Foot Phobia (laughing not permitted)

Perhaps this is quite a trivial issue to bring up as a topic at eNotalone.com, and perhaps you'll think I am just trying to be funny, but I'm not.

As long as I can remember I've felt immense disgust about bare feet. Any bare feet, -old feet, young feet, 'nice' feet, bad feet, any, except baby feet perhaps. Ignoring them I tried but doesn't help, just knowing they're there makes me loose my appetite, and hearing the word in my own language which is Dutch, triggers a really strange 'physical' feeling of disgust. I feel truly uncomfortable being in a room with many bare feet! Also I'm always hiding my own feet, even feel anxiety about having to show them -although there's nothing wrong with them. And although martial arts interest me, I'd never subscribe for a training for his reason.

I carefully hide this 'phobia' for everyone, I don't want to bother them with this trivial issue. And yes it's quite ridiculous, and of course it's no major issue in my life, but it sure has been a negative factor in certain situations. The good thing about this 'phobia' is that it is a good indicator of true love, because I've noticed that I felt no disgust at all for the feet of the two men I have loved in my life

Ok, by now you'll probably think I'm a madwoman I decided to write this topic to see if there is anyone out there who has the same, or has had the same, and has something to say about it. Does anyone know a mind-trick to get rid of this phobia? Or phobia in general?

Thank you for any response,

~Glassbell

Hi again, Glassbell!

I don't know a whole lot about your phobia, but I have a strange one as well. I don't know why, but buttons make me sick... I'm talking shirt buttons, etc... I have absolutely no idea why, but I have to wash my hands after I button my shirt. Looking at them has made me gag before. (It's rediculous, I know... but it's the truth)

I wish I could help, I just deal with it. I just wanted to let you know that you're not alone here...

Like you said, it's good that the men you loved were no problem! That's a good sign! My only advice, if you really want to try to get over it, would be to see a professional. They can usually pick up something from your past that'll tell you why, and you can begin to work through it!

Good luck, BLAAAAH!

S.A.M.

Hey Glassbell,

One of the ways to solve your problem is using NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). You can either go to a therapist who is trained in NLP, or try to to do it yourself or ask someone to do you the procedure.

They can usually pick up something from your past that'll tell you why, and you can begin to work through it!

The good part about NLP, is that the therapist doesn't even have to find the reason to the problem. Your problem may be cured in several minutes to half an hour without knowing what your phobia is caused by and what is the feeling that it triggers. All you have to do is follow the therapist's instructions (this is called Secret Therapy).

If you need more info - PM me.

Best,

Foreigner.

Thank you S.A.M. and Foreigner

lol S.A.M., a button phobia, knowing you have that makes me feel a little better about my own crazy phobia I do wonder if it is true that mine was caused by something from the past. I'll go ask my parents if they remember something negative involving me and feet

I am interested in the NLP method, especially if it can be done by myself with no therapist involved. I have sent you a PM Foreigner, and I am curious if it will work for me.

Thank you both

~Glassbell

Hello Glassbell,

I am so glad that you are now getting the help that you need, there's no need to be embaressed because anyone who laughs at phobias and the such are closed minded and they will have to deal with fears in one way or another...anyways, if you didn't make a topic on this then you wouldn't of been on your way to recovery since you want it, and I think thats great!

Good luck with the process!

Hey I just wanted you to know that I have the same problem as you do. Feet are disgusting. One time I was playing a board game with my aunt, she knew that i dislike feet but didnt realise it was so severe. When i won the game she put her foot on my leg to bug me, I gagged and had to go shower right away. My whole family thought it was really funny but I am starting to get frustrated with the whole thing. I have been looking for the medical name for this phobia, if you can find out i would love to know. Thanks

FLyingteabag thanks so much for your reply. Yes, exactly, isn't that just horrible if people do that? They really don't realize how severe a phobia can be and really don't even want to try and understand or at least accept en respect that we really feel physical disgust about feet.

