Poll Does Your Anxiety Result In You Avoiding Public Restrooms?

[goingonhope]

Hello, My Husband Would Like To Know If, With Having Ptsd, Do You Avoid Public Restrooms Due To Any Degree of Anxiety? If so, at what lengths and degree?

:) All comments are welcome.

 

[Deleted member 12723]

Hi, thankfully I do not have a problem with this. I can use them when I need them. What a interesting topic. I am eager to see what other people have to say.

 

[aka]

This is defiantly an interesting poll. I have no problems with public restrooms as long as I am the only one in there. Any addition of people increase anxiety levels. I also may avoid them on days I am already anxious if I can.

 

[Edna]

Due to some of the major trauma's that I have experienced as a small child I cannot go into a restroom without a transitional object. When I was younger I could not use the house restroom (or shower/bath tub) without taking one of my birds in with me. Now, since I moved in with my boyfriend, I cannot take a shower or use the "bowl" without my cat Algiz.

As for public restrooms, elementary school ones are out of the question! Other restrooms I use, but my cat Algiz still comes in with me because he is my service animal. I also keep a Raven finger puppet in my bag (that I named Beetlejuice) and situate him either on the septic tank, my bag, or on the toilet paper rolls (which ever one is clean).

The reason why is due to part of a trauma I experienced in elementary school. The girls would try to beat me in the stall, or they would gang up and slam the sides of the stall I'd be using. I was also sexually abused in the same bathroom when I was in the first grade.

I use my cat or Beetlejuice to distract me from flash backs, and to make me feel safe and less venerable.

 

[NarcSis]

My trauma is centered on this. I have to check it out first, if the colors are similar, I cannot go in - I will search for another restroom or hold it until I go home.

I can use public restrooms to some extent now, it took a lot of courage and desensitizing but there are still incidences where no matter how bad I need to go, if the restroom is similar, I will avoid it completely.

 

[Loveneverfails]

I have a problem, it has to do with being in a vulnerable position where other people are. I also really dislike dirty toilet conditions, it causes me severe stress so I carry either a mini cleanser spray canister or hand sanitizer and wipe down the seat good in addition to a seat cover. I know that sounds crazy, but the thought of sitting on the same seat as another stranger is too intimate and unclean for me to handle. I do a lot better if it's an enclosed bathroom and entirely private, but stalls really make me panic. I have trauma linked to bathrooms in general because of someone trapping me in one and setting it on fire, so I can't share a potty space very well.

 

[Innordinate]

I avoid them.. not because of anxiety though, just because they're usually nasty.

 

[Hashi]

In some places they seem cut off and isolated, off down a corridor or through a door or two away from the busy public areas, which makes me really nervous. Especially since CCTV coverage is restricted, for obvious reasons.

I know some people have specific anxiety about cleanliness, germs etc, which can escalate to the point of being unable to use them. I realise that this can be to the extent of an anxiety disorder, but echoing Innordinate I think a certain level of anxiety about this would be natural for anyone.

There are a lot of shared experiences about when it becomes a phobia for any reason, at the end of this web page [DLMURL]http://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/about-anxiety/anxiety-disorders/toilet-phobia/[/DLMURL]

 

[Privateer]

I'm happy enough to use public bogs generally, but if there are other people I tend to use a cubicle. That way people can't take advantage my attention being focused on matters 'in hand', so to speak...

 

[Changing4Best]

I avoid them on behalf of my PTSD Service Dog as long as I can; she accompanies me everywhere. When I have to use one, I don't like it, but only if I cannot hold it any longer. Whereas I am wearing shoes, she isn't! And she can be exposed to whatever may have missed the bowl, YUK!

 

[Sebastian]

I'm transgender so I could get yelled at or beat up no matter which bathroom I use, I only use public bathrooms if they are gender-neutral or single stall. I even know which restaurants in the town I live in have gender neutral bathrooms and which ones don't.

 

[Invisible-Guy]

I don't have too much anxiety about public restrooms unless they're really crowded or noisy. My worst anxiety about public restrooms is going through the door because I have really bad startle responses. So even if it's a large restroom for multiple users, I stand to the side of the door and knock before going through.