The best scientists in the minds of the thirteenth century Germany could not even imagine that the functional and useful buttons that they presented to humanity could be perceived by someone as a creature of horror. Kumpunofobiya - it is a panic fear of buttons. It is a rather rare phobia, according to some sources, it occurs in one case in 75 thousand people. And to all around such a fear seems ridiculous, except for the very cumphnophobe.
Description
Kumpunofobiya - mental disorder, which is accompanied by a pathological fear of buttons. Most people have not even heard of such a disease, and it may seem funny to them. Believe me, there is nothing funny about this mental disorder. In any case, for the person most affected by the disease.
The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10 version) includes cumpunophobia in the list of phobic disorders under the F-40 code. This means that people who are afraid of buttons, need to provide professional medical care, because their rare and unusual disorder can significantly reduce the quality of life and cause concomitant mental disorders. The name got its frustration from the Latin koumpouno - “button”.
Sometimes the fear of these items is not caused specifically by negative expectations of danger from them, but by another phobia - tripophobia (fear of cluster holes, multiple round holes).
No matter how it is, but the fact remains - there are people who are afraid of buttons, try not to wear clothes with such accessories, carefully avoid contact with other people who have large, noticeable buttons on their clothes. There are many ways to express this fear.
There are other people living in the world - philobutonists. These are button collectors, souls in this accessory. And it is very good that both kumpunofobiya and phylobutonistics are rather rare phenomena, otherwise it is hard to imagine what kind of sad consequences could be for sudden meetings of kumpnofobov with owners of rich button collections.
What could be terrible in the usual buttons? Kumpunophob knows exactly the answer to this question. These objects seem to the patient disgusting, their appearance is unpleasant, they are unpleasant to the touch. The more buttons, the stronger the anxiety and unconscious anticipation of danger.
Kumpunofoby understand that their fear is irrational in nature, it is difficult to explain it logically. But in a state of horror when confronted with buttons, finding themselves in a dangerous situation for themselves, people with such a phobia simply lose the ability to control their actions, reactions, and the situation around them. Severe forms of phobias can manifest panic attacks.
In order to live in peace, fobs try to organize their lives, eliminating from it possible situations in which fear appears. Of course, you can buy and wear only clothes with zippers, without buttons. But how to travel in transport, to visit shops, to communicate with people at work, if everyone is first on himself has objects that cause a wide range of emotions - from excitement to panic?
Therefore, we can safely say that this phobia is a danger to human health and life, because it causes him to limit his daily life, to feel anxiety and anxiety, to reduce social contacts and visits to public places.
The reasons
The causes of this disorder have not been studied well enough, because the phobia itself was recognized as a mental disorder only recently, and its relatively low prevalence does not allow gathering maximum information about the violation. But there are several factors that can theoretically cause the fear of buttons.
Negative children experience
Children often pull different stuff into their mouths and many swallow buttons. If the button is small and naturally leaves the body itself, there is no reason to worry. But sometimes children swallow and inhale the buttons are quite large. In the subconscious mind, the fright of the parents, the discomfort associated with subsequent medical manipulations to extract the swallowed buttons can persist for a lifetime.
Children's experience can also be connected with punishment for buttons scattered or taken without asking, for buttons cut off by an inquisitive child from her mother's front coat, etc. If the punishment was significant, it is possible that the image of the buttons in the subconscious will forever be closely associated with the following waiting for pain, punishment, danger.
The experience is not always traumatic and it is not always his own. A child could have toys with buttons sewn instead of eyes, he could see a cartoon about Caroline in the Land of Nightmares during an illness or bad mood, where all the characters had buttons instead of eyes.
A child could be frightened by anything, for example, a thrown dog, but it was precisely the large buttons on the coat of the owner of the aggressive dog that could remember the frightened child.
Quite often, it is very difficult for a person to remember which event caused the formation of a negative attitude towards buttons in childhood. The traumatic psyche event itself can be erased from memory, but the mechanism it triggers is not.
Awkward situations from the past
People can get into embarrassing situations associated with buttons, and if a person is impressionable, vulnerable, attaching great importance to the opinions of others, he may well experience the strongest emotions that will begin cumpunophobia. For example, a button on the fly of a teenager was torn off at the wrong time - in class, when he was answering at the blackboard, during a public speech, in front of a girl who really liked it.
Sometimes a person can not cope with a button - to fasten or unfasten in some important situation. This causes excitement, hands begin to tremble and it becomes even more difficult to unbutton the button. This happens in young people during the first sexual intercourse, and then the elements of kumpunophobia can arise along with some intimate phobias and obsessive thoughts, which can complicate the adult sex life of a person.
A person who cannot sew on a button in any way can also become an object of ridicule of others, while he may experience a strong fear of losing credibility, respect, and the image of the hated button will be closely associated with a sense of panic.
Concomitant Mental Disorders
Often cumpunophobia acts not as an independent disease, but as a symptom of other mental problems. Fear of buttons occurs in schizophrenia, delusional disorders, compulsive disorders, paranoia. In this case, a strange attitude towards popular fasteners and decorative buttons is not the main “oddity”. A person can be convinced that the buttons are poisoned, inhabited by germs, dirty, he will avoid touching them not only on his clothes.
If another person accidentally touches him with a button in transport, he can throw his jacket directly into the ballot box near the subway, since it will be unbearable to go there further after touching someone else’s button.
Heredity
Not identified a specific gene that could ensure the transmission of phobias by inheritance, but the educational factor is the place to be. If the parents are afraid of and avoid something in panic, the children's brain perceives it as a threat, and therefore a child with the same mental disorder may well grow up in a parent-cynophobic parent.
Symptoms and signs
The fear of buttons can be different: some fear the appearance of large buttons, others only small ones. One seems terrifying sound of falling buttons, getting enough sleep buttons, others terrified by the prospect of actions with buttons - fastening or unfastening, sewing. Some are afraid only of wooden products, others are afraid of plastic or metal accessories. In rare cases, a person may be afraid of all the listed objects, as well as in front of images, pictures, drawings, in which buttons are depicted.
Since buttons are extremely widespread on people's clothes, Kumpunofoby try to avoid being in places of mass concentrations - in a crowd, in transport at rush hour, at public events. A sudden collision with a frightening situation can cause vegetative signs: fear causes an adrenaline rush, which dilates the pupils, causes blood to flow to the muscles, heartbeat changes, blood pressure jumps can occur.
Kumpunophob may experience nausea, his legs and hands are shaking, nausea, vomiting, and loss of consciousness are possible. Experts point out that very often, cumpunophobia is accompanied by increased disgust, and therefore a person may feel an overwhelming desire to wash and even wash all his clothes after a panic attack.
Over time, an undetected and untreated phobia worsens.
Therapy
Independently cope with this phobia is quite difficult. It is necessary to consult a specialist - a psychiatrist or psychotherapist. The most effective method of overcoming such phobias today is considered psychotherapy.
As part of the treatment with the use of hypnosis, experts identify the true causes of a strange phobia, help a person reconsider those distant events and beliefs, and break the habitual connection between the object (button) and the emergence of fear.
Gradually, the patient begins to be immersed in an increasing manner in a situation that had previously caused him to panic - he would sew and unbutton buttons, carry things with them. If cumpunophobia is accompanied by high anxiety, it can be recommended. antidepressant drugs. You should not expect a result from drugs without psychotherapy - relief will be temporary and not long-term.
