Koumpounophobia: Fear of buttons
The fear of buttons on clothing, known as button phobia or koumpounophobia, is an irrational phobia which is, perhaps surprisingly, a fairly common fear.
Most people who suffer from this phobia are convinced that they are the only ones in the world to suffer from such a strange fear, and they are often teased or taunted by others who do not understand or believe that they are telling the truth.
Irrational fears may be evoked due to traumatic happenings in early childhood, however, most people who do suffer from button phobia seem to admit that they have been afraid of buttons for as long as they can remember. For some people, the fear can also extend to all button-like objects, such as small coins, sequins and other small discs.
Types of buttons
Some people find that plastic buttons are worse than metal ones (like the ones on jeans) or that buttons with four holes are more fear or panic-inducing than those with two.
Degrees of severity
There are several degrees of severity to the phobia, ranging from cringing when others wear buttons and chosing not to wear buttons yourself to not wanting to breathe next to buttons in fear of inhaling one or washing your hands with soap for an extended period of time after any (accidental) contact with buttons. In some people, the sight of buttons may induce vomiting.
Some patients have found that hypnotherapy has been of help to overcome or make their button-suffering less severe.
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I hate them. They make me want to be sick and like I’ve got one in my mouth that I can’t get rid of. They are dirty, foul ugly and vile. Shirt ones are the worst, especially clear ones but really close to that is coat ones, especially if they have a clear one holding the big one on. Ones that are actually physically dirty because someone has spilt something are beyond the beyond for me, If I see someone wearing something with one like that on it I wouldn’t be able to look at them, or if they sat next to me on the bus I would have to move seats.
The holes are horrendous. I can’t decide whether 2-holers or 4-holes are worse but I do know that plastic ones are the worst of all, and that covered ones where you can’t see the holes are sometimes tolerable. I never ever ever wear shirts for that reason. I can just about tolerate them on other things like cardigans or to do up trousers (never as decoration on anything under any circumstances) but i have to look at them first to decide if I can do that or not, I wouldn’t just be able to pick something up that had them on it and wear it without checking them first.
Loose ones are too disgusting to go into, but worse than that are sewing boxes with loads in at the bottom, if I think about that for too long it makes me physically heave. I’m convinced somehow that they would end up in my mouth.
I feel the same way about things like wheels on suitcases or pushchairs etc, certains ****tons as in switches, and smaller coins so I think it’s something to do with circles or circular shapes to things but I have no idea where when or why I started feeling like this. Any suggestions would be great!!
I KNOW it’s complete madness to feel this strongly about something like them but that’s what a phobia is, an irrational fear of something, so I just put up with it, and just make every effort to avoid them. Looking around on the internet, I’m surprised at how many people admit to it, and how everyone thinks it’s only them, so it’s nicec to know it’s not just me.
I have a theory about this seemingly irrational phobia.Ive suffered from it for as long as I can remember so I dont think its due to any bad experience as a child.I think its linked in some way to our instinctive survival mechanism.Maybe rational fears such as snakes or spiders are passed from one generation to their descendants genetically in the form of instincts to ensure their safety in dangerous environments.This same mechanism could have been stimulated by the religious beliefs of some of our puritanical ancestors who believed that the fastening of clothing by the use of external buttons was an ostentatious display of vanity and therefore a dirty vile sin.Buttons,to them,were indeed the instruments of Satan.Their feelings about this were so strong that they believed that all clothing should be fastened by the means of internal hooks.Perhaps this strange powerful conviction surfaces randomly in succeeding generations.P.S.I agree,the off white,yellowing phlegm coloured shirt ones on a white shirt are by far the worst
Hi!
I’m doing some research about Button Phobia. I have it.
Please email me at buttonphobia@gmail.com if you are interested in answer a survey (relatives are invited when there is a child the one with this problem)
Greetings,
Button Phobia Study Team
I am not alone. Thank God. I hate them so much. I can wear them now but hate touching them. It’s never got better, as bad as it ever was, confronting them doesn’t make it any better.
Anyone have any tips as to how to help it??
