Fear of / obsession with buttons

[Banned]

I don't know if this is an OCD thing or if I'm just weird but this has been an issue in my life for as long as I can remember and I don't know how to fix it. I haven't brought it up yet at therapy even though its been on my mind constantly and I've wanted to but just don't know how though without sounding like a total flake.

Basically I have this fear of buttons on clothes. I always have. With very very few exceptions I can't wear anything with buttons on them and even saying the word is very very hard. They completely gross me out and its the first thing I notice and once I do I can't stop focusing on them and counting them over and over and over and over. Even when I'm watching TV. And the more I try not to, the more I do.

There are a couple exceptions. For the last two years I've had to wear a uniform shirt at work but I wear a sweater over it to cover them all up. But when my coworkers don't I wonder how they're ok with everyone seeing their buttons. Thankfully I only have three shifts left and then I'm switching to a non-uniform position. I also have a sweater that has three large buttons on the shoulder. For some reason I'm ok with them and they don't bother me. But that's it. Those are the two exceptions besides my pants.

Given my age and the fact that I've been like this for as long as I can remember, I don't think there's much hope for me to get past this, or is there? I don't dress up very often but when I have to its kind of hard because there can't be any buttons involved. My life revolves around T-shirts and jeans because things just get complicated after that. There are just way too many buttons in this world . Help.

 

[Retired]

I was interested to read your description of your phobia, and so I did a search!

Surprisingly the fear of buttons is not that uncommon as we can see in these examples:

Koumpounophobia - Understanding the Fear of Buttons

Dipsolect.com ? Koumpounophobia: Fear of buttons

A Google search for "fear of buttons" returns many others.

 

[Banned]

Ya I knew there was a name for it and although not common I'm not the only one on the planet either. I just wish it wasn't a such a huge obsession (in a bad way). If I was obsessed in a good way it would be fine and dandy I suppose.

 

[GDPR]

If I was obsessed in a good way it would be fine and dandy I suppose.

But what would a 'good' obsession be?

 

[Banned]

I'm not sure. We talked about this a bit in therapy today but I just don't know. He's coming from one angle and I'm coming from another. I want it to go away and he wants me to see myself as less of a freak and be more accepting of my idiosyncrasies. It's just so big in my world. It's maybe not as strong nice I switched to Prozac but its still a big, giant, consuming monster.

 

[MHealthJo]

Does this sort of thing come under phobias, like ones that get treated wirh exposure therapy?

I've always been fascinated when I've watched that on TV, how a switch can just be flipped off in the brain, after a certain number of sessions.