Bashful Bladder is a social phobia known as paruresis. If you suffer from bashful bladder then you need to realize that you are not alone. 7% of the people in the United States suffer from paruresis. If you suffer from paruresis, you know that the phobia is not being able to urinate in a public bathroom. This can be both painful and unhealthy. Here are some tricks for the bashful bladder that you can use.
Since paruresis is a phobia, it can be cured or at least be overcome. One of the tricks is to gradually increase the number of places that you feel that you can safely urinate in. Start with a bathroom that you consider "safe". Once you can urinate in that bathroom, Try to go in a bathroom that you consider "less safe". Once you are successful there continue to expand the number of "safe" bathrooms that you can use. Small steps are important here, Rome wasn't built in a day and the number of "safe" bathrooms should be expanded in a gradual manner.
Many times, the person suffering from bashful bladder has a self esteem problem. Conscious effort to overcome that problem can help the shy bladder. One of the reasons for bashful bladder is anxiety. The person suffering from bashful bladder is anxious about urinating in a public bathroom, then the anxiety builds when they can't urinate there. One of the consequences of this anxiety is that the bladder tightens and urination becomes impossible. The trick here is to relieve the anxiety by conscious effort.
One trick is to take a Walkman or MP-3 player with you to the restroom. Enter the stall, put on your headset and pump up the volume. The music will mask the sounds of anyone else in the bathroom with you. If you close your eyes, and have the music turned up, you can well imagine that you are in the bathroom in your own home.
Paruresis is a phobia and there are several help groups available to the person who suffers from this phobia. Finding these help groups on line is a simple task and they are more than willing to help the fellow sufferer with a few tricks of their own for the shy bladder.
