ablutomania: 1. An obsessional pre-occupation with cleanliness, washing, or bathing, often accompanied by compulsive rituals. 2. A morbid impulse to wash or to bathe, or an incessant preoccupation with thoughts of frequent hand-washing, or bathing; which is often defined as an obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Compulsive rituals are enormously time-consuming. One woman had a compulsion to wash her hands in a certain way after touching "unclean" objects; namely, from fingers to wrist, from wrist to elbow, and from elbow to upper arm; and then to repeat the performance until her anxiety was over, which could be several times. As a result, her hands often became painfully raw.
A young man had the compulsion to wash in a certain order. He said, "When I wash clothes or clean anything—floor, carpet, windows and so on—I have to clean them in a certain manner to make sure I do not miss anything. I can never hurry because I would not feel that it has been done properly."
Was this an all-day activity or just a twice-a-day compulsion?
When the thoughts and rituals of
obsessive-compulsive disorders are intense,
the victim's work and home life disintegrate.
With severe compulsions,
endless rituals dominate each day.
Judith L. Rapoport, M.D.
From The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing
ablutophobia: The fear of washing or bathing.
Manifestations of this fear may include avoidance (long periods without washing), excessive anxiety when contemplating washing or when actually attempting to wash, and anxiety and dread when seeing others wash.
Some who have this abnormal fear also fear water. A few may even fear that harm will come to their skin from the water while others are anxious about warm water or cold water. Ablutophobia extends to taking baths, taking showers, and swimming.
I test my bath before I sit,
And I'm always moved to wonderment
That what chills the finger not a bit
Is so frigid upon the fundament.
-Ogden Nash
aboulomania, abulomania: A mental disorder in which there is a loss of will-power.
The difference between perseverance
and obstinacy is that one often comes
from a strong will, and the other
from a strong won't.
-Henry Ward Beecher
acarophobia: 1. Excessive fear of skin infestation by mites or ticks; fear of itching. 2. Fear of small objects; such as, insects, worms, mites, and nonliving things such as needles and pins. Some people are so afraid of insects and mites that they seal off their windows, vacuum and sweep several times a day; and feel anxiety outside their homes.
Entologists say that there are over
2,000 different kinds of fleas,
of the order Siphonaptera
(the kind that live in hair or fur).
-Michael Andrews,
The Life That Lives on Man
accidents: diplychiphobia, dystychiphobia
acerbophobia, acerophobia: Excessive fear of sourness. Such fears may lead to avoidance of acerbic (sour) foods or other products.
achluophobia: An abnormal fear of darkness. Such a fear includes not going out at night, increased anxiety as evening approaches, not wanting to look out at the darkness by closing the window shades to avoid looking out, avoidance of looking into dark rooms, and always having some kind of light available. On the other hand, many agoraphobics seem to feel more comfortable in the dark than in the light.
acidophobia: In plants, an inability to tolerate acid soils.
acid soils (intolerance by plants): acidophobia
acousticomania, akousticomania: 1. An abnormal fondness for hearing music, often excessively loud; such as, when some people have the volume so high in a car, an apartment, or a house that others can hear it even when they are far away from the source of the sounds. 2. Many people can not tolerate living with silence and so they must have the radio, television, etc. on even when they are supposedly concentrating on reading, writing, or studying.
acousticophobia, akousticophobia:An abnormal fear of hearing noises in general or specific noises or sounds. This phobia goes beyond just being startled by sudden loud noises. Some people fear specific noises, such as whistling, balloons popping, or sonic booms. The individual reacts with fear perhaps because the environment seems to be out of control and the subject is powerless to stop it.
New York mayor started campaign to crack down on noise
- In the year 2002, the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, went after the noise makers.
- He announced a program to tackle the quality-of-life problem most vexing to New York residents: barking dogs, screeching car alarms, music blaring from cars, and drunken bar patrons who share their feelings with everyone on the block at 3 a.m.
- The initiative, known as "Operation Silent Night", was the city's most aggressive attack on noise since 1994.
- The operation was set up to focus on twenty-four neighborhoods that had been identified as among the noisiest, based on calls to the city's quality-of-life hot line.
- Tickets ranging from $5 to $25,000 (for businesses with excessive noise complaints) were to be issued: arrests, in the most extreme cases, might be made, and cars with blaring alarms were to be towed away.
Based on information from The New York Times
by Jennifer Steinhauer, as seen in the
International Herald Tribune
October 4, 2002.
Inaction breeds doubt and fear.
Action breeds confidence and courage.
If you want to conquer fear, do not sit at home and
think about it. Go out and get busy.
-Dale Carnegie (1888-1955), author of
How to Win Friends and Influence People