I hate the word. I hate the word I hate it. I can’t even read this cause it makes me cringe. When people make fun of me for it and say the word I freak out so bad I start crying. When I think of them I feel like vomiting. When I see them it’s even worse. When I touch them I freak out and I have to wash my hands for like 5 minutes straight. I can’t wear them I can’t look at them I can’t say the word. If someone touches them and they touch me I have to wash myself and tell them to wash their hands or I run from them. I can’t even say anything about them because it makes me soooo sick.
I have this fear too – although it’s more of a revulsion. Like others, I hate the plastic ones most, or cheap very thin metal ones. Jeans are fine. Sometimes I am ok with buttons, but I hate wearing them. I always think about accidentally tasting or choking on one. I try to avoid them as much as possible. They’re uncomfortable and gross me out.
I’m not crazy!! I’m 50 and have had this problem all my life. My two daughters have it as well. One is 22 yrs now and seems to deal with it much better than I ever could. My youngest is 18yrs and she is worse than I am. Her problem extends to many related objects where as mine is only those things. I can cope with beads as long as they don’t look like, “you know”. I am not afraid, just repulsed. The covered ones are better but there are days when even they are repulsive. Even reading this page I have my jaws clenched. I bought a cardigan recently. It had three large one’s on it and all was well till I tried to put it on. I had to go get rubber gloves and tissues, cut them off and throw them. Now I wear it with Kilt pins.
My daughters got through school wearing turtle neck scivvies with their winter uniform and we cut off the purely decorative one’s on the summer uniform. I wish I had been able to do the same, but things were much different in my day. I used to get my singlets and pin them up at the shoulders so they came right up to my neck, just so no part of the front of the school shirts touched my skin. I even gave up a nursing career to avoid the uniform. The beggars are so hard to avoid! The thought of one getting near my mouth (shudder). I thought velcro was going to save my world but alas it didn’t take off. I loved Star Trek and UFO because they showed a b***** free future. It didn’t happen.
Reading through I recognise that I do have problems , like old light switches and small coins.
Sometimes I wonder if this is more widespread than people think. Only my family now my problem and blame me for my daughters’ problems, although I never mentioned it to them. I keep my mouth shut about it. But you have to wonder why men’s Ties were invented and decorative silk scarves, if not to hide the awful things. Men’s ties used to be worn with clips(slides) to keep them in place.
Thank you all for admitting your troubles and letting me know I’m not crazy. I have a generalised anxiety disorder and get panic attacks but have never had one triggered by this. I don’t believe it’s a phobia. I have a phobia of heights and that brings on a panic attack, but this just makes me want to throw up. No fear involved. I don’t want to be cured. I just think fashion is ridiculous and that we should all wear comfortable clothes that don’t need archaic fastners. Ban the Polo shirt and Footy Jersey as a start!. (I realise this may not be a rational statement)
THANK YOU!!!! My parents have actually made fun of me for years…I am 28, and have been…..disgusted is a better word, by buttons for as long as I can remember. Buttons on the ground, dirty, wet, and the worst is broken….the smaller they are, the worse it is…shiny ones, plastic ones, and I agree with the one comment I read, they have a smell that gut wrenching for me…I do actually gag when I see a button on the floor and have to pick it up…I cut the buttons off if there is a spare sewed to the inside of a garment, I hate them touching me…I was raised in a house were we used feather beds, and all along the bottom, they are held together with buttons.My mother eventually had to replace them all begrudgingly with zippers…Again, I feel so much better, this is real, and I am not the only one!! Question, because this is an irrational fear, should I seek help for this?
I am 52 years old, and finally decided to check out the web to see if there was such a thing as ‘button phobia’. There! Now I can say I am not crazy! I only wear clothes that have elastic, zippers or are pullovers. I would tell my husband not to buy me any clothes because he wouldn’t know what I liked (meaning – I didn’t want him to buy me something with buttons on it) Like other suffers, jeans are no problem. I have no idea what would have caused me to hate buttons, but I can say it’s been all my life. I’m so glad there are others with my phobia.
