Self-dyssomophobia (fear of smelling bad): symptoms, causes and treatment

An anxiety disorder linked to the extreme and irrational fear of smelling bad.

It is likely that at some time, traveling on public transport, some of the people reading these lines have experienced how some of the passengers gave off an aroma considered unpleasant, such as the smell of sweat, humidity or some foods or beverages.

And the truth is that the idea that one could generate such smells oneself is aversive, since practically nobody likes to smell bad (something that can be attested to by the fact that there is an entire industry that manufactures perfumes, fragrances and deodorants).

But although the idea of smelling bad can be unpleasant, most people just take care of their hygiene and try not to smell bad, without worrying too much about it even if they themselves are the ones who smell bad. However, some people can develop a real dread of smelling bad, to the point of developing a phobia of it that can become so severe that it largely invalidates their daily activity. This is called autodyssomophobia.. Let's see what it is.

What is autodyssomophobia?

It is called autodyssomophobia the phobia or fear of stinking or smelling badIt sometimes also includes the fear of bad odor in general, even if it comes from others. It is a specific phobia of situational type, although strongly related to social phobia since in this case the fear would be linked to a great extent to the social judgment derived from bad body odor.

And the fact is that bad body odor is usually associated with poor hygiene (although there are other factors that can explain it, such as having played sports, wearing excessively warm clothes or suffering from certain diseases), which is usually socially frowned upon and generates rejection.

As a phobia we are facing a reaction of very intense fear or dread towards a certain stimulus, which is usuallyThis fear is generally recognized as irrational and excessive with respect to the real risk involved. This fear triggers an anxious response to exposure to the stimulus, which in turn can cause the appearance of physiological symptoms such as tachycardia, sweating, tremors, hyperventilation, chest Pain or pain, among others, and can even trigger an anxiety crisis.

Likewise, the anxiety generated by the exposure or the idea of being close to the stimulus in question causes the person to avoid the stimulus or all those contexts or stimuli that may be associated with the one that generates the fear. In this case, the fear would be the bad smell and/or the fact of smelling bad.

Symptoms

The fact that the fact of smelling bad or the idea of being able to emit bad odor generates so much panic and anxiety may seem innocuous, but the truth is that it can become very limiting at all levels for the person with this phobia.

Those who suffer from autodyssomophobia can suffer to a great extent. It should be taken into account that the person may be hyperalert to the slightest body odor that may be considered aversive, and may even develop some obsessive checking behaviors or even show a tendency to consider that he or she smells bad when he or she does not, or to consider that any comment referring to odors is directed at him or her.

In addition, paradoxically, the anxiety felt itself favors exposure to the reason for his or her discomfort: the increased arousal may cause us to sweatThe increased arousal may cause us to sweat, which could make us smell bad, which in turn generates more anxiety.

This phobia affects all levels, whether it is to prevent others from smelling our bad odor or to avoid smelling the bad odor of others. It is common to avoid large crowds and group gatherings. It is also common to avoid public transport or small venues such as nightclubs and bars. Personally, this phobia can cause difficulties in the interaction with other people and even at the level of couple, and also complications at the work level if work requires contact with others.and complications may also appear at work if the job requires contact with others.

Massive and excessive applications of perfumes or deodorants can be used, which in turn can paradoxically generate an excessively strong and unpleasant odor and even generate skin irritations, and even going out in the street can be avoided.

Also those things and actions that can cause a bad smell are usually avoided. In this sense, physical activity and exercise can be avoided, sexual relations can be avoided and, depending on the case, cooking or eating foods that can generate flatulence and gases can be avoided.

Possible causes

The causes of this phobia are not completely known, but there are some hypotheses about it. It should also be taken into account that there is no single cause, but it is considered to be the result of the interaction of multiple factors that predispose us to suffer it. the interaction of multiple factors that predispose us to suffer it..

One of the main hypotheses that could serve as an explanation is the existence of some traumatic or painful experience of rejection in the face of bad odor, either to the subject himself or to another loved one, who has been judged, criticized or rejected for this reason. It is also possible that there has been a traumatic experience in which bad odor and suffering have been associated, such as the vision or experience of a murder, rape or mistreatment by a subject with bad body odor (in this way, one's own or another's bad odor would be a highly aversive element when associated with the trauma).

Another possible reason could lie in modeling and learning from parental models or from an environment where bad odor is always in which bad odor is always judged. It could also happen that a person with a previous social phobia ends up linking a possible social rejection with body odor. This would create a cognitive schema in which the bad odor would be equivalent to something painful or extremely embarrassing that over time some stressor or triggering event could reactivate.

There would also be predisposing factors at the personal level, being frequent that these people have a low self-esteem and are insecure, often desirous of approval and social reinforcement and with high sensitivity to both rejection and disgust.

Treatment

As with other phobias, self-dyssomophobia can be successfully treated in psychotherapy. can be successfully treated in psychotherapy. And among the most successful techniques is the exposure technique, which is mainly based on making the subject face the situations that generate anxiety and fear in a gradual way so that the anxiety eventually decreases by itself and ends up becoming controllable. In this sense, it is necessary to elaborate a hierarchy of exposure that allows graduating the level of anxiety that each situation generates, so that the subject starts facing situations of medium level to gradually increase.

The exposures can be to smells or to activities that may generate them, or to situations in which this type of stimuli may be present. Once therapy is more advanced, the subject could be made to do an activity that makes him/her smell bad and be exposed in public, although it would also be advisable to work on cognitive elements first.

The fact is that it will be necessary to work in depth at a cognitive level, assessing what the bad smell implies for the subject.assessing what the bad smell implies for the subject, when the problem started and what he/she associates it with, to what extent the phobia generates disability or impairs his/her daily life, and the beliefs, emotions and thoughts that may be sustaining the problem. It would also be useful to help to relativize the importance of the odor by means of cognitive restructuring techniques, contributing to modify the subject's beliefs and thoughts in order to make them more functional.

Bearing in mind that this is a phobia closely linked to social issues and that behind this type of phobia there may be a deficit of social skills, it may be advisable to carry out training in this type of skills, as well as in stress management. Relaxation techniques can be beneficial to combat anticipations and to start with a lower level of anxiety, but should never be used as a method of active avoidance of anxiety (as this could negatively reinforce other avoidance behaviors). In extreme cases, anxiolytic drugs could be used to reduce the level of anxiety and to be able to work correctly.

Bibliographical references

• American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Fifth edition. DSM-V. Masson, Barcelona.