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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Blimey! I thought i was odd, never told a living sole about my phobia. Very close to telling my partner but bottled it on the last minute! Plastic ones are the worst. Avoid wearing shirts if i can. Duvet has the plastics ones on but i’ve got used to it only because it’s a king size duvet on a standard bed and it nearly touches the floor. Well out of feet range. That’s a bad thought, buttons on feet. Partner is completely the opposite and has mentioned before of enjoying running her fingers through a tin full of these evil things. She feels awful at the site or smell of sick, well we’ll both be ill if she gets the tin out.
I’m the one of you… I’m gonna live with my phobia all the rest of my life… I’m curious, what’s the reason of our koumpounophobia…
I had no idea that there were other people in the world like me! This is the first time I’m reading anything like this. I’m 59 years old, and I’ve had this repulsion since I was a baby. It’s the strangest thing. I always felt like I was from another planet. I wanted to write a book about it because society’s obsession with these little objects is really what’s abnormal.
I’m actually very surprised that this is an actual condition that other people suffer from. I have always had this fear this I was a child and I have no idea why. I hide my fear very well and I have got much better with age. Before, I wasn’t even able to touch them but now I can
but they still gross me out haha and I know it sounds very silly.
Phew!! I am not the only one. I have to wipe my hands if I accidently touch one of these sticky ugly things. I hate cardigans and those large ones UGH! I really try to look for clothes without them and I cringe when I see coats etc with big plastic ones and extras just for decoration and this last and on the latter, why do most tops have them on just for the hell of it. My Mam tells me to ‘grow up’ (I’m 35) but I’ve had this fear and repulsion all my life. Babies with food stained ones – imagine! I don’t even like saying the word, instead I call them things. I can’t recall a trigger just that it’s always been with me.
Has anyone ever heard of the “No Button League?” I know it existed in the middle ages, but the internet is strangely silent on the subject.
My goddaughter has a daughter, now five years old, who has since very very young, had a terrible fear of anything with buttons on it. I am sending my goddaughter a link to this page so she can see there are other people with similar phobias. We don’t understand why the lil girl has the fears, but she’s ALWAYS had it… and refuses to wear anything with buttons on it, or be around anything with buttons.
I searched the internet years ago and found nothing. I took an abnormal psychology class trying to find out more. Mine has existed since childhood, as early as I can remember. It is interesting to note that my niece also feels the same way about buttons. Could there be a genetic link? I’ve never tossed my cookies over buttons but did get nauseated watching someone play with a button in there mouth that was dangling from their shirt by a thin thread!
I can’t believe that what I feel about buttons is shared with more than just me! I think it started when I was little and all these other little kids had dribbled all over their collars and eww and the buttons were that marbled brown and white kind…. yuck and their collars are all crusty with snot.
Ok I just completely grossed myself out. I guess I fall under “traumatic childhood experiences”, huh?
Thank god i’m not the only one!! Everybody makes fun of me for this but i cannot do it! Even if i apply at a job and the uniform has buttons on it i quit! thats how bad it is for me!
ha ha, I love seeing the comments from other people. My friend sent me this link because I told him about my button fear and he obviously thought I was weird. I love what Jimmy says about it being society’s obsession with them which is abnormal. I always feel like that too. I can sort of understand buttons on a shirt but dresses and jumpers with decorative buttons….. Why??
I refuse to have buttons around and my son has a cardigan with buttons on which he is not allowed to bring in the house. (It stays at his dads) Buttons on wool are the absolute worst. My mum says she used to have to cut the buttons off my school jumper when I was 4 as I would scream and refuse to wear it. No idea where it came from but I certainly don’t want to be cured. Why would I want to like the horrible little things?
hahaha i’ve had this very badly when i was a kid…it has faded a bit since then…. for some reason the thought of wearing them when im eating really makes me feel disturbed and sickly! ESPECIALLY the 4 holed ones…i remember going nuts if i had to sit on someones lap who was wearing them…and my mum was pretty nice about it and replaced the buttons on my school cardigan with these cat picture ones that had no holes… i still never wear them…but i can stomach sitting next to someone wearing them now!! it really has gotten better with time! (i’m 22 now)
Wow I didn’t actually know there was a proper term for my phobia! All my friends make fun of me and think I’m a weirdo… one of them has even threatened to give me a box filled with buttons for Christmas! Ugh… even sometimes saying the word gives me a horrible chill! Anyway why have buttons, when you can have zips!!!
