Mysophobia
| Classification according to ICD-10 | |
|---|---|
| F40.2 | Specific (isolated) phobias |
| ICD-10 online (WHO version 2019) | |
As mysophobia one is morbid fear from contact with dirt and prior to infection by bacteria , viruses and similar expressions.
definition
The term mysophobia was about 1879 by the military doctor and neurologist William Alexander Hammond introduced. Mysophobia is assigned to the so-called anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive anxiety. However, it is controversial whether it is an independent disease or not more of a kind of accompanying phobia.
Symptoms
Mysophobia manifests itself in those affected by an extreme contact avoidance behavior as well as an excessive washing and cleaning obligation. For example, those affected wash their hands excessively after almost every contact with objects and / or people, especially after shaking hands. For fear of bad breath, they brush their teeth several times a day. The excessive fear of dirt and bacteria also means that those affected avoid direct contact with doorknobs , public toilets, telephone booths and money and the use of public transport. In extreme cases, they never leave their own apartment at all. Actual or perceived contact with dirt or germs ultimately leads to obsessive-compulsive disorder. Various cleaning rituals and the excessive use of disinfectants try to prevent a feared infection .
literature
- Harry Stack Sullivan: Clinical studies in psychiatry. Schizophrenia as a human process. The fusion of psychiatry and social science (= Collected works , 2nd volume). WW Norton & Company, Vermont 1964, pages 249-251.
- Eugen Bleuler: Textbook of Psychiatry . Springer-Verlag, Berlin 2013 (new edition), ISBN 9783662424025 , p. 67.
- Hermann Mayer: Compendium of Neurology and Psychiatry (= Speyer's Compendia and Repetitorien, 2nd volume ). Speyer & Kaerner, 1913, pp. 189-191.
- Hans Morschitzky: Anxiety Disorders: Diagnostics, Concepts, Therapy, Self-Help . Springer-Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 9783709137277 , p. 73.
