Koutoumouphobia. Does anyone else have it?

[TheyRepulseMe]

Phobia of buttons.

I can barely type the word.

It's not that I'm scared of them. They just physically repulse me. Make me feel sick.

I hate them I hate them.

Not wanting to sound flippant, but what about the chocolate kind?

My phobia is answering the phone and letter opening. I know where it came from, I just don't know how to overcome it.

It’s an ugly word too.

I don’t like anything that come under the heading of twee / sweet / cutesy & buttons fall into that category I think, overdone decorative ones anyway. I’ve never understood in Baby Names why people say a name is ‘sweet’ or ‘cute’ & view that as a good thing.

No, the chocolate kind is ok (for me, anyway). But the fact that a good number of us have the same revulsion at loose coins would suggest it's just to do with their shape. I'm not sure it is, though, although I can't quite explain why.

I'm fine with chocolate ones - perhaps because of the lack of holes? (Eurgghhh - the very thought!) But I'd like them more if they had a different name.

@LillyPJ That's interesting, not just the shape but the missing bits (not wanting to use the word). So an element of trypophobia (don't Google it) too. It must be so difficult to avoid such an everyday item.

The other thing I really HATE touching is those rulers with moving pictures.even the thought of touching them is making me wince.🤢 Unfortubately the dial on my washing machine has the same texture (why?!). I tried to return it for that reason but they would have charged me about half the price. I've had to stick paper over it. The paper is peeling off right now but I can't bring myself to pull it off completely to replace it.😵‍💫

I knew a boy that had to have velcro on his school shirt and mo buttovs because of this. Was unusual at the time

Thinking about it, I don’t like round badges either.

I hate to break it to you but I think the shuddering, goosebumps and weird feeling of absolute urgh IS trypophobia.

To offer an alternative viewpoint on this. I have Trypophilia. I love them.

"Tripophilia (from Latin trypē — "hole" and philia — "love") is a psychological state or inclination in which a person experiences positive emotions, pleasure, or even appetite when viewing objects with repetitive patterns of holes or pores"

I'm a koutamouphile then. I love them. I made my own bag once covered in them. I inherited all my Nana's vintage ones from her sewing chest too. Sorry OP that must be a tough phobia to have given they are everywhere. I understand the gut wrenching fear of a phobia though as a recovered arachnophobe. Still don't love them but i can tolerate their presence now. I would recommend hypnotherapy if you want to get rid of the fear. Good luck!

Given that it's an emotional response rather than a logical one, hypnotherapy should work.

I'd heard of a phobia of those things but I didn't know that was the name for it.

I had a friend once who was repulsed by ball bearings. He would just say they were horribly unbearably smooth.

I have a phobia of belly buttons if that counts! I cringe and curl up at the thought of them. Mine is super sensitive, I once slapped someone as a reflex when they tried to touch it. Urghh. I can't even touch my own, the thought is bad enough.

My sibling has it too and we didn't realise the other did until adulthood!

🙄 What utter nonsense

My daughter had this until her teens. Had to have velcro and hated particularly large buttons
When we asked why she said 'i think they're going to go into my eyes'. Always wondered if Coraline had something to do with it although her fear preceded seeing that. It's very odd but there was something disgusting and repellant about them for her. She seemed to grow out of it so we never worked out what it was really all about.
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I have it too. Have had it since early childhood. Just find them disgusting and don’t like thinking about it or talking about it. I can cope with small or fabric covered ones. It’s got slightly better since I’ve got older. I’ve met one other person in real life with it but his was more extreme that he couldn’t have it in any form on any clothes.

From memory some phobias linked to the disgust emotion are linked to evolution and how things or certain patterns would have been perceived as dangerous. I’ve had a couple of drinks so probably not explained this very well.

i have similar phobia of small grey bubbles. And the like.

I know someone with a button phobia and he married someone with a feather phobia. One of them is also scared of stickers too.

I remember a girl at school having this. It wasn't a full blown phobia but she hated buttons.

Reassuring to know I'm not alone.

Weird actually as now it's been mentioned I don't like like touching coins either.

Perhaps the shape is a part of it

No. I love buttons and spent hours playing in my nans button tin when I was a child. The other one makes me anxious, dizzy, and I feel sick and want to run away. I've mentioned this before on another thread but there used to be a Sanex ad with lots of naked swaying people that had the same visceral effect on me. Horrific. Button though, I love them.

Not at all. Some arise from a traumatic experience, others are due to the way someone's limbic system works. Specifically, the activation of the amygdala leads to the fight or flight response designed to keep us safe from predators. In OPs case its not activated by wild animals wanting to kill us but, for some strange reason, buttons. In my case it's holes, lots of little holes congregating together that sets my amygdala into overdrive.

I wish I knew it what triggered it. Maybe hypnotherapy would unravel that?

Do you want to know why you have this phobia or do you want to be rid of it, without necessarily knowing what caused it?