Oh my god, so amazing to have found this site.
I also have this phobia since i can remember.
When i would tell people, they would ask if i swallowed a button and was about to drawn as a child . But my mother says it never happen. I cannot either remember. She realized about my disgust of buttons as i was about 1.5year old. Ever since, i have avoided them. I just think they are disgusting. I feel like vomiting if someone sucks one close to me. I close my eyes if someone stands close with a shirt in the subway. I am thankful each day for the zipper and velcro inventions. I make people laugh talking about this strange unexplained issue. Not even my psichologists did know what it is due to. Just the thought of doing whatever therapy to overcome the problem, makes me sick. I’d rather cotinue living a life without buttons. I am a woman and can survive pretty well without shirts or button jackets.
The only good thing of it is that, being that ridiculous, is a lot of fun to talk about it to friends. We just laugh to death on such an awkward feeling!
YES! I finally feel normal. I feel like all of you are inside my head and understand how I feel about buttons. I have been made fun of my whole life for not liking buttons. It has gotten in the way of jobs (dress codes!) and relationships. I won’t even get near my husband if he is wearing a shirt with buttons. …and don’t even get me started about the buttons on duvet covers. Could someone make a duvet with velco please!?!
I especially don’t like the ones with 4 holes, but all types of buttons bother me, even the ones that are metal on jeans. In fact, I have an aversion to all types of fasteners–zippers, snaps, etc… but the worst by far is buttons. They really do make me feel sick and nauseated when I see them or have them near my face.
I have asked my parents many times to see if something traumatic happened to me when I was young (choked on a button maybe?), but they say I have always disliked buttons. At least I know it is a real phobia now and that others deal with it.
Hi there! I’m a woman of 37 years old and I’m living in the Netherlands. I know one woman who also have a fear of buttons. But I’m suprised to read your stories!! I’m not the only one!
Thank goodness! My three year old cannot stand buttons! He gets so upset if there is a button shirt in the room. He absolutely refuses to wear buttons as well. I was wondering if this was a phobia or just a phase… now I see it might be a phobia.
Proof that Steve Jobs has koumpounophobia:
1) the new Mac Mouse
2) iPhone
3) He always wears turtlenecks.
(stolen from Windows IT Pro magazine, Nov 2009, pg
HELLLLOWWW OUT THERE!!! Oh Joy! I’m not as wacko as I thought. Had the condition for as long as I can remember. I had a “stylist” working with me, she threw a hand full of buttons at me when she saw me shudder at the sight of the over flowing jar….. she’s lucky to be alive. Thanks for sharing every one. It gives me comfort.
Yes Duvet’s are a problem and I was going to reply to you Laura that John Lewis have the duvet covers out of the packet hanging up so you can check them first which is now the only place I buy them. I bought one with buttons once and now my husband has to deal with it. However, I’ve just seen that you have an aversion to all sorts of fasteners so you probably don’t like poppers either.
I think they should do a shop that sells clothes that do not have buttons as there are obviously many of us out there that hate them.
My mum now doesn’t buy clothes with buttons on as she says that she knows I won’t go out with her if she’s wearing them. Not strictly true but I find myself staring at them the whole time the same as I do if a big spider is in the house. I know they’re not going to jump out at me but I find them so repulsive I end up staring. People always tease me that they are going to buy me a tin of buttons for Christmas or buy me something with buttons on. Does everyone else get that too?
I’m having real difficulties with my 5 year old son’s button phobia. I have to shop high and low for school uniform trousers that are elasticated waist only and luckily Next do polo shirts with a zip! He can’t eat if he can see anyone wearing buttons and apparently hides behind the lid of his sandwich bag to eat his school lunch. At parties, I have to sit him at a separate table or he refuses to eat. The other parents just think he’s being anti-social or rude. It’s very difficult to get people to understand and to sympathise. It started when he was 2 years and 3 months for no apparent reason. He also doesn’t like the round metal buttons on jeans. All he wears is sports wear. Formal occasions such as weddings are a nightmare – I mean what can I dress him in! I was hoping he’d grow out of it but reading these emails I’m not sure. My husband was the same when he was a child but not to the same degree. He still doesn’t like buttons but has overcome it with age and does now wear them.
