According to BBC News, at least four million people (and possibly many more) suffer from the debilitating disease of Toilet Phobia. Needless to say, this is currently the ‘most read’ story on their site. Now, several times a day, at least, I find myself infuriated by the moronic mangling and regurgitating of press releases that seems to pass for journalism these days. This is no doubt evidence of some kind of disorder of my own, and this particular story isn’t an extreme example, but nonetheless I am moved to write about it because, if nothing else, it’s more interesting than doing the washing up.
I’m not suggesting that there aren’t people for whom this is a serious problem, but “Millions ‘hit by toilet phobia’” is just ridiculous.
What defines Toilet Phobia exactly? Well, from the article, it can “simply be manifest as a mild distaste for public loos.” Erm, hello? Is there anybody, other than George Michael and friends, who doesn’t have at least a mild distaste for them? I don’t like public toilets one little bit. If there’s something wrong with this, then somebody please let me know and I’ll go and receive the necessary therapy and counselling. Otherwise, I’ll happily persist in my belief that public toilets are unpleasant places, for a number of reasons.
The sensational story has a more down-to-earth sister story, which tells of the plight of a chap who struggles with “obsessive compulsive disorder and constantly worries about dirt, germs and contamination issues.” Despite the title of the story, “Toilet phobia makes life hard”, he evidently doesn’t have Toilet Phobia. He has far higher standards of hygiene than the rest of us, to the point where it impacts his life in a mostly negative way. I say mostly because I bet he doesn’t suffer from colds and other infectious diseases, or food poisoning, to the same extent as everybody else.
Anyway, needless to say, behind all this there is a book and DVD waiting to be purchased.
