Living in hygienic conditions is one thing that everyone would vie for. We do not want our living environment contaminated ever. Yet the fact remains that we can never get a totally clean, contamination-free living situation that matches our personal perception about cleanliness. To understand this, consider some of the naturally present contaminants which are as under:

  1. In air: Dust, harmful pollen grains, bacteria, viruses, fungus, naturally produced chemicals, animal / bird excreta particles etc.
  2. In water: Micro-organisms, mineral impurities, particles from organic decaying, parasites etc.
  3. Cosmic contaminants: Harmful cosmic rays and cosmic microparticles in the air, water and soil.
  4. Within our body: Numerous micro-organisms and parasites, sweat, own excreta in the intestine etc. 

We live with all of the above taking reasonable and possible measures of safety and care. But think of the 1% people in India with severe Contamination OCD (OCD is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, a debilitating mental health condition) and 15 to 30 percentage of people with mild, non-clinical (and often unreasonable) contamination fears.  Aided by the influence of social media (wherein danger-mongers thrive unchecked), these percentages are growing unhindered. Add to these the culturally dominant obsession in India with the concept of purity, including the prevalence of the mindset that propagates caste-driven untouchability, aversion for menstrual periods, dislike for non-vegetarian food etc. With all these, there is a need to identify the exaggerated obsession with hygiene, purity etc. prevailing among some people, as problem-behaviour.

People with fears of contamination and obsession with hygiene tend to:

  1. Have overblown images of contamination in their minds
  2. Carry out compulsive online and other searches for hygiene-ensuring tips and confirmations
  3. Influence others (closely connected ones like the kids) to follow obsessive hygiene rituals
  4. Crave for unrealistically superior conditions of hygiene

In addition to the above is the obsession with "moral" contamination. One example of the way excessive fear of moral contamination can get generated in the minds of the young ones is the overdoing of "good-touch"and "bad-touch" training, which has the potential of developing in them disproportionate fear and anxiety about personal contact with others. Such developed fears, unfortunately, can adversely affect a child's ability to appreciate genuine affection from their closely connected people. 

A lot of people consider having a liking for hygiene as adesirable attribute. In this, they often overlook the way many little pleasures of life get destroyed with the over-sized sense of hygiene. These include the inability to enjoy foods, entertainments, community activities, close and intimate relationships etc. stemming from conditions that do not match the person’s perception of the standards of hygiene. These, despite the fact that we are designed by nature to live with contaminants that we just will not be able to avoid, naturally.