Anyway.. no I have never come accross a medical name for it, but why not just call is foot phobia.

Well thanks again, your reaction makes me feel a little less queer at least.

~Glassbell

one of my best friends has a phobia about feet, She hates them with a passion. buits its no problem just avoid feet as much as possible. I don;t see any problem with a hate of feet.

hey,

i wouldnt laugh at your phobia i would say that feet have freakeds me out for ages.

its weird because when with my mates they kinda take it as a joke weird really. i dont have a reason i just dont think there exactly an attractive part of the body and they just well freak mr out i guess. nice to know someone else hates them and is freaked out by them as much as me.

i cant help you qith anything about it but at least im slightly in the same boat as you.

kel

Hey everybody, I was looking on the web for the medical term for foot phobias and i cam accross your little Thread! The reason why i was looking up Foot Phobia's on the web because I hate all feet espescally one with dry skin or anything disgusting looking. But i am still very freaked out by feet that have nothing wrong with them. I cant even sit on a lounge with someone with there shoes of because I find it so gross! Sometimes my sister can get really sly and tease me by touching me with her feet I get really disturded and also gag. All up feet are horrible!

Love Budz

I remember someone in my old school who was disgusted by feet.

I know I laughed at the time but I couldn't quite understand being scared by something attatched to your own body pretty permanantly.

I was looking for the scientific name for foot phobia when I came accross this article. I also have foot phobia, but unfortanetly, I am only 13. All my friends and family constantly torment me, espically my 19 year old brother. I think these phobias are caused by things in the past because I remember 2 years ago on the plane ride home from Italy to California, my mom said "God, my feet are sooo swollen!" and ever since I can't stand feet at all! I never walk around barefoot except when swimming. It's horrible for me because my dad has the nastiest feet in the world! And don't worry, im not going to make everyone regurgitate their last meal by going into detail. I always thought I was the only one who had foot phobia until i saw this.

~Sarah

I found out the real name for foot phobia, its Podophobia.

I guess we all have a phobia of some sort possibly. Mine is about spiders and is just as serious as any other phobia.

No problem with feet, but I am phobic about ants (even though I have no problem with other bugs) and being in crowds.

Have you tried to do something pampering with your feet to give yourself some nice thoughts about them. Soak them in a tub of essential oils, eg lavender and rub some extra nice creme into them. When the feet feel good it can make you feel good all over. Replace unpleasant thoughts with good feet thoughts.

I have a foot fetish ...

don't know if mine is a phobia or what .. but i really REALLY don't like people touching my feet. if it's with their feet or hands or with anything i freak out and sorta just shut down and start crying. it's the same with tickling and blowing raspberries on me. i freak out royally and almost scream. an hour prior to posting this my little brother found out that touching my feet freak me out. few years ago my friends found out that i don't like being tickled and decided to hold me down and tickle my feet

mean f**ks

Sorry to bring up a dying topic, but I have a problem with feet as well! It's no where near as bad as some other people, but I feel sick when I see feet. I often cover my own because I feel ashamed of them (though my friend said I have nice feet in 6th grade, 6 years ago. Ever since I couldn't stand feet). Yesterday I almost had a little panic attack at work because I had to take my socks and shoes off to change into dry ones (I was outside hosing off the front of the store).

Aside from feet (I can't even write that word with out feeling a little tingle in my stomach), however, I always gag and almost throw up when I see things like bugs (especially cockroaches), or if I have to touch something gross; like if I'm doing the dishes and there's some food clogging the sink, I get light-headed and sweaty when I have to reach down to unclog it (same with seeing things like mildew in the bathroom). The thing about that is even though I gag and feel sick, I just can't leave it where it is. If I've seen a bug on the floor, I have to get someone to take care of it for me. I feel even MORE sick If I ignore it and go about my day as if I didn't see it, because in the back of my head I know it was there and now it's lost and I'll never find it and it will eventually crawl into my bed while I sleep, maybe even into my mouth (that's always what I think is going to happen when I see bugs). Or even when I'm eating something, say a burger, and I suddenly bite something hard. It may be something a simple as gristle, but I start gagging and then am unable to finish eating. In fact I wont eat anything the rest of the day sometimes.

