What causes paruresis?
Paruresis appears to be a complex condition, with multiple factors that contribute to it. One piece of evidence supporting this observation is that standard treatment methods for many well-known disorders do not produce high recovery rates when applied to people with paruresis. If the cause of paruresis were simple, we would expect recovery to also be simple and effective for nearly everyone. As medical science advances, we are learning that individual genetics can play an important role in why treatments that work for some people dont work for others. We know that paruresis is classified as an anxiety disorder, owing to the fact that those with paruresis experience symptoms in common with other anxiety disorders. Many with paruresis reported experiencing teasing or other kinds of physical or emotional abuse from family, classmates, or others, particularly if the abusive behavior was in a restroom or related to toilet training. Currently there is some evidence, most of it anecdotal, th