Although mine is not severe, i can wear a cardigan with buttons. But I do feel sick to my stomach when i see lose buttons lying around, i gag even. And i don’t wear jewelry, the thought of a dirty chain around my neck… ewwwie. I do work in a shop, so dirty coins are just something i have to deal with. It just feels so dirty doesn’t it? Filthy even. And i does get in my way of one of my big passions in life, sewing. Haha, the irony of it eh? The wall in the shop with buttons, our worst nightmare!
My wife has this phobia too, I used to think she was the only person in the world with it but it sounds surprisingly common. Like others have said, we mentioned it to my mother-in-law and she could not remember her having any traumatic experience as a child that might have triggered it.
For a laugh, I sometimes put the duvet on the bed the wrong way round.
)
is there anyone near Boston or New York area who has button phobia? I’m working on some project about anxiety and I would like to meet someone who has button phobia. please contact me at yeschloe@gmail.com
My friend has just told me about her little boy having an odd thing about buttons….he is only young….under 4yrs…he doesn’t like looking at buttons or sitting with people wearing buttons.It has even put him off ating his food…..She says there has never been a traumatic event over a button…it seems to just be a genuine fear…very strange but very reasurring to read all these comments…I will pass the site on to her ASAP. !
YES thank you all for making me feel better about my repulsion of loose buttons – especially the ones with four holes!
I am 49 years old and can remember when I was a child and my sister used to push my hand into my mum’s button box if I would not go to the shop for her! I can laugh at it now but would still freak out if someone threw a dirty, well worn, cracked four holed button at me.
Zips rock!!
I am 9 years old and whenever I eat next to someone wearing buttons I feel that I want to vomit and I cannot even look at them when I don’t eat. Whenever I look at somebody with buttons I feel that I have to runaway. I also need to stare at them although I hate them.
I am happy to see this site and know I am not alone. That is how it has felt my whole life, as no one understands. I do think people think I’m making it up sometimes, but it is SO real! If all you’ve gotten are threats of Christmas tins filled with buttons, consider yourself lucky. My aunt and uncle have always sent us money for Christmas in clever ways. One year my aunt was making home-made soaps and hid our money inside, but not alone. Surrounding the money were a ton of buttons that I had to dig through. Luckily my mom was kind enough to do it for me. Also a few of mine and my husband’s friends decided it would be funny one day to bring a handful of buttons and hide them around my apartment. One friend even tackled me and tried to put one in my mouth! My husband made them stop when he could see me start to cry. I’m really sensitive to buttons by themselves, when they are loose from clothing. And especially 4-hole, brown and off-white swirly ones! I can’t touch them. It’s like a spider. If I need to move one I have to use a kleenex or something. It’s weird that everyone has the same repulsive reaction; that buttons make us feel sick. I wonder why this is the reaction. I can’t remember an incident that made me feel this way, but it’s been like this as long as I can remember. I would cry in kindergarten if my mom was going to make me wear a shirt with buttons. And I can’t hug people wearing buttons, just the same as all of you. I really wish I didn’t feel this way, but more, I wish people would take my fear seriously. At least there are people that know!
my mate and my sister both have fear of buttons and its amazin how many ppl dnt believe it or try to scare them with them its unreal but if we were to put bugs in their faces would be a difff story ehh :/… i really did think my sister was the only one till i met my mate and this site…
oh my god! i’m scared of my own name! imagine how that feels fellow button haters! i wasn’t scared of them until i got a job in a haberdashery. then the constant days of people handing me buttons drove me to it! i started to feel like they were looking at me! i can’t believe my phobia caused me unemployment. one day, i accidentally locked myself in the storeroom. i was surrounded by the little blighters. in a panic, i tried to escape and tripped and fell into a giant box of assorted buttons!! they were in my eyes and mouth! all shiny and plastic and disgusting! my daughter wanted me to watch a film with her the other day… coraline! OH MY GOD THE HORROR!! i didn’t know what it was about! the first scene is a woman with needles for hands sewing buttons! THE HORROR!! i’ve had to throw away half my clothes and my wife is extremely disgruntled because i threw hers away too!
