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posted by janrinok on Thursday January 23 2020, @11:53PM   Printer-friendly
from the don't-be-shy-now dept.

Can't go in a public restroom? You're not alone:

Most of us don't give much thought to going to the toilet. We go when we need to go.

But for a small minority of people, the act of urinating or defecating can be a major source of anxiety—especially when public restrooms are the only facilities available.

Paruresis (shy bladder) and parcopresis (shy bowel) are little known mental health conditions, yet they can significantly compromise a person's quality of life.

We don't know how many people have shy bowel, but research has estimated around 2.8%-16.4% of the population are affected by shy bladder. The condition is more common in males.

[...]

Most of us will feel a little "grossed out" from time to time when using public toilets. But what we're talking about here is different and more serious.

People with shy bladder and shy bowel experience significant anxiety when trying to go to the toilet, especially in public places like shopping centers, restaurants, at work or at school. Sufferers may also experience symptoms in their own home when family or friends are around.

Their anxiety can present in the form of increased heart rate, excessive sweating, rapid breathing, muscle tension, heart palpitations, blushing, nausea, trembling, or a combination of these.

Symptoms range in severity. Some people who are more mildly affected can experience anxiety but still be able to "go," for example when the bathroom is completely empty. Others may urinate or defecate with difficulty—for example their urine stream may be inconsistent. Some people will sit on the toilet and not be able to go at all.

[...] We canvassed 316 undergraduate students in an online survey on shy bladder and shy bowel. Some 72 participants (22.8%) self-reported symptoms of either one or both conditions.

  • We found these symptoms were influenced by particular patterns of thinking, including:
  • a misinterpretation or distortion of information (for example, interpreting laughter in the restroom as being directed towards them)
  • fears around potential perceived negative evaluation (for example, a fear of being criticized for taking too long to defecate, or for sounds and smells produced during urination or defecation)
  • fears around potential perceived positive evaluation (for example, a fear of being evaluated too positively for a strong urine stream).

Using statistical modeling, we found fear of negative evaluation was the factor most strongly associated with shy bladder or shy bowel symptoms.

As such, people with shy bladder or shy bowel may benefit from the sorts of treatments that help people with social anxiety disorder.

Cognitive behavioral therapy, for example, is known to reduce social anxiety symptoms.

The best way to help people with these conditions will be addressing the thought processes behind shy bladder and shy bowel, especially concerns around the perceptions others might evaluate or criticize one's urination or defecation.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Citation: Can't go in a public restroom? You're not alone—and there's help (2020, January 22) retrieved 22 January 2020 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-01-restroom-youre-aloneand.html


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 24 2020, @02:52AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 24 2020, @02:52AM (#947790)

    Uh no.

    All you need to do is fund an independent replication every time you want to fund a study to be taken seriously. If you don't, it is a pilot study. Preregistering studies is something stats autists came up with that is incompatible with science (where you always learn as you go).

  • (Score: 2, Disagree) by barbara hudson on Friday January 24 2020, @03:11AM (1 child)

    by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Friday January 24 2020, @03:11AM (#947808) Journal

    If you're doing a study, you should already have decided on a protocol, a selection criteria for your test subjects, what you are testing for, etc. Otherwise you're not doing science. Throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks is not science.

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    SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 24 2020, @03:16AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 24 2020, @03:16AM (#947813)

      Spoken like someone who has never actually done science.