Comments on: Koumpounophobia: Fear of buttons

By: Kerryn

Kerryn — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:14:26 +0000

I am still astounded that there is actually a name for this and other people have it too. I am not too bad with it. I don’t consider it a phobia but rather as an irrational hatred for buttons. All my life, I have HATED clothes with buttons. We had a uniform at school which was polo shirts and I couldn’t wear it! I think buttons are really dirty and wont touch them. ESPECIALLY if one falls off a garment!! Not as bad now as I was as a kid, I do actually own and wear some clothes with buttons, but still will always opt for clothes with zippers instead.

By: Kit

Kit — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:37:50 +0000

I have this EXACTLY: I feel sick when I look at them, I get put off food, I can’t say the word, or anything that sounds like it. My skin crawls if I have to touch them – I can’t do it. I used to have to cut them off everything – or my mum did – I screamed, cried, had a proper tantrum, because I was scared of them!! When people wear them at dinner or around me I can’t eat, I physically retch. Even any type of earrings!!! Thank you so much that there are other people out there!!!!

By: Peg

Peg — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 04:41:24 +0000

I have commetted here before.
I am lucky that I can work in a place where I can wear pullover shirts; crew neck.
I gather most of the comments here are from the UK.

By: melinda

melinda — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:33:09 +0000

buttons. they actually are the scariest thing ever, the haunt me daily. everywhere i turn there is a button i dont know how i have lived this long with this phobia it is quite astonishing. they should make a movie about my struggles with buttons. there are just so many different colours and shapes and sizes and some colours scare me more than others. square buttons are the worst for me personally. im so happy i found this website everyone makes fun of me for this. my friends threw me a button party and i puked on them! i dream of the day where me and buttons can live in peace and harmony.

By: sarah

sarah — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:30:21 +0000

i hate b*****s they are disgusting. i can’t look at them without feeling like im going to puke. it all started from when i was a little girl and i was in the playground and a kid came up to me and threw buttons at me and called me button-girl. i have never been the same since the traumatic incident. i only hope that in time my phobia will become less prominent and i can live in a world where buttons and me can live together in peace and harmony.

By: nay

nay — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 21:28:37 +0000

I have a button phobia too and used to hate even saying the word. I also dont buy shirts unless I absolutely have to wear one and will always opt for zips and other fasteners over the button option. One tip which has helped me to get over the problem of not wanting to say the ‘b’ word is as follows. My husband knows I love chocolate so he says think of the word chocolate before you have to say the word button and then it’s just as if you’re talking about chocolate which is something you love! gr8 to meet so many likeminded people.

By: Derek

Derek — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:33:42 +0000

I’ve had this fear since I can remember. I only wear Dress Shirts (the White ones) to funerals and weddings and I have to put them on with gloves so I don’t have to touch the buttons. I’ve worn pull-overs, t-shirts, sweaters, and anything else without buttons all of my life (at least since I was 5). I was 23 before I could wear a pair of Levi 501’s with their tabs instead of zippers. People wearing button necklaces, ornate buttons (big gold ones – shiver), ugh. I have exactly 2 shirts with buttons, that’s it and their never worn except every 2-3 years and then, usually only once, thank god. Their just nasty and gross and make me feel the same.

My dad would make us ‘confront’ our fears as little children (ages 1 to 8 or so) by acting them out. If you were afraid of heights, he’d take you up high, etc. So, I had to be very careful about hiding my fear or he’d have placed them on the dinner table while I ate or something, which just intensified my fear of being found out.

By: kim

kim — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:51:30 +0000

Wow I had no idea there was a name for this thing, when I was younger my mom used to have a jar full of all sorts of buttons and just from looking at it I’d feet sick and God forbid if she asked me to get one for her, ewwww. Loose buttons are the worst especially if the string is in there. Funnily enough I had no choice but to get used to the buttons on my school shirt but that was not enough to curb it completely because I will never ever by a cardigan, look at someone with lots of them on, and avoid them at all costs, argh ewwwww. When I change my quilt covers I have to wear gloves to button it up not to mention wear socks so my feet are safe at night.

By: JT

JT — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 01:56:23 +0000

I too didn’t think there was a name for this until I saw this site. Things have waned greatly since adolescence, but when I was very young I refused to be near them, let alone wear something with buttons. Most of what I’ve read here applies, including the idea of some sort of residue that stays behind, and the fear of having them near my mouth (or anyone else’s). I still dislike large, extraneous ones, such as those sewn onto sweaters or (God forbid) a couch cushion, the shinier the more vile, but I’ve overcome those on my own clothing. About ten years ago, when I was in my 20’s, the subject came up and my mom was surprised. “Still?” she said. She told me then that when I was less than a year old she was changing my shirt, and one of the snaps caught on my nostril, and that I’d hated them ever since. It’s possible, though, that my mom had been using this instance to reconcile my irrational fear. Not everyone with this neurosis was injured by a button.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:20:50 +0000

I have a very mild form of this, I can wear buttons if I have to, but Im not comfortable doing it. Small objects like 5p coins I try not to touch but I can handle when I need to and oddly baked beans make me feel funny in the same way. Ive never eaten them because of this. Anybody else feel the same way?