Bacillophobia – The Fear of Bacteria

The Fear of Bacteria is No Small Issue

Do you feel the need to keep washing your hands after touching something or someone? Are you scared of staying too long in a crowded room and breathing in the air? Are you always worried that you’ll catch germs and end up in the hospital?

Do you avoid eating in restaurants? After all, imagine how many people must have touched your plate, utensils, and food. Do you feel a knot in your chest when someone takes a bite of your sandwich? Perhaps you imagine that germs, those tiny invisible monsters, are lurking in a bowl of your favorite cereal.

Do you clean your house nonstop? Are you that person who wipes down their office equipment every couple of hours? Are you that parent who constantly hounds their children to use hand sanitizers? Do you avoid touching pets? It must be difficult for your family and friends to understand what you’re going through.

You can’t go on like this. Overcoming the fear of germs is very important, as it can affect your relationships, career, and mental health. You don’t want to live in extreme fear of germs for the rest of your life.

What Is Bacillophobia?

In simple terms, Bacillophobia is the fear of germs, fear of dirt, anything that could make you fall sick. This condition is known by many names: mysophobia, germaphobia, and verminophobia. You might have a constant fear of germs, bacteria, and things that are not clean.

Why do you have this fear? It’s possible that some incident took place in the past that made you sick, and this unpleasant memory has stayed with you ever since. As a result, you want to avoid germs and the diseases they bring at all costs. Plus, those with a history of depression and anxiety in their family are more likely to develop this fear.

People with a phobia of germs tend to wash their hands more than often. But it’s important to understand that you can’t keep doing that; no amount of washing or disinfecting will remove all the germs.

Bacteria, viruses, fungi are everywhere. They’re unavoidable, and you can’t remove them all. Even plain water, which we use to clean almost everything, contains germs. Surprisingly, not all germs are bad. The good ones keep your gut clean and break down certain foods, while others live on your skin and provide another layer of defense. Getting rid of these good bacteria can cause even more trouble than it’s worth.

The best you can do is practice basic personal hygiene like bathing regularly, brushing your teeth, and washing your hands before eating and after touching anything dirty. Washing your hands with water and a bar of soap should do the trick. You don’t need to wash every half hour, and you don’t need fancy products. In fact, experts say that the increasing use of hygiene items like sanitizers has increased mysophobia in the United States.

Symptoms of Bacillophobia

All of us have fears. However, phobias seem unreasonable or unmanageable compared to the usual fears. The disturbance caused by the phobia is often more harmful than the germs themselves. A simple infection can get cured with antibiotics, but what should we do with a troubled mind?

Recognizing these symptoms is essential when dealing with Bacillophobia.

Emotional and Psychological Symptoms

● Keeping away from public places and areas that you assume has a lot of germs
● Avoiding physical (skin to skin) contact
● Spending too much time cleaning and sanitizing
● Washing hands too frequently
● Not sharing belongings
● Keeping away from skin to skin contact
● Fear of children catching germs
● Staying away from crowds and animals

Physical Symptoms

● Panic attacks
● Increased heart rate
● Nausea
● Breathlessness
● Sweating

The symptoms for most phobias are similar. They often overlap with anxiety and panic disorders. What sets each phobia apart is the focus or trigger. It can be challenging to find out if you have Bacillophobia since everybody shows different signs of this condition.

What Can I Do to Overcome Bacillophobia?

Now that you have identified your fears, you can start dealing with them yourself. If you’re able to do that, you may find that there’s no professional assistance required.
Begin by educating yourself and learning to correct wrong thoughts about germs and getting infected. Reading articles or watching videos about bacteria can make it easier to understand that they are a natural part of the environment. If you know how they function and how important they are, you can better manage your fear and worry.

Did you first learn about germs from a favorite teacher or family doctor? Share your fear with them and ask them for advice. It may be useful to discuss your phobia with friends and family so they can understand the reason behind your seemingly odd habits.

Getting Professional Help

When your phobia proves to be hard to overcome on your own, the next best thing is seeking a professional. Ask your family physician to recommend a therapist who can listen to your concerns. A therapist, especially one who’s an expert in dealing with phobias, can guide you as you discover the cause of your phobia and eliminate the fear. They would either use therapy or medications to manage the anxiety and reduce the obsessions that affect your life.

Exposure therapy is a common way to treat Bacillophobia. In this process, you gradually stop doing behaviors that make you feel safe. Instead of every half hour, you could try washing your hands every couple of hours. This may sound difficult, but it could help you slowly lose your fear of germs.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy allows people to identify and change thoughts that can be disturbing and destructive. These negative thoughts are challenged and replaced with more positive, happy, and realistic thoughts.

You must learn to trust these professionals and speak honestly about your symptoms. They need to know exactly how you feel and how they impact your life. With this information, an experienced therapist will know how you can get over your fears and offer different coping strategies.

They could also administer tests to see if you’re suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. OCD refers to the need to constantly wash and clean yourself and your surroundings.

Coping With Bacillophobia

Even with therapy, there is no guarantee of completely overcoming a fear of germs or a fear of dirt. All it takes is a trigger or a minor incident to bring everything back. Not only that, it’s virtually impossible to avoid germs. That’s why learning to cope is a slow and daily process. Remember, it took you a while to form a phobia, so it makes sense that it could take a long time to overcome it too.
One of the best ways to deal with any phobia is to keep facing your fears. Familiarity is a useful tool when you are around those triggers. Try going out to public places, sharing a bite with a family member, or even washing hands less often. With each battle that you win, your phobia loses its grip on you.

In Conclusion
Why not replace your fears with a healthy lifestyle that will keep you in top shape? A proper diet and basic hygiene is often all you need. When you do your part, your body can do what it’s best at doing: protecting itself. Your body has built-in defenses that can fight off most germs in the environment. Trust them. Go ahead and get that last bit of chocolate from your fingers.