BUTTONS ARE GROSS!!! all my friends think i’m so weird. I run and scream. People always chase me with them. Someone touched me on the face with one and i seriously started crying.
i have a low degree, i can wear them but can’t deal with them when they are not attached to clothing, for example justy sitting on a counter. the worst is a box of assorted buttons, makes me quezy. what are the theories on the reaoning for this phobia
I’m so glad I’ve found people who understand!…it’s not just me…however much my flatmates laugh at me. I’m 19 and have had the fear forever! My mum thought I was just being a fussy child but I HATED them…with a passion…especially the ones with four holes…yuck!!!
Many people have tried to scare me (and succeeded) with buttons and so on…is it me or are they worse when they just dangle and flop around!
The worst are the ones that just DON’T need to be there…I can just about waer cardigans but will NOT wear polo shirts…FAAAAR too close for comfort!
I actually cried when I found this site, and realised that I wasn’t alone in what I considered to be an abnormal phobia. I was absolutely sure I was the only one, I used to refuse to take my school jumper off even in the hottest weather because of my fear. Getting dressed for school used to bring me out in a cold sweat. I still never by clothes with buttons if I can help it. I feel physically sick and often am just thinking about buttons. and like it says it also extends to small pieces of plastic, blutack, that sort of thing. I can cope with metal ones now, but since noone believed me I had to self help to get over this. It feels amazing just to admit it.
My three year old daughter has this. She wont wear anything with buttons or fasteners. If Im wearing a shirt she’ll tell me to take it off. Some days she’ll tell people she likes their buttons. She has no problem holding them loosely. Its nice to know there are others with the same fear.
My dad has a fear of buttons!
I thought I was the only person in the world with this phobia. I’m 37 and I’ve learned to cope with this phobia. I wear dress shirts and ties to work every day. I actually had to as a child while going to Catholic school. Buttons that are not attached to something are my true kryptonite. It repulses me, and I refuse to touch them. Well, I may be strange, but at least I’m not alone.
Finally I am not alone. I have had the fear as long as I can remember. I am a 53 yr old father and husband. Not only do I gag and repulse at the sight of a dangley or pulled button, and a button tin or jar of buttons gives me shivers and has to be hidden away, a button in the mouth is absolutely unthinkable and decorative buttons on furniture or pillows just has to be thrown out. But does anyone of my new friends cringe and shudder at the sight of a solitary button lying on the floor or sidewalk and you feel like you have to walk around it like it was a snake? Also the horror of discovering just one of these horrible things in the house requires me to kick it until I can get it out of the door and out of sight Until now I thought I was the only one
Ive always had a fear of buttons for as long as i can remember but its got better with time due to having to wear uniforms etc. I still aviod wearing them when I can because its more of the cringe factor for me, not a fear. If i touch one I have to wash my hands. and I also can’t bear the thought of putting one in my mouth or anywhere near….does anyone else get this? they are also worse for me when they are not attached to anything and still have a bit of thread through them….anyone else? Plastic shirt buttons are definatly the worst for me too. But Ive never been embarrassed about my fear….ive always seen it as a funny talking point as people are always so amazed by it! Its interesting
Almost all of my clothes and coats (which I think are quite fancy) have buttons on them – does that mean someone with this phobia wouldn’t be attracted to me or not want to date me? I’m starting to get paranoid about the fact I wear buttons!
I had no idea there were so many people out there with this problem! I’m so grossed out by buttons, I feel like washing my hands if I accidentally touch one. I also don’t like different types of fabric, it’s almost as if it seems dirty to me and unsanitary. I have to have crisp bed sheets and no flannel! I hate having this problem and I’m completely embarrassed by this, it took me 2 years to tell my boyfriend and very few know. I just got a job where I have to wear professional office clothes and it took a while but I went completely button free. The only buttons I don’t mind are ones on jeans that are metal. If there’s plastic, I will not touch it. I’m such a freak.
read all of posted comments and like most i was suprised that there is so many with can i say it OUR phobia. i hate them especially the plastic four holed and loose and dusty ones.when iwas younger i was easy to dicsipline , my mum always used to threaten me with her button tin, that tin had history, buttons dating back well before i was born all shapes, sizes and colours and worst of all full of dust.you all will realise why i always did as i was told. I still freak out when i see them now no matter how i try to emphasize with my family not to leave them about they still do and to make things worse they find it hilarious. my daughter uses it as form of revenge and teases me. They often stockpile all the buttons that are attached to new garments. My mum has sadly passed away now and at a family gathering what should turn up….but the bad boy tin with all the nightmare buttons of my past.
