Sidonglobophobia is the fear of cotton balls. It is also called Bambakophobia where Bambaki stands for cotton in Greek while phobos means deep dread or fear.
‘Normal’ people might laugh at those who are afraid of cotton balls. However for a Sidonglobophobic individual, this phobia can actually ruin one’s life. People afraid of cotton balls simply cannot open their own mail, medicine bottles or even use a Q-tip. They tend to start crying or experience a full blown panic attack at the sight or image of cotton balls. Many are afraid of the sound made by cotton or plastic foams that are used for wrapping delicate or fragile items. Sidonglobophobia is a sensory phobia affecting a handful of people around the world. It is believed that Michael Jackson had suffered from Sidonglobophobia.
Let us study Sidonglobophobia or the fear of cotton balls in detail.
Causes of fear of cotton balls
Most sufferers of Sidonglobophobia have been afraid of cotton balls or plastic foams for as long as they can remember. However, experts agree that, like other phobias, this fear mostly develops in the childhood owing to some negative or traumatic experience that is remotely connected to cotton balls.
Cotton balls often resemble eggs of creatures like lizards, cockroaches and other creepy crawlers such as snakes etc. To a child’s imaginative mind, they might indicate impending danger. Their mind then recalls this fear response each time they encounter cotton balls, plastic foams or other stressful situations.
For unknown reasons, the fear of cotton balls is prevalent in the islands of the South pacific where many natives are known to suffer from it. Thanks to globalization, cotton balls have reached in many remote places through packaged deliveries of popular American products.
It is not known which, but certain part of the brain might be responsible for the phobia.
Symptoms of Sidonglobophobia
As in case of other sensory phobias, the fear of cotton balls also produces a plethora of physical and mental symptoms.
Physical symptoms include:
- Crying, screaming hysterically, trying to flee from the place
- Refusal to open medicine bottles, packaged mail or touch a Q-tip. Some even refuse to wear certain types of cotton clothes
- Hyperventilating, breathing rapidly or having an elevated heart rate.
- Getting nauseous
- Goosebumps, disgust response
- Full blown panic or anxiety attack
Mental symptoms include:
- Thoughts of death or dying
- Constant movie like images of cotton balls everywhere replay in the phobic’s mind
Treating the fear of cotton balls phobia
Hypnotism is known to treat the fear of cotton balls. This therapy can get to the root of the phobia and helps the sufferer rationalize the fear.
Gradual exposure or desensitization therapy is also proven to help Sidonglobophobic individuals. However, this treatment should be carried out only under expert supervision and in gradual steps, which includes showing images of cotton balls or plastic foams to the phobic until he can progress to touching them without having a panic attack. Friends and family members must also be sensitive to the fear of the suffering individual. Phobias are serious and one should support the sufferers rather than laughing or teasing them about it.
Self help books, online support communities and forums, psychiatric help, meditation and positive visualization are some other forms of overcoming Sidonglobophobia. As a last resort, brain surgery or drugs and medication may be used to overcome the fear of cotton balls phobia.
Enomis says
I have had this since I was 5. It started when I bit into a napkin (*shudder). Every time I look at one, touch one, see one being pulled apart, or hear something similar to it being pulled apart, even some towels affect me. Every time I get a chill down my spine, goosebumps everywhere, and I feel like I will throw up. One time I was drying off with a beach towel, and I almost puked all over myself because it felt just like a cotton ball. My friend thinks it’s weird, and my brother teases me about it. He once got cotton balls and threw them on me! It was AWFUL. I am glad that I am not the only one.
Sharie says
OMG I have been scared or hated cotton as long as I can remember! I am freaked right now just reading about it. My Granddaughter is the same way.
christine says
Me too! I had no idea this had a name until I told someone that since I was a kid, the sound of papers ripping apart gave me goosebumps and impending doom. I can’t believe it took me 38 years to know I’m not the only one!
Karlie says
I thought I was crazy. I get the worst toothache when I see them in person, and hearing someone touch them makes me want to throw up.
B says
Yes! Myself, my mom and one sister are the same. My teeth hurt for hours after I see one. I can’t even open a medicine bottle if I know one is in it.