I recall the hatred starting around 3 years of age. My mom showed me a cute new outfit, then she turned it around and there they were. I screamed and fought, when she finally got it on me, I couldn’t stop thinking about the little buggers and promptly took it off when she wasn’t looking. Never could explain to her what the problem was. The clear plastic ones are gross, the metal ones on jeans are okay, but the worst are the big, cheap, showy, hollow, metal ones on like a skirt suit jacket. When they hit together the sound is worse than fingernails on a chalkboard. I have been known to buy an outfit and strategically remove those nasty things – using pliers and scissors so whatever b*** residue there is can’t seep through my skin. And what genius ever came up with the idea of putting b***s on mattresses?! Talk about tourture. My in-laws used to own a cabin with these old mattresses and they always puzzled over why I had to bring my own, thick comforter when they had plenty of blankets. Even with the protection of that comforter between me and the mattress I spent a lot of time at night thinking I might have felt one. A couple years ago I was watching the news when they announced “when we come back, people who are afraid of cotton balls…” My husband walked in and I was laughing so hard, he listened a bit, then turned to me shaking his head and said “this from a person who is afraid of b***s?” Well duh – b***s are disgusting, but seriously what could possibly be wrong with a cotton ball? Weirdos.
I don’t have fear of buttons but I can understand how hard it must be to tell that to other people without them thinking you’re a freak or something. My brother’s girlfriend has it and I thought she was just kidding about it until she actually ran away. I feel terrible now for laughing at her even though it was my brother who kept getting the button near her…
It’s so odd to find out after all these years (I’m 52) that there are others like me who can’t stand buttons. I’ve never liked button front clothes in particular. I remember my Mom putting them on me and making me wear them when I was very little; possibly it was a battle for control, and being buttoned up in a garment and having to wear what Mom wanted me to wear meant I’d lost the battle. I guess buttons became a symbol of having to give in to someone else. I’m sure all this will give any shrinks who read this something to think about. Maybe one will even get a published paper out of it!
Besides, I love loose pull over shirts; they seem more casual and relaxed. I would wear baggy T-shirts and blue jeans everywhere if I could.
I’m so relieved and so sad to have found this site. I’m relieved to finally have an answer about my 4 year old’s behavior about buttons. I’m sad that I didn’t understand and we have struggled over this for 2 years. It started when he was around 2 with buttons on his own clothing and then quickly progressed to an aversion to any button clothing on anyone near him. He won’t allow me to rock him or even hug him if I have buttons on. I kept thinking he would outgrow this behavior, but finding this site has been quite eye-opening. I’ve been making him wear buttons to church on Sunday’s with the stipulation that he gets to change in the car in the parking lot! I won’t make him do this again, and I will talk with him about his feelings without trying to change what he is experiencing. Thank you all for educating me.
Small, useless, ugly, disgusting things! I don’t want them in my life. I don’t like seeing them, I can not touch them, I hate talking about them. Before, I never thought of even searching this in internet, because I was so sure I was alone, or maybe one of the few ones who have this hatred. Now, I am really releived that so many people have very similar stories. I find it interesting that most don’t have problems with the metal ones, and for many of people the most disgusting ones are the loose plastic ones with four holes . Even the idea of a loose plastic one irritates me so much that it makes me feel disgusted with people who wear them, but of course in time I have learned how to deal with the others wearing them. I don’t remember anything about it from my childhood, I have no idea where this comes from. So, I don’t have a theory, but I would like to have one…
This is unbelievable.
Everything said here I completely understand and can confirm. These descriptions on this page are bang on accurate and I get the reaction just reading through them. The strangest sensation is the feeling that you all have looked deep inside my head and I am amazed that this is the same for everyone. Especially the “small shiny ones with 4 holes” comments or “bowls of them” comments.
I am profoundly confused by it (this fear) and did in fact think I was the only one on the planet and no one ever understood what my problem was and I was very embarrassed to even try to tell someone why I was suddenly uncomfortable with them when all it was, was a particular piece of clothing they had on that day.
After 20 years, my wife has become partially sympathetic but still wears such clothing from time to time (mainly because I try really hard not to make an issue of it) and I simply try to deal. Most of the dealing is in the form of going away from that person or avoiding them as much as possible. Especially hugs that would bring them close to my face. That brings the sickly yet nameless panic to the surface.
