Summary
A reader experiences intense distress around bathrooms and related sounds or smells, even in private settings. The reader asks what this aversion might be called.
The response suggests a specific phobia as a possible framework and explicitly notes that the informal name it proposes is invented.
It describes cognitive behavioral therapy and therapist-guided gradual exposure as approaches to addressing the fear, rather than treating the letter as a definitive diagnosis.
Question
Reader · Identity withheldI have a strong aversion to bathrooms, whether public or private, especially if anyone besides myself has used them. I feel extremely distressed when I hear someone using the restroom or notice any related smells. For example, if someone passes gas while sitting in a chair, I can never bring myself to sit there again. Could you tell me what this condition might be called?
Answer
Mark Vigil Dombeck, Ph.D.Probably what is happening for you is best conceptualized as a simple phobia. A phobia is a reliable fear reaction that is out of proportion to real threat. Phobia people often have panic attacks (severe, intense heart-palpitating “feel like you’re gonna die” episodes) in response to situations that other people don’t feel afraid in.
Common phobias are: agoraphobia (fear of being out in a public place), social phobia (fear of being rejected or publicly embarrassed). Simple phobias are common too. A simple phobia is a phobia that develops in response to a simple thing (like a dog or a spider or blood) rather than a complex thing like being out in public. Phobias are commonly given Latin names describing what is feared, so in your case, we might describe your bathroom aversion as lavarephobia or “fear of the washroom” – I’m making this up, but that is more or less how it would be named.
You should know that simple phobias are very much treatable things which are quite amenable to cognitive behavioral psychotherapy. If you want to, you can probably do something about your aversion. The general procedure used tends to involve what is called graduated exposure. In essence, you and the therapist would list (in order of fear provoking quality) a variety of bathroom situations, and then you would work on managing to stay relaxed in situations of increasing threat until you were able to tolerate the Full Monty.