MLovely says
I thought I was alone. I have a lot of siblings who mess with me for this and call me “weird.” Now that I see other people experience this, I don’t feel as bad. I just hate cotton. The feeling really is purely terrifying, and I have allergies, so I take allergy pills, and there are little cotton balls inside. So terrifying. I start to feel so anxious seeing it. -M.P
David says
I thought I was alone with this. I’m 61 now and still the same, and I remember my sisters and mother chasing me in the 60s-80s. I just thought it was me, and so did they.
Rachel says
I cannot describe how understood I feel: my teeth feel weak for minutes after the mere thought of touching a cotton ball. The squeak of them rubbing against each other makes me nauseous. Sometimes slightly grazing the tip of my front teeth with my bottom teeth causes the same nauseous reaction. I cannot stand the sound/feeling when people lick their fingers to turn a page, and the page creates friction with their fingers. I want to crawl into a hole when that happens.
Susie says
My father (born 1923) had a dreadful fear of cotton balls. The family believes he developed this fear of cotton balls during his time of WWII service when as a paratrooper he was shot from the air during the battle for Luzon, the bloodiest battle fought in the Pacific Theater. The wound was so serious that he spent a full year in the hospital. We believe it was the trauma of that injury that somehow brought on this phobia. Cotton bandages etc. But reading your article and reading that the “fear of cotton balls is prevalent in the islands of the South pacific” made me wonder if there is correlation between the Pacific and the phobia.
Kenzie says
The thing they make when you rip them apart is so disgusting, ugh.
Yvette says
Hi, my teeth have the same reaction to cottonwool and I was wondering whether anyone else has the same experience with cotton candy?
Did anyone have surgery on their teeth as a child?
mom says
Yes I can relate to this very much.
Lyric says
I remember one day in class we had to do a project and my partner for the project used cotton balls and I told her how I was scared of them and how it made my teeth grit and grind when I look at them. She decided to rub one on my arm and I swear I yelled at her, the whole school could hear me.
Kk says
I have a hard time with seeing feeling and touching cotton balls. Even seeing someone holding them or playing with them hurts my body so bad. Even me talking or thinking about it right now hurts my body and ears. Idk. I’m to the point where if someone talks about it I’ll cry and tell them to stop, so if anyone has this problem you’re not alone :)
Aya says
I have the same problem and I thought I was alone until I stumbled upon this article.
Jane says
I’m so happy I’m not alone, omg.
Blah says
Ok but I’m not scared of cotton balls, but if I even touch them , my teeth feel sore and my the hair in my arms stands up, so is that a mild case of this phobia?
Whittney says
Wow, I feel the same exact way about them. Happens to me every time.
Brandon says
Same, it feels like my teeth hurt.
Trista Hoy says
Same. I don’t feel like I’m actually scared of them but it definitely is uncomfortable to watch someone handle cotton balls or talk about them or if I touch them in any way. I work in a pharmacy and this topic came up when someone noticed the way I looked when opening a new bottle, so we googled it and I see that I am not alone.
Sarah says
Yeah me too, it makes me uncomfortable and makes my teeth go weird.
Lizzie says
Hi, I have this fear. It’s not just cotton balls but fur and overly soft things. (teddy bears, dogs, cats) So imagine trying to get through everyday life with this fear. When confronted I will blank out and not remember what I did to escape. Once I pushed my grand baby across the floor because he was trying to bring me one of his mom’s ugg boots. It hurt my heart when I realized what I had done. This fear is no joke and I hate when people take it as one.
Kobi says
I have this fear. I’m 13. I feel like vomiting and it is so irritating. I know how you guys feel.
mani says
I’m 13 too. I don’t know if I have a full out phobia but the texture and shape and overall thought of it make me cringe and panic.
JB says
I have this, like I don’t scream and run, but I CANNOT touch cotton. I just can’t. it’s hard for me to even fold clothes because they feel like cotton. I get gaggy. I have to keep my hands wet (with lotion) just to fold them. Mine I know what it stems from because it traumatized me. My mom shoved a handful of cotton balls in my mouth when i was 4 because I wouldn’t stop crying. I was literally dry heaving and she held them in my mouth.
