14 DAY TRIAL // A 49-year-old woman currently living in Rochester, England says that she has been suffering from a very rare condition that makes it impossible for her to read the press for about 25 years.
The condition is known to the scientific community as chloephobia, and it boils down to the fact that the woman is utterly and completely terrified of newspapers.
According to Mirror, Diane Freelove can neither touch nor smell such pieces of paper. Besides, she finds it impossible to look at them, be it on a television screen or on a computer monitor.
“I don’t like the feel of them – if I touch a newspaper it feels like my skin is crawling. And I can’t stand the smell, which I think is quite strong and distinctive,” the woman explains.
“If I see a newspaper flash up on TV, I have to physically turn away,” she adds.
Diane Freelove has reasons to suspect that the feelings of fear and disgust that newspapers bring up in her originate in her childhood.
Thus, she remembers that, when she was just a child, her mom used to hit her dad over the head with a newspaper. The woman meant no harm, and only did so playfully and as a sign of affection.
Still, Diane recollects that she did not like witnessing such scenes. As she puts it, “It worried me.”
The 49-year-old's fear of newspapers did not develop overnight. On the contrary, Diane says that, although she began developing negative feeling towards them about 25 years ago, there was a time when she could touch a newspaper.
However, in order to be able to do so, she had to be absolutely sure that she could wash her hands afterwards.
The woman is a mother of three, and says that all her children, i.e. Matthew, 29; Lauren, 24; and Rebecca, 19, like to browse through a newspaper every once in a while.
In order to protect their mom, they throw away whatever newspapers are in their home before Diane comes visit.
Interestingly enough, the woman used to buy newspapers herself some time ago. She did it for her late husband, and had to use gloves and a bag to bring them home.
What's more, she had to take refuge in one of the rooms in the couple's home and sit there with a window open until the husband was done reading the papers. “Fresh air made my anxiety more bearable,” she explains.