Shy Bladder Syndrome: Understanding and Coping with Trichotillomania

by George D. Zgourides, Steven Soifer, Joseph Himle

Book Overview

Paruresis is a condition that prevents people from urinating in public, sometimes even in their own homes if others are in adjacent rooms. The good news is that this anxiety disorder is highly... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1572242272
• ISBN13: 9781572242272
• Release Date: March 2001
• Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

No more suffering alone

This book is the most comprehensive guide to the suffering paruretic. It defines and provides a self test to determaine your level of severity. It relates numerous stories and experiences that you can identify with. The President of The International Paruresis Association, Steven Soifer speaks of his own suffering and eventual triumph. Some of the topics include How Paruretics Cope-Isolation and Avoidance and The Causes of Blashful Bladder Syndrome: Unravelling the Mystery. It also outlines the working of the urinary system. It offers methods of self treatment through Graduated Exposure Therapy and addresses the topic of The Medical Community and Paruresis. Have you ever thought about telling others?. Why not start your own group?. This book will show you how step-by-step. Need to tell a friend or loved one. This book can help. Each page is clearly written is easy to understand terms and is finished with a summarization of each chapter. All you ever wanted and needed to know is found in this book written by four of the leading Avoidant Paruresis research specialists. This book is the first step to treating and conquiring your Paruresis. Don't suffer alone anymore. Begin the road to recovery.

Sensitively Breaking Silence

In 1996, an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland at Baltimore School of Social Work co-founded the International Paruresis Association (IPA). That professor, Steve Soifer, is also a co-author of this book. It is the first monograph on Paruresis or Shy Bladder Syndrome: the inability to urinate in a public restroom or in the presence of others....Classified as a social phobia in DSM-IV-TR (300.23), it is associated with impairment in multiple functional domains: employment, education, and social relationships. This debilitating condition thrives in a climate of shame and secrecy (on the part of paruretics) and ignorance (by health and mental health care providers). This deceptively slim book may help you identify paruresis in yourself, a loved one, or a client/patient. One section helps the reader rule out other conditions (pp.16-18). The brain-body connection is clearly described in Chapter Two, and includes both a diagram of the human urinary system and a chart of the human nervous system. The authors present a ten-step approach for Graduated Exposure Therapy, the treatment of choice at present. Appendices include a literature review, a synopsis of "the evolution of the bathroom and its impact on paruresis", and resources. A seven page bibliography is included. There is no index, and it is hoped that future editions will remedy this. This thoughtful, sensitive book breaks the silence which has hitherto dominated the subject. For that, and for the prospect of relief it holds for over 17 million sufferers, we may all be grateful.

Excellent and Desperately Needed!

As social phobia is finally being recognized by the public and professionals alike as a serious condition, affecting nearly 20 million in the US alone, so is avoidant paruresis - one painful, disabling, and embarrassing manifestation of it. As one who suffered from both for years, I can tell you this book provides you with everything you need to know to overcome this form of performance anxiety.Starting with what "bashful bladder syndrome" is, it takes the reader through its causes, different treatment approaches, what to expect from the medical community, and how to gain support from family, intimates, and friends. It has one chapter on the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act to mandatory drug testing and another on the evolution of the bathroom and its effect on avoidant paruresis which makes for fascinating reading.This breakthrough book gives hope to people worldwide who live restricted lives because of this debilitating human affliction. It is essential reading for medical and mental health professionals, sufferers, and their family and friends!

If you are Pee Shy, this is a Must Have.

For those who are pee shy, it has always been this invisible syndrome, never discussed, never addressed, never revealed. Always hidden. Finally, these writers have brought it into the light of day. And what a relief it is. As someone who has experienced Shy Bladder Syndrome for as long as I can remember, I consider this book to be a revelation. On several levels. First, it is great to know that I'm not the only one and great to read about other people's experiences and triumphs. Second, the writers fully explain the physiological process of urinating, which has given me a greater understanding of what's happening when I can't pee. And most importantly, this book offers specific exercises to overcome this condition. I am in the process of doing these exercises, and I am finding them thoroughly empowering.I unconditionally recommend this book.

Wish I Could Give it 6 Stars

Raise a gallon jug of Spring Water and toast the best (and only?) book on Shy Bladder Syndrome to ever hit the shelves!!!If you ever thought that you were alone and that no one else in the world suffered from a shy bladder - or paruresis, this book is for you. After living with this problem since junior high, I was amazed at how much information this book book contained on how to finally get your life back to normal.The nine chapters contained in this book are well written in easy to understand language that is a must read for anyone that suffers from paruresis. Starting with a brief overview of how the mind and bladder work (or don't work), this book leads you down a carefully laid path that shows how to regain control of your life.Filled with true stories and first hand accounts from real life paruretic's, this book puts a very human face on something that is usually shrouded in secrecy and shame. If nothing else, simply reading this book will make anyone living with paruresis feel human again -- and not so alone. Thousands of people will read these stories only to be amazed at how similar their situation is to those in the book.The best part, however, is that this book offers a successful plan to overcome paruresis that has been tested and successfully used in workshops around the world. After using the methods in this book, I've seen a dramatic improvement in my ability to use public restrooms with success.If you're reading this review, you probably need this book or know someone that could benefit greatly from its priceless advice. Get this book...get it now...get on with life!Looks like a plan !!!