Fear of bathing or washing (ablutophobia): causes and symptoms

There are different types of phobias, one of the most documented, although not very frequent, is ablutophobia.

Ablutophobia is the irrational fear that a person feels of bathing or washing. Therefore, it can bring serious unhygienic consequences for the person who suffers from this pathology. In this article we will delve into this mental disorder and we will know what its causes, its symptoms and its consequences are.

What is ablutophobia

Ablutophobia is a phobic disorder commonly known as a fear of bathing or washing. Phobias are anxiety disorders that cause great discomfort to the person who suffers from them. In an attempt to reduce her negative symptoms, she makes an effort to avoid the stimulus that causes it and, therefore, Therefore, something as mundane as showering or washing can trigger a severe and persistent fear in these individuals.

The negative consequences of this fear go further, and can affect people's lives, as it can cause a bad smell, dirt and poor personal hygiene for the person affected. Something that, without a doubt, has an effect on your social life, not only in terms of your friends or family, but also in terms of your employment and work life.

Research suggests that it is more common in women and children, although at an early age many children feel a certain fear of bathing. Now, it is more likely that this fear is due to an extreme dislike of the bathroom and, in fact, this problem generally not considered a phobia unless it lasts longer than six months or continues into adolescence and old age adult.

Like any phobia, if left untreated, it can worsen and cause other physical illnesses due to poor hygiene.. Rejection by other people can also occur.

Causes of this disorder

Irrational fears are usually learned and occur after a traumatic event. For example, although many children have a fear of water, which usually disappears when they realize that nothing terrible is happening in the bathtub, others They can develop this phobia if parents force them to take a bath, because they can associate the bathtub with the unhappiness and aggressiveness of the parents. parents.

The mechanism by which this fear develops is what is known as classical conditioning, which is a type of associative learning in which the person associates a stimulus that was originally neutral with another that elicits a response scary. This association causes the fear response to occur simply in the presence of the previously neutral stimulus.

The following video illustrates how we learn to have irrational fears.

Phobias, therefore, usually develop in childhood; however, they can appear at any time in a person's life.

Other possible causes

But the traumatic events experienced by the person are not the only way to develop phobic disorders. It can happen that people learn a phobia by observation, or rather by vicarious conditioning.. For example, when they are children, when observing an adult who panics when bathing.

Experts also affirm that people are predisposed to suffer from this kind of fears, since this emotion is adaptive and has been very useful for human survival. Therefore, phobias have to do with the primitive part of the brain, what is known as the emotional brain, and for this reason they do not usually respond well to logical arguments. In other words, phobias are developed by associations that are not cognitive, but primitive.

Symptoms of fear of bathing

People with ablutophobia can experience a variety of symptoms when in situations where the phobic stimulus is present. They may feel some physical and physiological symptoms such as nausea, sweating, fear, tremors, headache or dizziness. Some experience panic attacks, which can include shortness of breath, high blood pressure, and a racing heart rate.

Psychological symptoms include anxiety and anguish, irrational fear, thoughts of death, lack of concentration. Likewise, people with a bathing phobia try to avoid this situation at all costs, in order to reduce the discomfort they feel.

Feelings of shame are common, since in many cultures the lack of cleanliness creates rejection or ridicule.

Treatment

Although some people suffer from this phobia, it is not a cause for shame. In most cases it has to do with an event from the past and a psychologist can help the patient deal with the problem.

Thus, people with ablutophobia can get help from a professional psychologist, and studies show that psychological therapy is very effective. Cognitive behavioral therapy is generally used, which uses different techniques. The most frequent and useful in these cases are relaxation techniques and exposure techniques.

Actually, the most widely used technique includes the two previous ones and is called systematic desensitization, which consists of exposing the patient gradually to the phobic stimulus, but first he must learn a series of resources that allow him to face situations feared.

In severe cases, some patients benefit from medications anxiolytics and antidepressants. but they should always be used in combination with psychotherapy.

Other possible treatments

At present, other therapeutic methods that have proven to be effective are also often used, such as hypnosis, Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy that you can learn more about in our articles.

You can learn more about them in our articles:

• Hypnotherapy: what is it and what are its benefits
• Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy: what is it?
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): principles and characteristics