This phobia… Strangeness the likes of which I have never been able to understand until I found this page.
Thank you all.
Charles.
Hello and thank you for allowing me to air my views on such a delicate subject. I’ve known for years that I felt awkward around persons who had buttons on their clothes. This weekend has been a turning point for me and I feel that I’ve made some real progress. After a lovely country walk I found myself in a pub with my girlfriend. Getting up quickly out of my seat I was horrified to find that my jackets zip had become entangled with my girlfriend’s cardigan buttons. I felt an immediate repulsive body rush and could barely touch her! Her buttons appeared to be burning discs and caused a panic attack. Not knowing about my fear of buttons, she helped me untangle ourselves and I hurriedly left in embarrassment. I now feel that I will have to tell her about my issues with buttons. Thanks again
Its a relief to learn that there’s a name for button phobic behavior. I would classify my dislike for buttons as “extreme”.
I’ve gone so far as to throw out baby clothes with buttons. The idea that my 1-year old son will someday wear buttons is especially disturbing to think about. I’m not even sure that I will want to pick him up from school if he’s wearing clothes with buttons. My wife thinks I’m crazy and rolls her eyes. But she’s also very good about respecting my “phobia”, and chooses not to wear buttons around me. I’m sure we’ll find a reasonable compromise around my son’s wardrobe too. That’s why I love her.
Ok…so I’m so glad a friend of mine found this website for me. People have thought I was crazy for years because of this button phobia of mine! I’m glad to know that I’m not alone! I have always HATED buttons. When I was around 4-5, I went to my grandma’s for my birthday party, and she bought me shirts with buttons on them..When no one was looking I took scissors and cut all of them off. To make a long story short, my grandma called my mom and asked her to look in my closet to see if there were still buttons on my clothes, because she found a big pile of them on her kitchen table! HA HA. I still will NOT touch a button. Like everyone else on here I have to use a piece of toilet paper or something. Now I have a four year old who knows about it, and his dad takes him to buy packages of buttons and they threw it all over my bed and room..I still have buttons floating around there somewhere and will randomly find one around. It TURNS MY STOMACH!!! Imagine falling asleep in your bed and waking up with a button stuck to you arm, and the gross imprint left on your arm! I ABOUT WENT NUTS!!! UHHHH..anyway, I dont know that I’ll ever get over this..but I’m glad to hear there are other people out there with this phobia!!
Hi I am so glad to hear that other people have a button phobia like me; when I touch a button or even inhale the air of a button it makes me cringe. After I’ve touched a button like when I put on my school uniform I run straight to the sink and wash my hands. I am 9 years old and my dad found this website for me – my family are trying to help me through this experience. This is my story – about 4 years ago I went to my Grandmas house and I went into her cupboard where her sewing kit was kept it fell on my head and all the buttons got stuck in my hair – I panicked and even worse the next day my mum went to Barcelona for work.I am so happy that I can share my story with people who understand me as my friends always say “stop playing games” or “stop being silly”.
What do you know about the treatment or psychotherapy for this phobia?
My husband has such a button phobia that he can’t even come into the office and type this reply himself! I’ve read some of the responses outloud to him saying “B” instead of button because he can’t stand to hear the word button. We’ve always teased him – but it is good to know that this is real and there are others out there too! Thank goodness for the internet!
God bless you all!
I am 41 and have been disgusted by buttons all my life. Luckily my dislike is not as strong as it used to be when I was a kid. Now it is more an irritation when one of those ugly little buggers shows up unsuspectingly. I still don’t wear shirts, suit jackets or suit trousers (some of them have buttons on the inside – how vile is that) though. I believe that this must somehow be caused by a genetic disposition, because an aunt of mine has the same dislike (I found out about this just a few months ago). Oh by the way, mothers, if you have a kid with this aversion – don’t force anything with buttons on them. It isn’t worth the distress you are causing your offspring.