I was traumatised!!
I kind of have this but its not the physical button i’m scared of… I guess mine is more a claustrophobic fear. I feel restricted when i’m wearing them and i can’t open then or get the item of clothes off fast enough… Man i thought i was alone…
Hi All, Wow it’s amazing reading all the comments. This site is great. Yes I have the phobia- feeling kinda special now. I have hated them since I was very young. Loose ones are gross, 4 holed ones are the worst, shiny and plastic is disgusting. I also hate the nose of buttons against a hard surface, like them clacking against a radiator when someone dries a shirt. I was worse when I was younger. I can now wear a suit and get through the day. If I think about them when eating I feel sick, and for some reason feel compelled to look at them even though I really don’t want to. A haberdashery is out of the question. I am ok with metal buttons as long as they have no holes in. Duvet buttons are just cruel. And this ‘fashion’ of men and womens clothes with buttons on for no good reason is just plain revolting. I feel sick if I wear a shirt- like i’m wearing lots of little slugs.
I too have had people tease me. My ‘friend’ once brought in a box of buttons and threw a handful at me. No idea where this phobia came from though. Anyway, Happy Christmas everyone.
This link has made my day. Duvets, Christmas tin threats, button walls at craft shops— I get it!
At one point in my life I was living with a woman with MS who had trouble with dexterity. One day she received a cardigan in the mail and asked if I would button the new garment for her as “I could certainly do it quicker than she could.” It took everything in me to perform this task and I was sweating bullets and nearly gagging by the end (not to mention that I fumbled and struggled the whole way through because I’d never learned that skill!) I always wondered if she noticed my complete incompetency…
SO happy to be in good company.
Also, I refuse to work at a job with a cash register because my phobia extends to coins. Blech.
YES.. I’m normal
I feel sick reading about all these buttons..
Mine has existed since childhood, as early as I can remember..
i never thought that there was so many people like me , until now i thought i was the only one! I have this phobia constantly and somethimes i feel sick and paranoid and i have to go outside to middle of the road so i can be certain that there is no buttons there . One time i stepped on a buttons and i began to run outside ! :O Sometimes in the middle of the night i begin to thought about buttons on clothes and on my feets and i have to go outside breathless, the plastic ones are the worse and the decorative ones even more .i am 16 and im from portugal. all of my family said to me that i was “insane” that buttons dont harm anybody… i´m so happy to read all these stories
If anyone want to talk about it with me miguelfgoncalves@gmail.com
funny this. Me and my friend had koumpounophobia we hated it, we tried to find schools that didnt have shirts but we didnt succeed. We are really afraid in D.T encase we have to sew a button onto some material. we started scaring eachother with buttons, but we couldnt touch them so we put them on string. We dont mind metal ones, but we hate platic ones and if we feel the holes through our jumper we puke. I guess I was just born like this
our fear of buttons isnt as bad as most other people though, but still quite bad.
Can’t believe it’s true!
So there are others like me. I’d never before heard of anyone else who felt the same way and neither has my mum. By the way I’m 46 and my mum is 80!
my sister and I were totally blown away to find out that there are others with this affliction! We discovered about 10 yrs ago that we both had the problem. I guess we never mentioned it when we were younger, but we found out later in life. We’ve both had the aversion to buttons as long as we can remember, and we rate buttons on the grossness scale almost identically.Wooden or metal ones aren’t too bad. Large 4 holed buttons the worst. And “oh my God” a big 4 holed button dangling by a thread is just enough to make me sick! Is this hereditary? Both my sister and I have it, but don’t know of anyone else in the family. And yes, we have spent years of having people torment us with buttons, thinking they’re so funny!