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Due to the forum being a bit slow at the moment thought I'd just post this.Although I've had this problem all my life its only in the last ten years that I have been able to put a name to it.Well paruresis must be the best kept secret in the world and if it wasn't for the sterling work that Andrew Smith and his friends do it would be even more secret.Never seen it on Embarrassing Bodies ,well I suppose they are too preoccupied with penises and breasts or is our condition too embarrassing for them? Ten years ago I asked a consultant about my condition and he'd never heard of it.Last week I went to the docs about a mole that had changed colour(it turned out to be ok)the doctor I saw was in his forties but I had never seen him before.While I was there I asked him for a repeat prescription of catheters .He asked me what I wanted those for and tried to explain about paruresis.He seemed very interested especially when an estimate of 7% of the pop suffer from it in varying degrees was mentioned,but he said he had never heard of it but would check the site out.So there we have it ,ten years on and the secret still stands firm within the medical fraternity.
I can believe that a lot of GPs have not heard of it. A couple of years ago I trained in CBT. There were some counsellors on the course who had being doing it for 20 or 30 years. Not one of them had heard of Paruresis.The problem is that because the condition is driven by embarrassment people rarely speak to counsellors or even their GP. It did however once appear on embarrassing bodies. The doctor (I forget his name) recommended a course of CBT. Although many counsellors may not have heard of it they will soon recognise it as an anxiety disorder and know how to treat it (especially if they are CBT trained)
It has been on Embarrassing Bodies: Dr Christian interviewed him and he was referred to our Honorary Advisor Professor Gardner. Unfortunately they did not interview him after the referral. He later attended a workshop.