This is just amazing! I am 34 and work in a major clothing retail store and I have a fear of buttons! I hate looking at them, touching them, smelling them. I read someones post and they said that they think they have a smell to them and I agree. I cannot stand them. I have three children and none of them have clothing with buttons on them. My husband has a shirt with buttons on it and I use a hanger to pull it out of the dryer. Everyone at work is amused by my fear and taunt me all of the time for it.
I am 47 yrs old and have always feared buttons. This new movie with b. pitt “…benjamin button” got me thinking about looking up “fear of buttons” and wow, here i am. i have always thought i was alone on this one. when i was in nursery school, our teacher had us play a counting game almost daily where we had to count our buttons worn that day and/or the person next to us. it was horrible. i cried and panicked and was continually accused of trying to get attention. i even got detention. i did not know why or what this kind of fear was so i could not explain it to the teacher and the other kids made such fun of me. so did my family. my daughter’s fiance thought it would be so funny to shake a canister of buttons in front of me at the store. i was not amused. i wish i could understand my fear. i was able to hide it from my girls when dressing them but deep down my heart was racing. i do have a memory of my mom holding me while wearing sweaters and i would freak out. i have this image of getting hurt or scratched by the buttons and they looked dirty to me but that is as far as my recall goes.
I have hated buttons since I dont know when, just recently after a bout of low mood and anxiety my fear has escalated. What is bad is that I am a craft technician and the area I work in is full of buttons of all types. I have also recently been the subject of bullying over the matter by work colleagues when it was slipped out much to my extreme embarrasment. I never really thought there was such a phobia, I thought I was being stupid until I saw a programme on TV called fear factor where a woman was treated for koumpounophobia. The funny things is I can wear shirts with colored or clear buttons – so long as they are sewn on tight and the buttons are not dangly, the shirt would be thrown away if that was the case. I buy clothing with only zips or jean type buttons or poppers, and these have to be sewn on tight as well. Loose buttons are the worse for me, if they are lying about on the floor I might kick them under a peice of furniture for instance. On a table I would cover them up with a book or box, esp in the work place. If I had no choice but to relocate a button it would be like picking up a live or dead spider, with the use of paper or a tissue and disposed of. I would also wash my hands in soapy water regardless of coming into direct contact with it. I can cope with buttons if they are stored in a jar like container with a lid which is the situation at work, sometimes. I do not like the site of them thoug and if near my line of site I try to face other directions, cover the jar with an obstruction or concentrate on something else. Linked with this phobia is a dislike for sink plugs, esp old and dirty ones. I can handle a factory fresh rubber bung plug with no hassle but once put in the sink, covered in limescale or soapy residue I cant handle them and resort to holding them by the chain and rely on the flow of water to site them in the hole. I have always thought that this phobia was silly and just me being neurotic or something – I used to be a car mechanic and there is stuff that I have had on my hands and in my hair that was quite gross from oil, petrol in my mouth and slugy oily grease up my hands and arms, that is fine but buttons, no way!
So very comforted to read this. While mine seems not to be severe, I too share a rather powerful disgust of buttons. While it never overwhelms me, a “freak” encounter with small plastic button-like yellow balls really really grossed me out — in fact made me vomit. Trying to explain my reaction to my son, brought me to this web-site. What an amazing relief to know: I AM NOT ALONE!!!
I have had nightmares that there in front of me is a hot bowl of tomatoe soup, and as I dip my spoon in and scoop up that awful red gloop I direct it towards my mouth and spy a big grey shiny plastic button with a ripped off bit of jeresey still attatched, but somehow it ends up in my mouth and it gets loged in my wind pipe….
I hate them my wife wears big plastic decrotive ones on a few of her clothes, they make me get those gross out shivers every time I see them.
So I have no issue with b*****s but my 4 year old does. It showed up earlier this year, and I thought it would pass, but it has been around for nearly a year. What is amazing to me is how difficult it is to get dressed without them. Can I get some advice on how to deal with this aversion in my daughter? And then out of curiosity, what does a grown woman with a koumpounophobia wear? How about a grown man?
My daughter has this fobia as well. I have tried to ignore it, in hope that it will go away, but I don’t think that it will.
