West Sussex Hypnotist Explores Koumpounophobia, or Button Phobia

Button phobia is more formally known as koumpounophobia and sounds like an unusual phobia, but it is actually quite a common one. A phobia like fear of flying makes more sense, as at least there is an obvious break from normal safety, but buttons?! I was asked about it earlier today because I met a man whose wife cannot dress her children in the morning due to this issue. So I hope to see her soon to help her resolve the phobic experience.

There are numerous suspected causes or reasons for phobias, but the only way to really find out is with hypnosis, as the cause will vary from person to person. Finding the reason or cause is not necessarily important to ridding you of a phobia, though, and if you come and see me for hypnosis in West Sussex, I probably won't go there unless necessary. It is an experience that you have in the present and can change in the present, but I will examine those possible causes anyway, just for the sake of understanding.

One explanation for phobias is evolution, that fears of certain things are passed down through the generations in order to ensure survival. No matter how hard I look at that one, I do not believe it explains koumpounophobia.

Another explanation is that they are genetic, like a disease. I guess this is possible, I don't know enough about genetics to disclaim that, but I do believe phobias fall on the nurture side of the nature/nurture fence.

In that case, I believe that they are learned. I believe they can be learned from our role models as we grow up, so beware of your children seeing a phobic reaction if you have one. Or they can be picked up from your own experiences (usually from childhood, but adulthood as well). So, how is a phobia of buttons learned?

I believe koumpounophobia is a common one because we spend a lot of time being carried around by adults when we are young. If something happened that frightened us while we were being carried, our natural reaction would have been to turn away, which means burying our face in the safety of Mum or Dad. There is a high likelihood of Mum or Dad's clothing having buttons on it, and so the subconscious, being emotionally driven rather than logical, associates that feeling of fear with buttons from then on - hey presto, a button phobia is created!