Daniel N says
I almost threw up reading that Jb!! I feel terrible for you having to go through that. My parents would wrap all my Christmas and birthday presents with cotton balls. Or fill up boxes of it and terrorize me. This still happens. 30 years later. My wife kids our children to bring me cotton balls. It’s a terrible phobia and up till recently I thought I was alone
Michelle says
Omg I’m not alone. I cant not touch cotton at all. Looking at or touching it makes my whole body have the chills and hair stand up. I also have this thing where I need to put lotion on my feet every time I put on socks or get into bed. Also when touching laundry to fold out the dryer my hands need to be wet or lotioned. I even carry lotion. I thought I was a freak.
Randolph says
My great-aunt Nellie I think had this fear. When I was young, I was playing with a cotton ball (squeezing and tearing it apart) and she was just sitting there saying that she was getting goosebumps.
Darkoa says
I suffer from it but over the past few years it’s gotten a little bit better
Princess says
I have the phobia so bad just seeing the picture makes my chest hurt and my anxiety flare up.. people think it’s funny to try and chase me with them all it does is makes me curl up and cry.
I can’t open pill bottles that has them in it.
I can’t touch yarn wool pillow stuffing.
I don’t paint my nails because I can’t handle the fact that the salon takes the nail Polish off with a cotton ball.
I’ve been like this for so long anytime I’ve tried to talk to a therapist they have no idea what I’m even talking about most have never heard of the fear.
I have no idea where to turn to get help for this.
My chest feels like it’s going to explode right now just at the thought.
Harry says
I know exactly how you feel, I promise. Until I found this page I thought I was the only one. My roommate recommended looking it up because he is a very empathetic person and has seen my reactions and has had to open my medicine bottles and etc, and was convinced it was an actual condition and it turns out he was right. It is honestly a huge relief to see that other people suffer from the same issues. I have often been known to run out of the room or curl up into a ball and close my eyes and plug my ears to keep my heart rate and shivers down.
Iain says
As early as 12-weeks old my mother tells me I would scream on the top of my lungs if she touched cotton balls to certain parts of my body. I hardly think I was traumatized by cotton at 7-weeks of age to go on to develop a phobia. I believe it to be less of a phobia and more of a nerve response, autonomic nervous-system related, and likely, genetic. Just an alternate theory. I don’t fear cotton-balls. I just can’t handle them. I generally despise the way they feel and tearing one in front of me does give me the jitters. I never thought of this as a phobia though. Cool stuff.
Victoria.S. says says
I suffer from this, my heart pounds when I see or touch cotton balls so I cover my eyes and it works.. sometimes.
Rebecca says
I too have this and it is getting worse. I can’t touch them and now can’t even look at them. For April fool’s day my daughter put cotton balls in my bed my pillow case my cereal all my shoes and my purse. Haha. I still haven’t recovered 2 days later. I’m cringing just writing this.
Brandi says
My boyfriend says when he touches cotton it brings back the days of being a black man. Because he cant touch cotton and he is white.
cesar says
I hate the way overly soft things feel. Velvet and soft cotton literally make me sick.
Shannon says
You and I both. I cringe like most people do with nails on a chalkboard. Makes my teeth hurt!
Caren says
I think you’re the only person I have come across that also has the symptom of teeth hurting! As soon as I set sight on some my teeth hurt!! Awful!
Blah says
I believe that happens to most people with minor cases of this phobia, at least every person I know (including me)
Kalina says
Cotton balls make me hot.
Daniel N says
I’m sweating just reading these comments
Bob Luckado says
Hi, my name is Bob and I not only hate cotton balls but fear them.
My mum once gave me a package with cotton balls inside it and I almost died.
dev says
Honestly i feel the same way. When i was young my father whom i dont speak to anymore forced me to put cotton balls in my ears as they were infected. Since then touching or looking at a cotton ball makes me want to or even throw up. I have a minor case of this phobia but it still effects the way i do things.
