The fear of cotton balls – Sidonglobophobia is the fear of cotton balls. It is also called Bambakophobia, where Bambaki means cotton in Greek, while Phobos means anxiety or deep fear.
‘Normal’ people can laugh at those afraid of cotton balls. However, for a sidonglobophobic individual, this phobia can ruin their life. People afraid of cotton balls can’t open their mail, medicine bottles, or even use a Q-tip. They tend to start crying or have a panic attack at the sight or image of the cotton balls.
Many fear the sound of cotton or plastic foams used to wrap delicate or fragile objects. Sidonglobophobia is a sensory phobia that affects a handful of people worldwide. Michael Jackson is believed to have suffered from Sidonglobophobia.
In detail, let’s study sidonglobophobia or the fear of cotton balls.
Index
Causes of fear of cotton balls
Most people with sidonglobophobia have been afraid of cotton balls or plastic foams for as long as they can remember. However, experts agree that, like other phobias, this fear mainly develops in childhood due to some negative or traumatic experience remotely connected to cotton balls.
Cotton balls often resemble the eggs of creatures like lizards, cockroaches, and other creepy animals like snakes, etc. To a child’s imaginative mind, they can indicate imminent danger. Your mind remembers this fear response every time you encounter cotton balls, plastic foams, or other stressful situations.
For reasons unknown, the fear of cotton balls is prevalent in the islands of the South Pacific, where many natives are known to suffer from it. Thanks to globalization, cotton balls have reached many remote places through packaged deliveries of popular American goods – it is not known which one, but a specific part of the brain could be responsible for the phobia.
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Symptoms of Sidonglobophobia
As in the case of other sensory phobias, the fear of cotton balls also produces a plethora of physical and mental symptoms.
Physical symptoms include:
- She was crying, screaming hysterically, trying to run away.
- Refusal to open medicine bottles, package mail, or touch a cotton swab. Some even refuse to wear certain types of cotton clothing.
- Hyperventilation, rapid breathing, or an elevated heart rate.
- Have nausea
- Goosebumps, disgust response
- Total panic or anxiety attack
Mental symptoms include:
- Thoughts of death or dying
- Constant film-like images of cotton balls everywhere are repeated in the phobic’s mind.
Treating fear
Hypnotism is known to treat the fear of cotton balls. This therapy can get to the root of the phobia and help the patient rationalize the fear.
Gradual exposure or desensitization therapy has also been shown to help sidonglobophobic individuals. However, this treatment should be done only under expert supervision and in incremental steps, including displaying images of cotton balls or plastic foams to the phobic until you can move forward to touch them without having a panic attack.
Friends and family members must also be sensitive to the fear of the suffering individual. Phobias are severe, and one should support those who suffer from them instead of laughing or making fun of them.
Self-help books, online support communities and forums, psychiatric help, meditation, and positive visualization are other ways to overcome sidonglobophobia. As a last resort, brain surgery or drugs and medications can be used to overcome the fear of cotton ball phobia.
Hello, how are you? My name is Georgia Tarrant, and I am a clinical psychologist. In everyday life, professional obligations seem to predominate over our personal life. It's as if work takes up more and more of the time we'd love to devote to our love life, our family, or even a moment of leisure.