What is Germaphobia?
Germaphobia is when you have an extreme fear of germs. At times you may go out of your way to avoid situations that may expose you to germs. You may also know this fear as mysoophobia. This phobia and steps you take to avoid it can slowly worsen over time. You can sometimes find yourself stuck in a cycle of repetitive behaviours that affect your quality of life. Germaphobia can sometimes be linked to obsessive – compulsive disorder.
Symptoms
When it comes to mysophobia/germaphobia the common symptoms may include behaviors that are used to avoid exposure to germs or contamination. These symptoms may include:
- Avoiding places that you think contain a lot of germs or dirt.
- Having a extreme fear of becoming contaminated
- Overly obsessing over cleaning/cleanliness
- Excessive hand washing throughout the day
- Overusing cleaning and sanitizing products
If you have germaphobia , you may experience certain symptoms when you are exposed to dirt or bacteria. These symptoms can include:
Crying
Heart palpitations
Shaking
Sweating
Vomiting
Itching of the skin
Symptoms like these may only occur when the object that shows your phobia is visible. For example when cleaning the attic, or when you believe that germ contact may have occurred. This can be something as simple as shaking hands with someone or using a doorknob.
If you struggle with germaphobia you may tend to take multiple showers each day. Carrying round hand sanitizer all the time as it’s an essential to your everyday life. You may take multiple showers each day. You may also become unwilling to use public places for example: toilets,transport, and restaurants.
The causes of germaphobia
Like other phobias, germaphobia can begin between childhood and early adulthood. There are many different factors that are believed to contribute to the development of germaphobia These include:
Negative/bad experiences in childhood – If you struggle with germaphobia, you can sometimes recall a specific event that led to your germ-related fears.
Family history- As some of you may already know phobias can be genetic and passed down through the family. If you have a close family member who has a phobia or struggles with anxiety disorder, it may increase your risk. But they might not have the exact same phobia but one slightly different.
Pregnancy- Sometimes becoming pregnant can cause you to become a germaphobe. This is due to you wanting to keep the baby safe and healthy thought out and after the pregnancy. You don’t want your baby to be near any type of dirt or germs as you want them to be as healthy as they can possibly be.
A pandemic starts- As we all know COVID-19 caused a colossal pandemic all over the world. Things like this can cause you to gain a fear of germs. The thought of catching a virus and spreading it can scare you to the point of being a germaphobe.
