To most people, believing you smell when you don’t would probably seem like less of a problem than oozing a foul BO without noticing.
But for those suffering from olfactory reference syndrome — a false belief that you smell bad — the delusion can have serious consequences. So serious, in fact, that psychiatrists are now considering whether it should have its own entry in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders — the bible for assessing mental woes.
“I think it’s a very secret and hidden disorder, because these patients tend to be very ashamed of themselves,” Dr. Katharine Phillips, of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, told Reuters Health. “I have been so struck by the intense suffering that the patients experience.”
Phillips, who presented her findings Tuesday in New Orleans at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting, said as many of two-thirds of her patients had thought about suicide. Many stay at home — repeatedly sniffing themselves, showering, and washing their clothes — because they are too ashamed to go out, thinking their mouth, armpits or genitals reek.
source www.reuters.com/news/health