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# Olfactory Reference Syndrome Discussed at Convention
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/ors_discussed_at_convention_2605100129/
- Published: 2010-05-26T14:22:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T12:49:50.000Z
- Description: Katherine Phillips told an American Psychiatric Association convention about olfactory reference syndrome, in which patients believe part of them smells badly enough that people reject them. In her 20-patient study, three-quarters were convinced they had bad breath.
- Author: Rachel Stockton
- Tags: Disease, Health News, #vivvo-import

Attendees of the American Psychiatric Association convention were briefed on an extremely debilitating yet widely misunderstood mental disorder called Olfactory Reference Syndrome. Patients afflicted with the disorder have a delusional belief that some part of their person smells so badly people reject them. Many of them isolate themselves for hours and days at a time to avoid that from happening.

Dr. Katherine Phillips, MD, of Rhode Island Hospital set out to clear up some of the confusion surrounding this disorder, which, as yet, isn’t in the Diagnostic and Statistical Analysis of Mental Disorders manual. She and her colleagues began a study on 20 patients thought to have the disorder at the Rhode Island Hospital.

Sixty percent of the patients were female, and typically, they each focused on 3 imagined body odors each. Three-fourths of them were convinced they had bad breath, while 65% of them believed their sweat smelled bad. Approximately 30% blamed the trouble on flatulence or feces, and 20% thought their urine was the culprit (WebMd).

Symptomatically, olfactory reference syndrome presents itself in similar fashion to other obsessive compulsive disorder. The patients spend a majority of their day obsessing over their so-called malodorous body odors; many of them find nefarious meaning in benign actions on the part of their peers, such as scratching a nose or opening a window.

They also obsessively tried to eliminate their odors by brushing their teeth often, sucking mints, or chewing gum. Dr. Phillips said one of the patients used an entire bar of soap when showering, while another swallowed perfume to cover up her perceived bad breath.

Not only does the disorder intensely interfere with the lives of those who suffer from it, it drives most of them to suicidal thoughts. 32% of the patients studied had actually attempted it.

According to ABC News, many ORS sufferers who wind up in a clinical setting are exposed to cognitive behavioral therapy in an effort to help them retrain themselves to face their fears in social situations.

For example, a patient might be asked to eat a certain food that she is convinced will make her breath smell bad, then have her consciously approach other people without brushing her teeth.