How Are People with Mysophobia Dealing with COVID-19?

Sophia Domingo
Sep 26, 2020
5 min read

Disclaimer: This article is on topics including mental health and the currently ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, of which includes somewhat graphic descriptions of what it is like to live with mysophobia and how the pandemic has influenced people who live with it. In addition, this article was written with the intent of being brief so some details may be left out. DO NOTE THAT THIS ARTICLE SHOULD NOT BE OF REFERENCE TO DIAGNOSIS OR SELF-DIAGNOSIS ON ANYTHING IN RELATION TO THE DISORDERS MENTIONED. If you have questions in regards to this, please email me at sophiadomingo.inkmagazine@gmail.com. See the formatted article HERE for the citations in footnotes.

Introduction

All of us have been influenced by this pandemic in some way, some more than others, and it has had a different impact on each person depending on what situations they are in. This article focuses on one issue, mysophobia, and looks closer at the challenges people living with this phobia have to live with on the daily basis before and during the pandemic. As there are many other issues such as OCD and other related disorders that may coincide with the evidence shown in this article, it is important to understand that this is specifically related to mysophobia and all intent is for the article to be centred around this phobia. But regardless of this, what is mysophobia? And what connection does it have with the COVID-19 pandemic?

What is Mysophobia?

Before going into what mysophobia is, we should first understand what a phobia is. As described by the NHS, "A phobia is an overwhelming and debilitating fear of an object, place, situation, feeling or animal.” This is not to be compared to simply being scared of having a fear, it is an extreme and over-consuming feeling of fear in itself. All phobias develop when a person has "an exaggerated or unrealistic sense of danger about a situation or object,” usually through a traumatic experience or experiences. They are the most common type of anxiety disorder.

This can be split into two categories, simple/specific phobias and complex phobias. Specific or simple phobias centre around a particular object, animal, situation or activity, this includes examples such as:

Animal phobias (Dogs, spiders, snakes, rodents)
Environmental phobias (Heights, deep water)
Situational phobias (Visiting the dentist, flying)
Bodily phobias (Blood, vomit, having injections)

Complex phobias tend to be more disabling than simple phobias, an example of this is agoraphobia, the fear of being in a place or situation where escaping may be difficult if they have a panic attack, and social phobia.

Now that you know what phobias are if you did not already, we can now move onto what mysophobia specifically is. Mysophobia, also known as Verminophobia, Germophobia, Germaphobia, Bacillophobia and Bacteriophobia, is known as the fear of contamination, germs, bacteria, microbes and infection. It is important to know that it is not only germs but contamination as a whole; by anything or anyone.

Although symptoms vary on a case to case basis, mysophobia is usually diagnosed by:

Excessive washing of personal objects and themselves
Avoiding tasks that they think is ‘unclean’
Refusing to use public bathrooms or other public facilities
Not wanting to have any physical contact with others
Not wanting to share personal items, such as drinking from the same cup
Being reluctant to go to social situations that involve close contact

Like other phobias, mysophobia is most likely to be caused by a traumatic life experience that affects them for their entire life. Other situations include learning these unhealthy habits from family members or developing the phobia through other disorders such as OCD. This is why where it will never be fully cured, it can be managed by different types of therapy including cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP, also known as exposure therapy).

How are these people affected by COVID-19?

By now, I am sure you have already noticed where this is going. After already being overwhelmed with the fear of contamination on all levels, suddenly being confronted with a pandemic is extremely unbearable to many of these people.

“For millions of people around the world, the coronavirus outbreak is amplifying their pre-existing fears,” says Mark Mayfield, a board-certified counsellor and founder and CEO of Mayfield Counseling Centers in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. The coronavirus crisis "definitely exacerbates the fear germaphobes have about getting sick, and it escalates their isolation, anxiety and depression," Mayfield says.

Mayfield and many other clinicians around the world right now are seeing patients with mysophobia and related disorders whose fears have been increased exponentially up by the pandemic.

Dana Dorfman, a psychotherapist currently working in New York City, says some of her patients believe the coronavirus crisis "confirms" their ongoing fears of pathogens. "It has intensified their convictions about contamination danger," she says.

Some patients say the pandemic is “boosting their preoccupations and compulsive behaviours,” which is understandable considering their circumstances. Mindset Family Therapy reported that 40% of its intake calls have been related to anxiety and fear due to COVID-19.

While the pandemic itself cannot cause people to have disorders such as mysophobia, those who already have the building blocks for the disorder face the possibility of having their fears properly reinforced.

What can people with Mysophobia do to lower the burden of the pandemic?

Katie Lear, a licensed clinical mental health counsellor, said the guidelines from major health organizations on preventing the spread of COVID-19 have the potential and could be a major trigger for people with mysophobia and other disorders. Lear recommends that clients be mindful that these regulations aren’t feeding into rituals; unhealthy habits and repetitive behaviours associated with OCD, mysophobia and other disorders. Lear says:

“If the CDC (Centers for Disease Control [USA]) says to wash your hands for 20 seconds before eating or when coming back from the grocery store, go ahead and do it. But don’t let yourself wash for 45 seconds, or start going through the whole hand washing procedure every 10 minutes while sitting at home.”

Annabella Hagen, the clinical director for Mindset Family Therapy in Provo, Utah, recommends keeping a gratitude journal to help individuals become mindful of what is going on internally and externally. She believes it can help people “become more grateful for the small and simple things that bring them joy despite the challenges they are currently facing.”

As a last note, here are six strategies for people with mysophobia to manage their fears during the coronavirus outbreak as per Dana Dorfman, a psychotherapist based in New York City:

Limit your exposure to information about the coronavirus crisis.
Engage in activities that mitigate anxiety.
Indulge in distractions.
Maintain a daily routine.
Monitor your intake of alcohol.
Consider professional counselling.

In all, mysophobia has its challenges and compared to people who don’t struggle with this disorder, they have a much harder time dealing with the fears of catching COVID-19. The best we can do is educate ourselves about what it is and understand what they are going through, and maybe help ourselves in the process.

Where this may not be of a great issue to everyone, if you know someone with mysophobia or something similar to it, it helps for you to let them know you are there for them in this especially tough time in their life. And for everyone, if you know someone who is going through a tough time at any point in the future in relation to the pandemic, mysophobia or not, being there for them is the best one can do to support and help, no matter how you go about it.

Afterword

Hopefully, you have learned something from this very brief explanation on mysophobia in relationship to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns on this article as I would be glad to answer anything in regards to this topic.

If you would like to email me privately on this article for any reason at all, my email address is sophiadomingo.inkmagazine@gmail.com