Is it normal for me to be selectively germophobic?

37% Normal
15 Comments

I've had germophobic tendencies for several years now, but I don't think they're the standard tendencies that other germophobes suffer from. You see, I'm "selectively germophobic," and by that, I mean that I can touch some people, but other people I can't. Take my mom for instance. I don't mind hugging her and sharing food after her or even putting our loads of laundry together, but put my brother and I together, or my dad and I together, and my every action is monitored and I'm on high alert. I will not sit on the same couch as them, and if I have to, I'll tuck my legs in underneath myself so as not to touch them. I don't give them hugs, nor do I allow them to touch me. is it normal for me to be selectively germophobic? Am I the only person out there who is? It isn't to say that I don't have other standard tendencies, I do, but this one seems to be less common.

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37% Normal
Based on 35 votes (13 yes)
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Comments ( 15 )
  • [Old Memory]
    11 years ago

    Yes its normal to be selectively germophobic, I'm that way too. But the fact that you're essentially scared of being near your family members is not normal. If anything I would be insulted, that you're scared of going near your brother or dad but not your mom.

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    • doecommajames
      11 years ago

      I'm not scared of being near my family, I just choose not to be. It isn't a phobia in the sense that I'm scared of getting close, I just feel gross when I do. As for insulting them, I don't really care if I do, lol. I've been insulted by them many times before.

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  • RoseIsabella
    11 years ago

    My sister most likely has OCD; she is a neat freak and a bit of a germophobe. She really freaks out about garbage cans even if there isn't any garbage in them. She showers and changes clothes several times a day and doesn't sit on her own furniture if the clothes she's wearing have been worn outside of her house. The one thing she doesn't see as germy and full of cooties is her toy poodle but she freaks out if someone she doesn't like pets him.

    My sister came to Thanksgiving dinner at our parents house las year and our uncle's girlfriend of whom my sister is not the least bit fond had been petting her dog. The dog had also licked this woman, and although my sister kept her composure at the dinner, she freaked out later.

    I wish my sister would get psychiatric help!!!

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    • Leviathanel
      11 years ago

      does her condition bother her as much as it bothers everyone else?

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      • RoseIsabella
        11 years ago

        Good question! I don't think she's aware of how much her condition adversely affects her life. I've been helping her move now since last Wednesday because she's so particular about it and can't delegate any tasks. She can't let anyone do anything outside of her presence lest her belongings be exposed to *gasp* GERMS.

        My father and I are always cracking dirty jokes about her and by dirty I don't mean sexually perverted but jokes about actual dirt, germs, garbage, E coli, etc. I don't know if germophobic, neat freak OCD people realize this or not but they are beyond annoying, people laugh about them behind their backs and their behavior is certainly not normal! Sometimes when my sister freaks out and loses her temper she's so mean that I just want to throw her in a dumpster full of rotting garbage! She deserves it. She's reduced our father to tears. My father is a retired Army Lt Colonel who's served two tours in Vietnam with the Special Forces and he told me he has zero sympathy for people with her disorder after seeing some of his best friends die in the war. I have to agree with him and I secretly want to see Howie Mandel and people like him tortured by being exposed to unsanitary conditions and whatever triggers their stupid annoying condition.

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        • Leviathanel
          11 years ago

          damn, it really does sound like OCD then. i dated somone with OCD once and i don't mean neat freak i mean litterally diagnosed and bat shit crazy.

          her condition was so bad that it had complete control over her. when she had a compulsion it was impossible for her not to act on it lest she gets a very bad anxiety attack.

          she was also heavily medicated but at least she knew she was nuts. sounds like your sister just wants to brush it off as though she's perky or something. gotta admit though i feel sorry for anyone who has OCD it's a terrible condition.

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          • RoseIsabella
            11 years ago

            Thanks, I really appreciate your comments. She has a prescription for Xanax but hardly ever takes it. If there's one good thing I've learned about panic attacks it's that they pass and won't kill a person even if the person feels like they will die. I know she needs more help but the two things that have helped her the most are her dog and her job as a substitute elementary school art teacher.

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  • seankessinger
    11 years ago

    I don't think I can call this normal. However it isn't detrimental to your well-being or the well-being of others, and is fairly common, so I wouldn't worry to much :)

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  • Leviathanel
    11 years ago

    i'm scared of e coli so i keep my hands very washed especially after using the washroom. i'm also scared of mould.

    but i can eat food that a stranger licked, most things i just don't give a rats' ass but i'm still proud of my e coli fear.

    be the few proud paranoid people!

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  • TheOneAndOnly:)
    11 years ago

    i'm a neat freak too, but not to the point where i dont hug my mom?

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    • doecommajames
      11 years ago

      I didn't say I don't hug my mom, lol. I don't hug my brothers and/or my dad.

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      • TheOneAndOnly:)
        11 years ago

        Lol, why dont you?

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        • doecommajames
          11 years ago

          I'm not sure. I mean, one, I don't like them, and two, they don't worry about their hygiene like I do.

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          • Leviathanel
            11 years ago

            i'm very glad you arn't my neglectful jugdmental self-rightious sister.

            not going to show me affection because i'm not as clean as you'd like? well i don't think you have a mental problem unless being a bitch is considered a condition of some sort nowadays.

            are you sexist or something? can you touch your uncles or grandfathers? can you give a man a hi-five even if it were a stranger? (don't blame you most men are compulsive masterbaters)

            now can you do all those same things to women?

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          • RoseIsabella
            11 years ago

            In what way are you brother and father unhygienic? I'm just curious.

            OCD, germophobe, neat freak stuff really gets on my nerves but certain things like people not bathing, not washing their hands after using the bathroom and not brushing their teeth gross me out.

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