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Imagine the inability to go to the bathroom in public. Your friends want you to go to the football game, you can't. Your wife wants you to take her to the July 4th concert in the park that has 4 bands playing and you can't. The worse part is you are probably ashamed to even tell them why, you just don't go and they take it as though you don't want to spend time with them as they don't know that you are just terrified to go to the bathroom in a public restaurant and that you are suffering from shy bladder Syndrome.
Shy bladder syndrome or paruresis has its hold on over 17 million Americans. Many are amused and ridicule those that have it, not realizing how horrifying and stressful that this condition can be to those that suffer from it. What most people who don't suffer from this don't realize is that Shy Bladder Syndrome is usually rooted deeply in some horrific experience at a very young age.
This phobia has been linked to both traumatic experiences that were a part of emotional, sexual or physical abuse and also to experiences that they had while they were toilet training. While the abuse part makes perfect sense, the toilet t
raining usually raises some eyebrows.
We have all been around a child at one time or another who has wet themselves in public or possibly not cleaned themselves properly when they are first going on their own. How this situation is handled by those around them can be very influential on the remainder of their lives. Imagine being the child that is teased and gets a nickname bases on their bathroom issues as a child. Do you not think that that would have some affect on them down the road fearing public humiliation? Worse yet, imagine going to the bathroom in public and not cleaning yourself properly or having wet stains on the front of your pants only to be pointed at and laughed at. That person may never go to the bathroom in a public space again for fear of embarrassment.
You may not suffer from shy bladder syndrome, but you can definitely see how debilitating it can be and how it can limit your enjoyment of life. Remember this the next time you or someone else begins to make fun of that child that is having some challenges. Be helpful instead of critical because you just don't know how it will affect their lives down the road.
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