Hi all,

 

I am new to the b_phobia support group and I have to say thank you, thank you, thank you to whoever set this up!

My name is Hannah and I am English but have lived in America for ten years with my American husband. I have always, for as long as I can remember, hated and felt totally disgusted by buttons. In reading the information available on the internet I have been amazed at the similarities that people describe with their phobias. For example, I have tried to keep this really quiet all my life for fear that I would be thought insane. I have been married for ten years and my in-laws only found out about my phobia two years when my husband accidentally let it slip. Someone had given my brother-in-law a tie for Christmas that they had sewn buttons on to!!! Don't ask me what they were thinking. My husband said, "Make sure Hannah doesn't see that!" and then the cat was out of the bag. Fortunately my in-laws are very understanding.

Here's the funny thing. I am an indentical twin and my twin sister has the exact same revolusion of buttons. Our parents think that when we were young one of us just decided that buttons were gross and that we encouraged each other in this. However, it goes much, much deeper than that. I think that just "deciding" that buttons are gross wouldn't be enough to give me a physical feeling of disgust. Plus, if one touches my skin I can feel the place it touched and must wash my hands immediately. Even after that I can still "feel" it.

Well, I am off to tell my sister that support is available!

Hannah