharmacological treatment to reduce the extreme anxiety response. Once this has been reduced, the patient can begin treatment. cognitive behavioral treatment.

When a very high level of anxiety is maintained, it is difficult to carry out CBT, since the anxious response itself paralyzes the person. The objective of the drug is reduce this anxiety to be able to work on fears later.

If you think you suffer from mysophobia and it prevents you from living a normal life, you can consult a specialist who will advise you and guide you in your treatment. Write to us at , the first appointment is completely free.