Can someone please help me to help her. Can you threat this fobia? Do you have any advice?
Will it help to get her to play with buttons?
I have button-phobia too, but I think “phobia” is not the right word as I am not afraid of them, just disgusted. They have the same effect on me as would the sight of someone throwing up in front of me. I too have had that feeling for as long as I can remember… What’s wrong with zippers or velcro they are far more practical, they dont get ripped off like buttons (gagging) and they don’t make you look like a nerd… Oh, and for gos’s sake, parents with kids that hate buttons… DONT MAKE THEM WEAR BUTTONED CLOTHES!!!! Please don’t try to treat it, and for the love of god DONT MAKE THEM TOUCH THEM IN ANY WAY!!! When they grow up they will probably be happy they hate them, and making them touch them, believing it is going to cure them, is a torture. Imagine someone forcing you to touch a spider if you have the particular phobia, or forcing you to touch dung or something… Trying to do so, so that you would not have to choose button-less clothes is not worth the disgust you will cause to your kids…
I hate being afriad of buttons, i have been bullied ever since my so called ‘best friend’ told everyone at school.
Once a boy put onein my english folder without me knowing, and a few weeks later it feel out infront of me on my desk and i screamed.
And just a few days ago, someone put one on my neck and i couldnt even move, i went stiff. No one would take it off me.
I have also been afraid of them for as long as i can remember, i remember when i was only a little girl, about 5. My mum put a top on me with buttons on and i would scream and cry until mum took them off me.
People embarress me all the time! People at school chase me around with one in their hand saying they’ll put it on me, and everyones laughs, its so bad.
And i agree, the clearish ones on shirts are by far the most vile. The thought of a button makes me want to physically be sick.
is this for real or is someone out there trying to make fun of people who are afraid of those things???? i can’t believe that i’m not the only one in this world with this weird problem. this is so bizarre!
gush!!!
I was surprise to know that I was never alone. I was even more surprise to learn that it has been given a name. I never thought it is a “phobia”. I thought it is just a state of mind and that I can still change the way I look at them.
it is a torture when people want me to wear those nasty things at work, so i end up quiting. I cant stand wearing them for no reason. I hope there were a law that make us choose what clothing we accept to wear at school or work without been fired. We should have a right to work or study without been obligated to wear those nasty things. I cant stand any of them but the worse ones are the shiny ones, they shine that bad that u can see their nasty shape from far away.
just to say thanks to all for sharing your stories. I am the same – I can’t stand them- especially cardigans. Now that buttoned cardigans are becoming trendy on men, I am becoming more repulsed than usual.
I hate buttons but i have to wear them for school so i have got passed the fear of wearing them but if i see a button on its own not attached to anything it makes me feel sick and freak out.
Wow!! All I can say is me too, to all of the above!! I can’t stand any of them that are held on with a thread. The thought of putting one in my mouth would be like putting squashed slug in my mouth. I have been disgusted by them all of my life and yet I am forced to wear them everyday in my job. I’m so glad I’m not the only one!
Thank God i’m not alone!!! All my friends tease me about my problem by shoving buttons in my face! I hate them, they physically make me feel sick when i see them, even just saying the word makes me want to throw up. I think the worse one are the big ones with the four holes in them (cringe!. Im just glad i’m not the only one!!
i’m 15 an i started hating buttons for well ever i told my friends that i hated them but as a joke they thought it would be funny to throw them at me untill i started crying a teacher had to take me to it down somewhere else i hate them i can just about do my school shirt up anything else and i freak. im so glad to know im not the only one in our kind thanks
HA! This is just Hilarious. I am 30 and have had the button phobia my whole life! EVERYONE in my life makes fun of me, and it has become a huge joke. I can’t believe I’m not the only one! Also, I can’t wait to show this site to my family and friends. Well, cheers to you, all the button haters in the world … at least we’re not alone! =)
I just heard about it, I would never disbelieve (no matter how strange it sounds) but something didn’t suit right. And it seems I might be correct: all kinds of phobias are based in Greek words. Actually the word ”phobia [phobos]” means ”fear” and all the other words (used to describe eash case) are Greek too (nouns always).