Wow, that was long. Sorry! It's just an issue I have (there are others, but this topic seems only to be about phobias).

hehe, I told my sis Id start a thread about this phobia, apparently I dont need to. I have a foot phobia and everyone so far (3 sibs, cousins dad) who knows makes fun of it. I discovered, I dunno how it started, that when people touch me with their feet I start crying. Like, even if you only touch your feet with your finger and touch me I cry. I just freak out, and I hate it when people make fun and start touching you only to see you freak out. Good to know Im not alone though, my sis wasnt much help and called me weird O.o...

-TATY-

I'm quite bored at work and decided to look up phobias. I guess so I could find some information on my foot phobia i guess. But basically, I'm in the exact same boat. I find my own feet as disgusting as anyone elses. It's usually turned into a joke around my buddies. SOme push it. I dont think it changes my life for the worst but its definitely a set back. I had one woman tell me it might help if I keep my toenails painted but that means either me or some one else has to touch them. I even have a tattoo on my foot, which was quite honestly one of the hardest days of my life but with the reasoning for the tattoo it was worth it. Basically, its go one with d to know I'm not the only

Im the same. I dont know why i hate feet so much. I always thought it started because i had really bad exma on my feet (sorry im a bit thick aswell-cant spell lol) when i was a teenager. I spoke to my mum the other day, she told me i hated them as early as infants school. Because they made me go barefoot in pe at about 4/5years old i protested by running round the gym hall with my pants pulled down. im 26 and married now, but before i met my wife i would much rather get my tackle out than my feet(sorry to be crude). i dont mind her seeing them to much now but if her nails get even slightly long or dirty, i cant look at them

Well I am glad to find kindred souls out there. I would not call my own aversion to feet a "phobia", but rather a general dislike. I do think they are the least attractive art of the human body. I hat TV commercials that show bare feet, especially close-up shots where you cannot even see the person.

It's been a long time since I have looked at a Playboy magazine, but we I used to, I noticed that their photo spreads rarely, if ever showed the bare feet of the model. I wonder if there was some market reserach involved or it was just Mr. Hefner's directive due to hs own preferences. That was not the case with Hustler or the cruder skin rags, they had bare feet all over.

I work at an office with a lot of women, most of whom love to wear shoes that expose most of their feet and toes. I personally prefer to see them wearing hgh-heeled pumpsthat cover those damn toes.

I also ate the fashion of panted toenails that acent the edge.

I have no problem with bare feet at all at the beach or at the pool, but I do not find exposed feet attractve or elegant or sexy at all when a woman is wearing anythng other than a bathing suit, or a birthday suit.

I don't have a problem with feet, but I do have a problem with things listed below. I wonder if this is common. I feel sick to my stomach when I see cockroaches and beetles. They make me queasy. I also don't like to touch certain foods like lettuce or even smell it. When I have to take the little drain out of the sink, I want to vomit from the food particles. I could handle touching poop over touching ranch dressing. When I get my blood pressure taken, I go into shock. Same thing happens when I get an injection...I start losing consciousness and get sick to my stomach. I'm disgusted by needles, sharp objects, and blood. I also get sick when I'm in a crowded room. I think a lot of these things are anxiety disorders, so I can see how feet would be one of them, but I am not disgusted by anything body-related, personally, except blood. Poop doesn't even bother me.

I have a slight foot fetish, but I never truly believed feet were a sexual part of the body until I read this thread. I have honestly never heard of foot phobia before, and now look how many people have it. I don't think such a reaction to a part of the body could be possible if feet were not a sexual part of the body.

It may be instructive, to those who are repulsed by feet, to look into the reasons people who are attracted to them are attracted to them, and see whether those underlying attributes are what you are truly afraid of.