Many people who live with depression or other mood conditions don't enjoy showers. The term for this is hygiene indifference. It's when any routine task related to hygiene or self-care is deprioritized.
Shower Avoidance Syndrome, also known as SAS, is a psychological condition characterized by a persistent aversion or reluctance towards taking showers or baths.
Neglecting regular bathing can lead to the accumulation of dirt, sweat, and oils on your skin, resulting in a strong body odor. It can also cause skin issues such as acne and infections due to clogged pores and increased bacterial presence.
However, indifference to hygiene tasks, including showering, brushing teeth, doing laundry or brushing hair, is a common symptom of mental health conditions (particularly depression). As a health care professional and someone living with depression, I can speak to the very real manifestations of this symptom.
Lack of personal hygiene can be characteristic of several other mental health conditions, such as depression and schizophrenia. Additionally, there may be another reason why someone refuses to bathe, such as the water or soap causing them pain.
What Are the Symptoms of Diogenes Syndrome? The following symptoms are typical of someone with Diogenes syndrome: Poor personal hygiene, including body odor, rashes, unwashed hair, untrimmed nails, and malnutrition.
Initiate a conversation with the person refusing to shower. In many cases, a gentle discussion can be persuasive. Older adults who are confused or live with dementia may need extra time and encouragement. You can sensitively mention noticeable body odor or point out soiled clothing to encourage them to bathe.
Some medical conditions can cause people to avoid showering regularly. For instance, people with depression or anxiety may struggle with daily activities such as showering due to a lack of motivation or low energy levels. Chronic pain and fatigue can also make it challenging to keep up with personal hygiene practices.
It also depends on your personal preference. If you feel better with a daily showering routine, go for it. If you would rather skip some days, that's OK, but never go more than two or three days without washing your body with soap.
People avoid showering for a variety of different reasons. This could be because showers worsen a specific health condition. Or simply because it's hard to find the time. Mental health conditions like depression can lower someone's motivation to shower.
This is certainly a key point for anyone with friends: if you stop washing, it's pretty likely that you'll start to smell bad. Even if you don't sweat excessively, strong body odor will doubtlessly develop and your refusal to shower will prevent you from eliminating it.
There's no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Many doctors say a daily shower is fine for most people. (More than that could start to cause skin problems.) But for many people, two to three times a week is enough and may be even better to maintain good health.
Manifestations of the Showering Compulsion
Prolonged showering: The person may spend excessive time in the shower, often engaging in repetitive washing rituals or following specific routines.
Dr. James Hamblin, a preventive medicine and public health doctor, stopped showering for five years to explore the necessity of daily bathing. He found that frequent washing disrupts the skin's microbiome, which is crucial for health.
If you're caring for someone who does not want to wash, try getting them involved with activities that include having a shower, such as swimming. It may help if they see other people showering.
For example, she says you might not shower as often if you have dry or sensitive skin or conditions like eczema that are associated with dry skin (or you're #blessed with all of the above like me). If you've just been at home lying in bed binging Netflix all day, you probably don't need to shower that night.
'Uncle Hajji'; 20 August 1928 – 23 October 2022), also known as the "World's Dirtiest Man", was an Iranian man known for not bathing for more than 60 years.
As a general rule of thumb, “if you're showering more than one or two times a day most days, you're probably flirting with too much,” says Dr. Deanne Mraz, president and co-founder of Modern Dermatology in Westport, Conn., and an assistant clinical professor of dermatology at Yale New Haven Hospital.
Mental health issues: Refusal to shower can sometimes be linked to mental health challenges, such as depression, where a lack of energy and interest affects hygiene. 5 Traumatic experiences, like sexual abuse, may also trigger avoidance of showering due to fear or anxiety.
Ablutophobia is an irrational fear of bathing or washing. It can affect children and adults. Treatment can include medication, cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure therapy, and more.
If you don't wash your body, it makes it easier for germs that cause actual skin infections to flourish. If you didn't wash at all, dirt, sweat, dead skin cells and oil would start to accumulate, and infections or ongoing skin conditions can become more serious, more difficult to manage, and harder to undo.
But for the elderly, having a shower once or twice a week is sufficient to keep skin conditions and infections at bay.