Great to hear from another button-phobe - there are so many of us out there!

I'm doing university exams at the moment and we have to wear formal dress
which includes a white shirt/blouse. Most of my close friends know about my
button phobia but not all of them. My shirt had the buttons cut off (thanks
mum) and is sewn up the front with poppers at the top - I suddenly realised
that I have 15 hours of exams this week and that wearing one shirt for all
of them was going to get a little...smelly. I went to try and buy a new one
but failed miserably to find anything button free (I don't have the time for
sewing at the moment!). Lamenting this to one of my friends I suddenly
realised that she had no idea about my phobia and had to explain. She
thought it was very funny, but she got over it. Coincidentally, last night I
was talking to another friend about behaviours that aren't adaptive (we were
doing biology revision) and he brought up button phobia as a hilarious
example of how weird people are. Again, I had to 'fess up, but again once it
was explained, he didn't think it was as weird as he'd initially thought.
Everyone seems to have their own strangenesses - I think we should be
thankful that ours is as benign as this :-)

(btw, I washed my shirt so I won't be smelly).

On a sidenote, it often surprises me how well I can cope with buttons when I
really discipline myself. I've worn button up shirts to perform plays before
and actually managed to forget that I'm wearing them. More recently, a
friend approached me to teach him how to iron. He'd never done it before
(he's 21...) but needed to iron a formal shirt before a ball where he wanted
to appear dashing before a certain young lady. My disdain for his lack of
ironing skills would not have been as effective if I'd wrinkled my nose at
the buttons, so I just pretended they didn't bother me. I even accidentally
touched one of the cuff buttons and managed to restrain myself from wiping
my hand "clean" on my trousers (does anyone else do that? I often can't help
it - as though I'd touched something slimy). It makes me wonder if I'm just
being weak by not confronting them on a day to day basis. But then I look at
them and remember how thoroughly disgusting and sickening they are and
resolve to avoid them as much as possible in the future. Also, I didn't
actually iron my friend's shirt, just showed him how to put it on the board
and move the iron around (he was hopeless). Just the thought of pushing the
front point of the iron in between the buttons and hearing them click on
either side (and see them strain at their cotton) makes me feel sick.

And yet I *know* that this is thoroughly irrational. What's to be done
though? (Short of destroying the town mentioned in this article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1491380,00.html)

Claire.

>Although I have had a button phobia my whole life, this is the first time I
>realize that there are others out there who are equally freaked out! i have
>to admit, mine has gotten slightly more tolerable the older i get, but some
>buttons still succeed in making me sick. Particularly those eith the
>eye-shaped indent in the middle - usually pearl white. and I totally agree
>with the collr butotn thing! and crafts made of buttons. I hate even tyoing
>the word.... and the most ironic part is that I am a therapist.... yeah,
>someone with such an irrational and bizarre fear.... not something I tell
>my patients though..... this cyber connection is still not really
>confirming for me that others understand this.