Discovery Home & Health

I'm thinking about getting hypnotherapy to cure me of a phobia. I don't know much about it and i'm not sure if it works or not. Has anybody had it and found it successful?

funnily enough i was thinking of doing the same. I have a phobia about buttons and everyone thinks i am a freak.

That is so weird, that's my phobia too! I have a terrible time getting work clothes as shirt buttons completely disgust me and I can't find any smart looking alternatives. How do you manage with the work clothes thing - Do you need to wear a suit for work?

Tom, I work from home so rarely get dressed. Though shirts etc are still very much a problem. What i have started buying is shirts with studs though to be honest this isnt really getting over my problem, it is simply avoiding it and that is no solution. I had hoped that Velcro would have made the use of buttons redundant by now, but sadly it has not.

It's so amazing meeting somebody else with the same phobia, do you know how yours started I don't and my parents couldn't shed any light on it either. I go to a lot of meetings where I have to wear a shirt and tie so it's pretty hard. My wife has to dress me in the morning and undress me when I get home. It's tricky if she's away but she buttons all my shirts up in advance leaving the top few buttons undone and I put them on over my head like t-shirts, then I put my tie on and leave the top few buttons undone till I get into work and my secretary does them up for me. it's complicated but it works!

Hi guys,

I can't help on the phobia thing, but I've had hypnotherapy. I had it for giving up smoking when I was pregnant and it did work for a time. I did start smoking when my baby was 5 months old though, so I'm not sure what to make of that....
.... I think to have hypnotherapy you need to WANT whatever you're having the hypnotherapy for and believe that it'll work. So you would need to believe that you can button up your shirt and the hypnotherapy will assist you.

I can always recommend a really good hypnotherapist who isn't too expensive if you want to give it a try but he's based in New Malden, Surrey. Obviously I don't know where you are from, but if you don't know, New Malden is just South Of London.....

Good luck all of you and let me know if you'd like my hypnotherapists number.

Have any of you tried talking to your doctor about councelling as well as the hypnotherapy? They might be able to recommend someone who specialises in phobias.

Nicola
xx

This is amazing!!!

I have a 7yr old daughter who also has this "Button Phobia"

Does anyone know its official name?

Thanks in advance

I don't know if there is an official name for our condition but I did find this hypnotherapist site - http://www.avonhypnotherapy.co.uk/buttonphobia.htm Apparently it's quite common though most people think I'm a freak if I tell them about it. I've thought about getting treatment but then - and I know this sounds really weird - I think I don't want to like buttons or be ok with them because they're horrible and disgusting and I'd prefer to avoid them. I guess I'll just have to live with my phobia!

My daughter has seen doc's in the past and they just say it is an irrational fear, and possibly comes along with her unwilling to wear many textures too and she will only eat certain foods! Her diet is quite limited.
They put it down to the fact that her dad has Asperger Syndrome(a form of higher functioning autism) and her older 10 yr old brother also has this.
They just say she has many traits of this but not enough for a full diagnosis.
She is a sociable,happy little girl until you ask her to do anything with a button!!!
When she was under 21/2 she was physically sick and had immediate sweats when she saw a button.This is why doc had to be involved,she is able to see them now without that reaction.
But will not wear any clothes that have them and even if I take them off and she sees the button hole, she refuses.
At one point she said it was the string(cotton) so I used glue and she was disgusted that I even thought about that idea and totally refused.
I have tried every possible way to no avail, so have resigned myself to the fact now.
I do worry about when she goes to secondary school as that uniform has shirts with buttons and have never found as yet,anything that remotely looks like them shirts but without buttons.
I am amazed that there are so many with this phobia and it still hasn't got an official name.
Take Care
busymum

I also have this phobia though mine is a slightly different double edged sword in that I find many buttons, including shirt buttons, as ugly and offensive and totally disstasteful. This, however is coupled with a strong sexual fetish for one type of button. Fish-eye buttons (large 22mm) have always held an incredible fascination for me and as I became adult and sexually aware, they became the very core of my sexual attraction and remain so to this day. I often change shirt buttons etc to fish -eye buttons for my own pleasure, though I have to cut off the old ones without handling them as they make me feel sick. I totaly avoid wearing shirts in general unless I have changed the buttons. This is usually only for the bedroom where I am fortunate enough to feel comfortable to indulge my fetish with my partner in private. Anyone else have a phobia/fetish connection?

