If you frequent social media, you may have seen TikToks or Instagram Reels where people share their extensive hygiene routines. They’ll slather on various soaps, body scrubs, fragrant lotions, and perfumes to ensure they’re smelling their best. With content like this garnering thousands of views, it’s no surprise that some people feel insecure about their body odor. In addition, we’re inundated with ads on television, in print, and even on billboards, all feeding into our anxieties around cleanliness.
To a certain extent, it’s normal to have a fear of smelling bad. However, if this fear is causing intense anxiety that keeps you from interacting with others, you might be dealing with a specific phobia, social anxiety disorder (SAD), olfactory reference syndrome (ORS), or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Keep reading to learn more about this fear and how treatment can help.
Are your fears about body odor causing distress? We can help
Is it normal to worry about smelling bad?
Let’s face it—most people don’t want to smell bad. There’s nothing wrong with being a bit fearful of emitting a bad odor.
“People are often very conscientious of how other people view them or how they come off to others,” says Taylor Newendorp, MA, LCPC, Network Clinical Training Director of NOCD. “Along with that, people would probably worry about body odor and want to make sure they don’t smell offensive around other people. So, to some degree, it’s probably a pretty normal concern.”
When does this fear become more serious?
Regarding fears, there’s a significant difference between what’s considered “normal” and what can be a sign of a more serious issue.
So, what does that look like for fear of smelling bad? Well, according to Newendorp, there are a few signs to look out for. “If a person didn’t actually have any issues with body odor or smelling bad—meaning that they had never gotten any feedback [that they smell bad], but they develop this idea of ‘Well, what if I did?’” he explains. “Or, if that kind of fear or worry was occupying a lot of their time and energy and they start to take extreme steps to really make sure they don’t smell bad, then it might cross the line into a clinical issue.”
Certain mental health conditions are often tied to a heightened fear of smelling bad. Here are some of the main ones:
Specific phobias
Specific phobias are a type of anxiety disorder that could be linked to a fear of body odor. “A specific phobia can literally be about anything, and it’s one really intense, specific fear of just one thing,” says Newendorp. “It can be a situation, animals, or something like getting a shot or having blood drawn.”
Two specific phobias associated with this fear are bromidrophobia and olfactophobia. Bromidrophobia, or a fear of smelling bad, is an intense fear of body odor. Olfactophobia, or osmophobia, is the aversion, fear, or hypersensitivity to certain smells and odors.
Regardless of whether you have bromidrophobia or olfactophobia, a phobia of smelling bad can cause you to perform safety behaviors. Safety behaviors are actions people do to reduce anxiety or to prevent something bad from happening.
Some safety behaviors that a person with a fear of smelling bad might perform can include:
- Seeking reassurance from others by asking them if you smell bad
- Constantly checking for smells
- Avoiding school, work, and social outings out of the fear of smelling bad
Social anxiety disorder (SAD)
Social anxiety disorder (SAD), or social phobia, is another mental health disorder that could possibly cause an intense fear of smelling bad around others.
“With social anxiety disorder, a person can have this intense, marked fear of interacting with other people, accompanied by this negative assumption that they will be criticized for the way they speak or appear,” says Newendorp. “It’s possible that something like body odor could come up, too, as they could also develop the additional fear of smelling bad.”
In addition to the safety behaviors previously mentioned, SAD may also cause the following symptoms:
- Rapid heart rate
- Blushing, sweating, or trembling
- Feeling sick to your stomach or that your “mind is going blank”
- Having a rigid body posture or speaking with a very soft voice
- Having trouble making eye contact with people, being around strangers, or talking to people, even when you want to
- Being self-conscious or fearing that people will criticize you
- Avoiding situations where people might be around
Olfactory reference syndrome (ORS)
Olfactory reference syndrome (ORS), also known as olfactory syndrome or olfactory reference disorder, is the false belief that you’re emitting a foul or offensive body odor.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) classifies olfactory syndrome as an obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorder, as it shares many similarities to OCD.
People with ORS can spend several hours preoccupied with the distressing belief that they smell bad. Research shows ORS preoccupation commonly focuses on false odors from the mouth, armpits, or genital areas. Other worries may include smelling like urine, flatulence, garbage, or rotten food.
Like those with a specific phobia, people with ORS may perform the same safety behaviors to relieve the distress caused by their preoccupation with body odor.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition characterized by obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are unwanted and intrusive thoughts, images, urges, and feelings that cause fear and anxiety. Compulsions are mental or physical actions performed to get rid of the distress caused by obsessions. Because compulsions can only provide temporary relief from obsessions, people are often stuck in an OCD cycle that’s pretty difficult to break from without treatment—which we’ll cover in the next section.
Some examples of compulsions linked to a fear of smelling bad include:
- Excessive showering
- Extensive hygiene routines
- Frequently changing clothes
One OCD subtype that could cause a fear of smelling bad is sensorimotor or somatic OCD. “Sensorimotor OCD can focus on automatic bodily functions,” says Newendorp. “People can get really hyper-fixated on things like blinking, swallowing, or breathing, and they have this obsessive fear that maybe they’re not doing it right, or something’s off or wrong. There’s a chance that someone might hyperfocus on something like body odor.”
However, it is important to note that OCD doesn’t always fit neatly into one category, notes Newendorp. “There are all these different themes and subtypes of OCD,” he says. “People will often have obsessions that don’t fit into a particular category and are just random intrusive thoughts or fears.”
How to manage a fear of smelling bad
Good news—if you’re experiencing severe anxiety about smelling bad, there’s treatment available. The recommended treatment for phobias, social anxiety disorder, ORS, and OCD is exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy.
ERP is a specialized therapy designed to treat OCD, but it is also used to treat other conditions as well. The evidence-based treatment is highly effective, with research revealing that 80% of people with OCD and 80-90% of people with phobias see a substantial improvement in their symptoms. ERP aims to help you gain the confidence you need to manage your fears long-term.
How ERP works
Before starting treatment, you’ll work with a therapist specializing in ERP to identify your triggers, obsessions, and compulsions or safety behaviors. “With OCD, we’re always looking at compulsions. Similarly, with any kind of anxiety, we’re always looking at any kind of safety behaviors that the person might do,” says Newendorp.
From there, your therapist will guide you through intentional exposures to your fears. “Let’s say it is somebody who’s showering multiple times a day due to a fear of body odor,” says Newendorp. “We would work with them to do exposures where they’re gradually showering less. It could be cutting down the time they spend in the shower or the number of total showers they take daily or weekly.”
Your therapist will also teach you response prevention techniques, which are strategies that help you refrain from doing compulsions or safety behaviors in response to your fears. “While they’re reducing their cleaning compulsion, I’ll have them go out and interact with people and see if they get feedback about how they smell,” says Newendorp. “With ERP, it’s really important for the person to get evidence that they can go and smell a little, or think they smell, and people aren’t running away from them.”
We can’t guarantee that ERP will completely eliminate your fear of smelling bad, but there’s a chance that it will significantly reduce your symptoms so you can focus on other things in your life.
We’ve all worried from time to time whether we might smell bad. While some people can easily move on from this fear, for others, it causes intense anxiety that can lead to some unhealthy coping behaviors.
If you’re experiencing significant distress related to a fear of smelling bad, please reach out to a licensed therapist specializing in ERP to start your treatment journey.
