Mysophobia: When the Fear of Dirt Becomes an Obsession

What

Mysophobia is a form of obsession with cleanliness and excessive fear of dirt. A genuine fear of any contact with dirt, which leads to a myriad of unnecessary hygiene precautions. Mysophobia even has its own symptoms, which announce themselves: anxietyExcessive sweating, chronic nervousness, racing heartbeat, nausea. With Covid-19, mysophobia has found its match. Or rather, fertile ground for its rapid spread, amplified by a swarm of expert spreaders of compulsive fears. A crucial contribution has come from the media, the great distributors of fear, from experts, including those at the sports bar, and from many amateur doctors, virologists, and infectious disease specialists. The damage is done; for those who already suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, it has been, and risks becoming increasingly, a disaster. But everyone, absolutely everyone, is at risk of becoming more anxious. In our website's inbox, surreal questions sometimes arrive, written in the hand of mysophobia. "Do I have to wash tomatoes with soap too?" "Should I change the temperature of the washing machine to remove stains from clothes?" "Someone, while I was walking, brushed past me, and so I thought about taking my jacket to the dry cleaners..." One Sunday, during Mass, I looked around and saw several women kneeling, their hands in their hair, as if refusing any contact. Something didn't add up, and, intrigued, at the end of the service I tried to clarify the mystery. Well: the priest had had a couple of coughs, and the pious women had decided to forgo communion. They too were now suffering from mysophobia. Not to mention... gloves and masksWe see too many of them around, everywhere, even when they're neither useful nor necessary. An absolute waste. And a form of protection that protects no one. It's pointless to shout, pointless to repeat that to avoid any risk, all you need to do is wash your hands frequently and maintain social distancing: people suffering from mysophobia don't listen to reason. They don't want to. And if anything, our calls for reasonableness can have the opposite effect, pushing the sufferer to even more extreme behaviors.

Cleanliness as an obsession

Those who suffer from mysophobia risks wasting your lifeHe has constant panic attacks. He's never relaxed. He feels misunderstood. He tries to dissolve his compulsive obsessions in the liquid of a generic perfectionism. He does nothing but chase news after news: deaths, infections, new treatments, vaccines. And above all, the bad news, like the outbreaks that in some cases, and very locally, flare up again. Everyday life thus becomes a nightmare, human relationships wither, and one ends up seeking help from a doctor whose prognosis is usually very grim.

How to heal

From mysophobia it is not easily cured, and often there's no cure. Some relief comes from medications (such as tricyclic antidepressants), and some doctors even resort to highly invasive treatments, such as implanting an electrode in the skull. Perhaps more prevention is needed for a disease that, in the long term, risks causing more damage than the coronavirus itself.

The meaning of dust

Dust has many meanings, not all of which are solely related to domestic hygiene. It indicates the passing of time, decay, and life fading until death. But it also signifies a residue of life, and of our vitality. Therefore, we must clean and remove dust, but without becoming obsessive, also accepting the contradictions it symbolizes.

Read also:

• Don't waste water at home: 15 tips
• How to recycle rainwater
• How to waste less water at home with flow reducers
• Don't wash yourself all the time; it's a pointless obsession. And it's counterproductive: it can even lead to infections.

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