My Son of Nine also has a button phobia, I though that it was a faze, but it started when he was 4 years, I says he doesn't like them because they have faces on them and are looking at him.. over the years he has chosen his own cloths (except school ones) and non of his cloths have buttons on, but school cloths do. he hates them with a passion he has to have polo shirts covered with a jumper, but I don't know how is going to cope in a new school that has buttons on the Rugby shirt..

Love Debbie

OMG, I hate buttons they really freak me out. I remember when i was about 5 or 6 my mum bought me a jumper that buttoned up at the front and i refused to wear it. If my mum made me put it on I would have to turn the thing around so i didnt have to look at the gastley things. Even now i cant wear shirts or blouses. I have to buy normal tops with nothing on. My husband is in the RAF and I do his washing when I do mine and he has these awful shirts. I literally have to pick it up at the corner and throw it in the washer/dryer. If i accidently touched one of the buttons i would physically wretch and i have to wash my hands immediately. the sound of them falling into the drum makes me feel physically sick too. I remember i had a friend that used to sit and chew on shirt buttons. I couldn't go near her whenever she had one. They also put me off my food. If i am eating and someone with a shirt comes and sits near/next to me i cant eat. I feel sick now!!!!!! I also am scared stiff of Fish!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm 21 now and had these phobias all my life. EWWWWWWW

Hi I don't have a button phobia but I do have a phobia about butterflies/moths and have recently started Cognitive Behaviour Therapy to try and conquer this. This is really the "face your fear" type of treatment as I felt this was the best route for me as I was worried hynotherapy wouldn't last. Its going well and I made a great choice in the therapist but really you have to want to get over it and be very motivated as its not easy (or cheap!) I know I will never like butterflies/moths but at least if I can stop panicking and running away when I see one that would be good as I don't want my kids to be the same if poss.

You guys must be joking, ive got the same fear. The earliest i can remember having it is at the age of 3 or 4, i also have an irrational fear/disgust/hatred (whatever you want to call it) of poppers. I have an awful time at work and did at school aswell. I to find that i can only wear a shirt with some comfort with a tie, and that dosent help much. However, i have the biggest fetish for polo shirts. Its an awkward sexual desire, given my hatred of all things button related. (i feel physically sick if i see a button on the floor, i cannot touch them and feel sick in their vacinity.) yet for some reason i am not repulsed by polo shirts, despite having a hatred of buttons that i cannot adequateley put into words. I believe this may be a similar thing to the fish eye button guy who posted earlier. I would be very interested to hear from anyone else with a similar problem/situation (whatever you might call it)and hear of their experiences. Is there anyone out there who has overcome, or adapted beyond this?!

Wow, this is amazing! I was just discussing my 'button phobia' to my wife and was wondering if there was a proper name for it, I've never thought to look it up on the net before because it's something that I've always just taken for granted. I'm absolutely flabbergasted that there are other people that have this 'phobia'.

I've learned to live with ordinary shirt buttons, I think the fact that they are discernably cylindrical in shape makes it easier but the surprise sighting or (gak) touch of a smooth - especially translucent plastic button gives me a feeling that I can only describe as like the sensation of going over the top on a ferris wheel.

I do have an idea of where mine started, I'd be about 5 or 6 and there was this kid at school who had vomited down his coat, in the days that followed I can remember my disgust at the bits of vomit still stuck in the stitching holes of his coat buttons. Maybe I just associate buttons with vomit? I thought so before discovering you peeps. Maybe I only noticed the vomit in the buttons because I was transfixed by the buttons themselves.

Anyway, I'm off to inform the wife that she's not married to a total freak! Thanks guys.