[blackwhitered]

So I could understand if she were coming from a position of wanting to help me get over my phobia... but instead she takes it as a personal insult and has made it her mission to make me as uncomfortable as possible.

I have a phobia of being touched and every time I'm around her she makes it into an exposure (I haven't really talked about my phobias with any therapists so she is doing this out of nowhere).

Then when I react she questions me and gets mad at me for "making [her] feel like a pervert"...

She doesn't even think she's doing anything wrong....

[niceguy]

I am curious, how come you hate to be touched? Is this an all over, every body part kind of thing or hate people in your personal space, a germaphobe sort of thing, had bad things happen in the past or just generally would prefer never to be touched.

I only ask as someone i know has a similar issue who doesn't like to be hugged but happy with all other forms of touching...

[blackwhitered]

Originally Posted by niceguy

I am curious, how come you hate to be touched? Is this an all over, every body part kind of thing or hate people in your personal space, a germaphobe sort of thing, had bad things happen in the past or just generally would prefer never to be touched.

I only ask as someone i know has a similar issue who doesn't like to be hugged but happy with all other forms of touching...

It's an all-over thing. It's like an extreme personal space thing, not a germs thing. I can tolerate handshakes and sometimes hugs if they're quick, but it's worse when I know the person well. It just feels wrong... part physical, part emotional.

I'm not really sure where it came from, but it tends to correlate with my level of psychosis. I have been sexually harassed in the past, before it started, and more recently I had some traumatic experiences with being in a psych hospital and being grabbed/held down/restrained.

Like, it just kind of came out of nowhere a few years ago... I had a few periods where it faded but for the most part it's just stayed with me.

[Verity81]

There was another member who posted about a phobia of being touched in the new members forum a few days ago.

I think your mom is just probably finding it hard and wants to help but is going over the top.

It might help to say to her that you want to desensitize yourself to this phobia but it has to be graudual. Maybe agree a step by step process, one that helps you move forward and get used to touch again but doesn't overwhelm you.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

having had parents constantly aragant to the fact i have mental illness, i'd say it's a classic case of not being understood

parents are hard to talk to at the best of times- and it may be that she feels that it's not her problem and that she does not have to deal with it.

i'm only saying that because that's always been the case with parents and my illness- they make it not their problem

[marmaduke]

I was touch aviodant, I put it down to never being cuddled or hugged as a child so if someone did touch me it felt odd, uncomfortable. I didn't know how to react so I would flinch away.
I'm not so bad now.
I work at a foster school and many of those children do not like to be touched, sometimes touch to them has been a painful thing, a punch or slap. Can take a long time for a kind touch to be tolerated.