The fear of needing the toilet can make it seem like our whole world is crumbling around us. If you are suffering from this, you may be telling yourself “Toilet anxiety is ruining my life”, and wanting to know what you can do about it and how to overcome it for good.
Toilet anxiety is a condition that affects many people across the world, although it is often kept a secret. The public has no idea about the extent to which toilet anxiety can impact one’s life, nor how crippling it can be for some people. Those suffering from toilet anxiety may constantly feel the need to use the bathroom but don’t have access to appropriate facilities when they’re out in public or travelling.
All too often, toilet anxiety is thought of as something to be embarrassed about. But it’s time to understand the potential impact of this condition so that we can properly address it together. Because when left untreated, toilet anxiety can cause significant distress and lead to agoraphobic behaviours, depression, isolation, and other detrimental effects on your life.
Keep on reading as this article will explain why & how toilet anxiety is ruining your life, what to do and how you can seek help to stop this.
Why Toilet Anxiety is Ruining My Life
There are many reasons why you begin to feel that “Toilet Anxiety is ruining my life”. Some of the reasons include:
- It stops you from having fun when you’re out.
When you’re out, you can’t enjoy a nice meal or trip to the movies because you’re constantly thinking about where the nearest bathroom is and whether or not there’s going to be one when you need it. This can lead you to go out less and miss out on so many activities with family and friends.
- It restricts your freedom.
If you are suffering from toilet anxiety, you’re holding yourself back from all of life’s possibilities, just because you can’t go when you need to. It limits your freedom and makes you unnecessarily anxious. You avoid going out on long trips or doing anything that might have unexpectedly long intervals between bathroom stops. Toilet anxiety has a negative effect on your life and prevents you from doing what you want to do.
- You are always planning to fail.
You may not realise it, but your toilet anxiety could be affecting your overall health and well-being, especially if you’re constantly worrying about not being able to find a bathroom when you need to. Even if you manage to use the bathroom when you need to, you may find yourself constantly checking for bathrooms wherever you go and avoiding certain activities or events that would otherwise be enjoyable. This can make it more difficult for you to do things like eat at restaurants or go out with friends because of all the stress you put on yourself.
How is Toilet Anxiety Ruining My Life?
There are some of the ways that might have caused you to think that “toilet anxiety is ruining my life”. One way is your preoccupation with needing to know where the nearest bathroom is. Having to constantly worry about where you’re going to the bathroom can cause you to be nervous and uncomfortable at work or in other social situations, which can make things difficult to concentrate on your important tasks and when trying to relax and enjoy yourself.
Another way is if you may find that toilet anxiety interferes with your everyday life. Perhaps you avoid going out with friends or make considerable efforts to avoid being caught off guard. The social feelings of embarrassment, shame and discomfort can negatively impact your self-esteem and confidence too. This is causing you not to be able to enjoy social situations or even meet new people as you can’t stop worrying about when or where you’re going to be able to use the bathroom.
Now that you have the answers to your question “Why and How is Toilet anxiety ruining my life?”, it’s now time to discover how to overcome this problem.
Toilet anxiety is a treatable condition that can be eradicated with the right help and approach. It’s important to realise that this condition does not have to be permanent, and with the right treatment, you can return to the “normal” you that you were always meant to be, and get your life back on track again.
How To Manage Toilet Anxiety
There are many ways to “manage” anxiety but the ethos behind our therapy is not to just manage the problem but to remove it from your mind so that you can be spontaneous again. Below are some of the existing therapies that can help you to feel better.
Cognitive-behavioural therapy
Cognitive-behavioural therapy helps patients to identify and change the negative thoughts and beliefs that cause them to feel anxious. Although this type of therapy can be helpful, it is not designed to effectively help you overcome your toilet anxiety. We believe that cognitive-behavioural therapy actually makes the problem worse in the long run.
Relaxation techniques
Relaxation techniques like mindfulness and deep breathing, have been shown to help people manage anxiety when they’re in public places. However, if you struggle with a severe case of toilet anxiety, these techniques may not treat the disorder.
Lifestyle Changes
You may want to try making certain lifestyle changes, such as increasing your fluid intake, eating a balanced diet, and exercising consistently. These changes can help reduce symptoms of toilet anxiety. While this might help, we believe that they will not completely solve the problem, and might worsen the situation.
These methods might seem helpful, but if you want to completely stop toilet anxiety from ruining your life, we highly recommend you undergo hypnotherapy that directly targets the subconscious part of the mind. This is the kind of technique we use for our clients that resulted in them regaining their life.
How We Can Help Stop Toilet Anxiety from Ruining Your Life
Paul Howard, the founder of The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy has been working as a full-time hypnotherapist for 25 years. He has been specialising in toilet anxiety for the last 20 years. He realised quite early on that traditional hypnotherapy techniques, although helpful, only gave temporary relief for the problem. After many years of trial and error, he has developed a very specific process that pretty much guarantees success given specific criteria.
If you have been struggling with toilet anxiety for a long time, or it has recently become worse, and you feel like “Toilet anxiety is ruining my life,” our specialist team at The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy can help.
You no longer have to feel anxious and live in fear of needing the toilet. We have many clients who have recovered from this complex condition, allowing them to lead normal lives without having to worry about their toilet habits and social interactions.