But who ever named the button-fear made a mistake (if he was to follow the naming rule, of course). The ”button” in Greek is ”koumpi” therefore the phobia should be called ”koumpophobia”.
”Koumpono” is the verb but ”koumponophobia” (and not Koumpounophobia) actually means the-fear-of-buttoning which is something else.
To make things more complicated sometimes the words used to describe phobias are Ancient Greek so in our case the right word is ”komviophodia” (from ”komvion”).
Unless ”koumpouno” means something in another language (that would explain things) I think it’s essential to correct the name.
Alright. There’s a lot more people with this than I thought. When I was young enough to speak, my parents found me in my little brother’s crib patting his leg and saying “I’m sorry about your buttons.”
I agree that they’re not as bad on jeans, but it does bother me when people call them that. I’m not so intense that I can’t say the word, and I’m not afraid of small coins or anything like that. But I have a hard time touching people wearing them (which sucks cause my girlfriend does frequently). And I am very particular about which ones are okay to wear. I can put shirts with buttons on, but I never touch them again until I have to take them off. And yes, sometimes I do resort to using the sleeves of my shirt to cover my fingers from touching the buttons. Bleh. They’re so gross. And I never really thought of it as a fear, and I NEVER thought in a million years it’d have a fancy name like koumpounophobia… but my mom looked it up last night and wanted me to read about it. I’m fascinated. Nice.
hmm.. koumpounophobia is a very interesting type of irrational phobia…
i too have a fear of buttons. i’m 17 and it only started about two years ago. although i am only scared of buttons bigger than a normal size i have been endlessly taunted by my ‘friends.’ this one time, they brought a button to school and actually chased me with it! the Basta
OMG my parents ALWAYS make fun of me. ever since i was little i would throw FITS if i had to wear something with plastic or glass buttons…metal ones on jeans dont really get to me. I wouldnt say i have such a bad fear of them anymore…but its definatly a nails on chalk board uncomfortable feeling. its really awkward cause i am in the fashion industry and everytime i HAVE to touch one i shutter. SO WEIRD.
Oh my word!!! I can’t believe this is actually a real fear that other people have aswell!! I have hated buttons since I can remember, but did not really tell anyone untill I saw this website, because now I know that I am not crazy! There are others like me…haha!! I agree that the smooth plastic buttons are the worst ones aswell, but I have learnt to kind of overcome this fear and can actually even touch them now, but it still freaks me out sometimes. And they look icky aswell, I don’t think they are neccesary on clothes, there are zips and stuff!! Come on! I can remember not wanting to go to school the first day, because there were these big smooth plastic blue buttons on the dress that were SO gross, but eventually my parents forced me.
To all those other button phobia sufferers out there… U R not alone!!!
I am 59 and I thought I was the only one. What is wrong with us? Why do we feel this way. If I see a loose one on the floor I kick it under something and just about get sick. Doesn’t anyone know why we are like this over a piece of plastic?
Sooo…
Basically you guys are all probably mad because of the Coraline trailers all around and stuff, huh? ^_^;;
And if you have no idea what I’m talking about…Don’t look into it. =P For your own good.
It’s making me somewhat afraid of buttons and I don’t have this phobia.
Once my brother taped the b word to my door and watched as I stood outside it crying because I couldn’t get in my room. I feel like I’m suffocating if I have to wear one. Just thinking the word makes me cringe. My sister has the phobia, too, and we always thought we were the only ones and that maybe it was some freaky genetic thing. Now we can be comforted that we don’t suffer alone.
Hey, I posted here already in 2007. To this point of time I was just overwhelmed by the fact that I’m not alone. As time went by I got sick of my passiveness and of only complaining. I took all my power and I’m now doing a hypnotherapy to heal myself. It is very tough but the daily business of being confronted with b*** gives me motivation to move further and further. I am in the middle of it and don’t even know if the treatment will be successful. But hey – just being active is such a great feeling and makes me almost a little bit more immune against our all enemies. I will post again once my treatment was successful. I just do hope so. Keep your fingers crossed. It’s time to get over it!! For all of us!