Disgust, disease and disorder: impurity as a mechanism for psychopathology

Fabricant, & Olatunji, 2012). Concerns about the contagiousness of the H1N1 fl u strain resulted in an increase in hand sanitizer use. In fact, hand sanitizers are now symbolic for cleanliness in our culture. Although assumed to be helpful, however, hand sanitizers have been found to paradoxically elicit, rather than alleviate, anxiety (Blakey & Deacon, 2015). The symbolic extension of group hygiene behavior into cultural ideas about purity and pollution will then affect public health. However, this symbolic extension may also affect psychological health in the context of various biological and psychological risk factors, especially when variation in disgust is observed to be on the high end of the spectrum.