Ashleigh says
I’ve always disliked cotton balls, I describe it to people like nails on a chalk board. When having an injection, I’m more scared of the cotton wool than the needle!
Robin says
Me too. I also can’t touch suede and cotton clothes coming out of the dryer. I have to use lotion on my hands to touch them.
Megan says
I am suffering from this and have been since I can remember. Thank God, I don’t have it as bad as some people from what this article stated. I get nauseous and chill bumps and a creepy feeling with them. Under no circumstance could I make myself touch one but when it has happened I did not have an anxiety attack if it was by accident. If someone tries to mess with me with them they’re the only one laughing, that will make me have anxiety and get me very upset. Thankfully, the ones who have done it quit when they realize it’s no joke, that I’m genuinely upset and trying to get away and anger is starting to surface. When I feel that I cannot get away from them is the only time my heart will elevate and I’ll get visibly upset. I use a lot of fabric softener with my towels because I’d rather drip dry before touching a stiff squeaky towel. I now have chill bumps and need to shave legs again just by talking about it.
Sanjana says
Luckily no one in my family has this fear . But I really feel sad for the ones who do . But how do you overcome this fear?
Trista Hoy says
It’s crazy because I thought I was the only one my whole life until my 13 year old daughter told me she feels the same way I do about the cotton and how it sounds. I almost thought she was just trying to take after her mom until seeing all these comments.
jessica says
I have had this phobia since I was a child. If anyone touches me I will rub the spot until it’s raw. I won’t open medicine and I let it be known not to use cotton balls at doctors or dentists. Also if anyone comes near me I get very upset and freak out. I don’t like yarn or wooden spoons because they feel like cotton. It’s good to know I’m not the only one with this strange phobia.
Harry says
I also always ask nervously at the doctor if they can avoid cotton… I used to lie and say that I get an allergic reaction to it because people never understand. Thanks for sharing, it is helpful to see that other people deal with these same issues!
Inge says
I don’t suffer from fullblown panic attacks because of it, but for as long as I can remember I hate touching cotton balls.
Even being near them gives me the shivers. However, I will touch it if absolutely necessary.
So I don’t know if it’s really a phobia then, but I’m kind of relieved to see I’m not the only person with this issue :p
Judi sholar says
I have the same reaction to cotton.
It has creeped me out for as long as I can remember it’s just so gross!
In my household it’s a big joke, everyone laughs at me, they think it’s so funny. They just can’t understand it.
jessica says
My own mother thought it was a big joke and made me get them for her to be funny. Which was clearly not funny.
Megan says
My mother would have never succeeded in getting me to even think about getting cotton balls for her. I do not have panic attacks but will get nauseous if I come across them or the horrible sound. If someone decides to torture me by chasing me or tries to hand one to me to be funny, I will get angry and have an elevated heart rate but I have never hyperventilated from them. I will also sit with a full blown migraine if cotton is in the medicine bottle.
ebony says
I have a fear of cotton balls as well as my friend Mariam. They make us cringe with disgust and I also get goosebumps.
David DeCrane says
Why are you afraid of your friend Mariam?
BRENDA says
Haha
Victoria W. says
I thought I was the only one!
Kennedy says
I have this phobia. My therapist believes it is from being traumatized by learning about slavery. I can’t stand yarn or overly soft things, it makes my teeth hurt. My body cringe. I cry and start to panic. Can’t breathe. Not many people know about it. I try to keep it a secret but they end up finding out.
Bailey says
I have no fear of cotton balls there just cotton is not going to do anything
Harry says
I ALWAYS try to keep it a secret, I even had tactics of finding ways for past roommates to open my medicine bottles while I was gone or etc (i.e. it’s an emergency I am in a rush can you open it and lay 3 pills out on the counter because I have to swing by grab them and run back out, etc.). Incredible, I really thought I was the only one!
robert says
I had a flu shot today. The nurse used a cotton ball to swab my arm first. I fear they have more cotton balls in their office.
Nick says
I need this for a Language Arts project thanks keep it up.
sila says
Great article. I’m also suffering from it.