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In fact, personal hygiene and mental health share a connection that goes deeper than the superficial layer of skin and appearances. Our mental well-being is inherently tied to how we carry ourselves and the care we deliver to our bodies. Taking the time to maintain personal hygiene provides a vast array of benefits for our mind, mood, and ...
- Sebastian Evans
- Overview
- ‘Why is it so hard to brush my teeth or shower?’
- ‘Can you be too hygienic?’
- What to do when mental illness is affecting your relationship with hygiene
Depression, anxiety, PTSD, and even sensory processing disorders can impact our personal hygiene. Let’s talk about it.
“It’s Not Just You” is a column written by mental health journalist Sian Ferguson, dedicated to exploring the lesser-known, under-discussed symptoms of mental illness. Sian knows firsthand the power of hearing, “Hey, it’s not just you.” While you might be familiar with your run-of-the-mill sadness or anxiety, there’s so much more to mental health than that — so let’s talk about it!
One of the worst things about mental illness is how it seeps into so many parts of your life, affecting even the most mundane things, like showering and brushing your teeth.
And we often struggle to talk about this part of mental health. One of the reasons why we struggle to talk about it is because hygiene is moralized when it shouldn’t be.
Practicing hygiene is a good thing because it can prevent disease and help us care for our bodies. But unfortunately, we often associate a lack of hygiene with poverty, laziness, homelessness — all things we, as a society, discriminate against.
What this means is that there’s a lot of shame around hygiene. This shame can fuel both obsessions with hygiene, and the stigma surrounding mental illnesses that make it hard for us to practice basic hygiene.
Although I have a number of mental illnesses, I haven’t had much of a problem with showering. But one week many years ago, when I was feeling particularly depressed, I struggled to brush my teeth. I must have brushed my teeth only twice that week.
I know what you’re thinking — gross. Yup, I thought that too.
Yet I couldn’t bring myself to brush my teeth. I could wash my body, I could get dressed, I could even leave my house but the thought of brushing my teeth was repulsive to me. And what’s worse is that I couldn’t bring myself to tell my therapist, because I felt so ashamed and disgusting.
A lot of people struggle to do basic hygiene tasks when depressed. This can include showering, washing their hands, brushing their teeth, doing laundry, or brushing their hair.
“They report not having enough energy to do simple self-care tasks, such as brushing their teeth or washing their hair,” says Melissa A. Jones, PhD, HSPP, a clinical psychologist based in Indiana. “Many of them do not take care of their personal hygiene needs unless they are reminded by a family member to do so.”
But why is this? Why does depression make it so hard to shower? Manly says that major depression is often characterized by diminished interest in activities, as well as fatigue. In other words, you probably have little motivation or energy to maintain hygiene while depressed.
You certainly can be too obsessed with hygiene. Certain mental illnesses might cause people to wash too much or obsess about cleanliness.
The mental illness we most commonly associate with cleanliness is obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Pop culture’s depictions of OCD, like in “Monk,” “The Big Bang Theory,” and “Glee” mean we often think of people with OCD as fastidious, super-organized germophobes who are convenient punchlines for thoughtless jokes.
OCD isn’t always about cleanliness — and even when it is, it’s often misunderstood. OCD involves obsessions (distressing thoughts that you can’t stop thinking about) and compulsions (rituals or actions you take to reduce your distress).
The obsessions could be about hygiene, but it could also be a fear like burning down your house, hurting someone or yourself, or angering God. When it does involve hygiene rituals, like washing your hands, the fear (or obsession) might be about germs — but it could also be about something else.
Manly explains that when you have hygiene-related OCD compulsions, you might wash your hands a set number of times or brush your teeth with a certain number of strokes.
“Those who have OCD may have difficulty attending to personal hygiene in a fluid manner, for they may feel the need to perform certain hygiene rituals repeatedly (such as washing hands a certain number of times) before moving to the next task,” Manly says. These compulsions can make it difficult for you to leave the house on time or function throughout the day.
Most people feel a little too lazy to shower once in a while. Most of us sometimes feel a little “gross” and decide to wash ourselves more vigorously than usual. So, how do you know it’s “bad enough” for you to need help?
In general, you should get help if an issue is making it hard for you to function. If you struggle to practice hygiene even when you know you should, or if you feel that you wash yourself excessively, you may need help.
Therapy is a great place to start. You might feel ashamed, as I did, to tell your therapist that you struggle to practice good hygiene. Please remember that this is a fairly common symptom of mental illness, and your therapist has probably helped people in your shoes before — and they’re there to help you, not judge you for your mental state.
As for washing excessively, Manly says that the root of the anxiety must be addressed in order to address the issue. This also often requires therapy.
“To reduce the level of washing in conjunction with therapy, the individual can also strive to reduce anxiety by learning to use calming breathing techniques, short meditations, and positive mantras,” Manly says. “Tools such as these can be used to calm the mind and body as they encourage self-soothing and self-control.”
No matter which self-care tools help you, it’s important to remind yourself that moralizing hygiene helps nobody.
Mar 10, 2023 · Here are some signs that are indicative of poor hygiene in yourself or someone else: body odor from not showering regularly. unwashed or disheveled hair. bad breath, food between teeth, or signs ...
Feb 10, 2023 · Hygiene is one of the many symptoms that is frequently left out of the mental health conversation. This is largely because the subject is difficult to talk about — many of us feel the weight of stigma when talking about our bodies and our personal habits. However, indifference to hygiene tasks, including showering, brushing teeth, doing ...
Apr 15, 2021 · Innovative approaches to strengthen the public mental health strategy warrant careful deliberation. This article reintroduces and explores the conceptual framework of mental hygiene. The concept of mental hygiene was originally introduced in the early 20th century, with the aim of preventing and treating mental illness and milder mental disorders.
- Guillaume Tremblay, Nicole C. Rodrigues, Sanjiv Gulati
- 2021
Oral Hygiene Affecting Mental Health. Here’s how your lack of personal oral hygiene can affect your mental health: #1. Weak dental health causes problems in speech which can cause anxiety in public. For example, bad breath often receives a lot of criticism in public leading to embarrassment and consequently anxiety. #2.
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May 11, 2022 · Spending even 15 minutes on mental health hygiene each day can bring a host of benefits, from improved mood and better relationships to even deeper concentration and enhanced creativity. "Mental health hygiene includes simple practices that improve our quality of life by preventing negative behaviors and providing emotional stability," said Hui ...
