Phobia of Buttons

[Tyranna]

Hi, folks, just to start up a rather unusual thread, which might be of help to some people.

 

 

The idea of posting this thread came about because I'm doing some research for a comedy thriller I am writing and it will include some reference to Koumpounophobia.

 

I am fortunate not to have suffered koum'phobia myself, but when I was younger I had some rather predictable fears such as a fear of rubber balloons; now I am the first one to start bursting balloons in a balloon drop at one of our club nights! In all logic, Koumpounophobia should be curable or easily treatable from an early age,a nd yet, I have found many blogs and accounts of people as old as 60, who have suffered it all their lives since infancy and it has even led to difficulties like the breakup of marriages.

 

I also have a few interesting ideas of my own as to how Koum'phobia may have originated:

 

As a lot of phobics particularly fear b****ns made of white plastic, it might be that it is related to ancient instinctive fears or revulsion linked to bones and death; way back in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic, the first b****ns and fastening toggles were made of bone.

Modern b****ns with several holes in the centre also may resemble skulls to the observer; therefore again there might be a subconscious association or fear related to skulls and death. To some people, ones of a ivory-white colour may also resemble teeth, again suggesting skulls and the like.

 

ANY feedback on the above theories from experts/psychologists would be most welcome.

 

In the meantime, Best of Luck to those fighting K'phobia, it is a shame that I have found so many nasty comments on other websites ridiculing or taunting sufferers; one idea of mine to help conquer the phobia might be to put a plastic b****n on the ground, borrow a hammer, and smash it to oblivion, which will help show that the individual can be 'in control' of the situation far more than they realise.

[barleycorn]

You're assuming bones were linked to a fear of death when it's just as likely they are linked to thoughts of a nice juicy steak.

 

jb

 

ETA: The complexity of Fear

and http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mental-mishaps/201006/phobia-origin-stories-narrative-truth-versus-historical-truth

[Godzilla]

The solution is Velcro!

[strikerPaul]

From your research, what do these sufferes believe will help to them, to make them scared of buttons? Or is this a wind up?

[Tyranna]

is this a wind up?

 

I'm afraid that it isnt, and what you may read on the sites and information services available on the internet makes the whole affair even more bizarre: http://gregology.net/health/koumpounophobia/

 

I have looked up several sites on the internet, but there is really very little discussion about successful eradication of the phobia; I would assume that often experts try to associate the b****n with a harmless object or pleasant experience, or to slowly introduce the phobic person to b*****s; I know this is supposed to be the case with phobias such as spiders (Arachnophobia), but a lot of the material I have found relates to desperate people who themselves or their children suffer from the phobia; they try various methods such as hiding any clothes they have to wear with buttons under a jumper (e.g. school uniform), or going out of their way to avoid places where they may see them like clothes shops, going out in public, etc.

 

It just seems so shocking and sad, even if I myself, not being phobic in this way, find it very hard not to get the giggles at the whole affair...