How Anxiety Can Hijack Your Bathroom Habits

Dr. Joseph Mercola - Take Control of Your Health

Briana Mercola

Alternative Health, Health & Fitness

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 15 January 2026

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Parcopresis, or "shy bowel syndrome," is a condition that makes having a bowel movement outside your home feel impossible. Meanwhile, paruresis, or "shy bladder," causes similar difficulty with urinating in public restrooms
A study in Frontiers in Psychology found that about 14% of 714 university students avoided public toilets because of anxiety, and the analysis showed this behavior is driven by fear of judgment and social anxiety
A Current Psychology study of 316 undergraduates revealed that bathroom-related anxiety shares cognitive roots with social anxiety
Using the bathroom feels easier at home because familiar surroundings act as a psychological "safety signal," lowering stress hormones and allowing normal bowel and bladder reflexes to resume
Practical strategies such as staying hydrated, avoiding trigger foods, and using breathing exercises can help manage anxiety when using public toilets

Transcript

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0:00.0	What happens inside you when the fear of judgment is so strong that you can't use a bathroom unless you're at home.
0:06.0	Welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom. Stay informed with quick, easy-to-listen summaries of our latest articles, perfect for when you're on the go. No reading required.
0:16.0	Subscribe for free at Mercola.com for the latest health insights.
0:20.0	Hello and welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom.
0:23.2	I'm Ethan Foster.
0:24.7	Today we're examining shy bowel and shy bladder,
0:27.9	why anxiety can shut down normal reflexes in public restrooms,
0:32.0	what recent studies reveal about the cognitive patterns behind it,
0:35.9	and how you can take practical steps to regain control.
0:39.3	I'm Alara Skye.
0:41.3	Parco-Prisis, often called shy bowel syndrome, makes it feel impossible to have a bowel movement away from home.
0:48.3	Paro-reasis or shy bladder brings similar difficulty with urinating.
0:53.3	Millions live with these issues, and evidence shows the avoidance isn't random.
0:57.7	It's closely tied to social anxiety, fear of judgment, and rigid, pessimistic thinking patterns.
1:04.3	University surveys give us clarity.
1:06.2	In one analysis of 714 students, about 14% avoided public toilets due to anxiety, unrelated
1:13.6	to contamination, and another 3% avoided them over contamination concerns.
1:19.6	Most still used available toilets, yet the subgroup that didn't share cognitive traits linked
1:24.6	to social anxiety, and men were more likely than women to go
1:29.2	when a toilet was available. Structural equation modeling helped map the pathway. Ridid,
1:34.8	negative thinking increased fear of being judged, which raised worries about social consequences
1:39.9	like embarrassment. Those fears drove social anxiety symptoms that, in turn, produced parcapricis,
	...

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