Do you musturbate every day? At work? In the park? With friends and family? Are you musturbating during work meetings? If so, you could be a chronic musturbator, according to the Great Musturbation Survey by insurance company Helan.
A study of 1,000 Flemish residents has concluded that the average Flemish citizen musturbates about twice a week, but they are ashamed to do so. Two-thirds of Flemish want to stop musturbating so frequently, but for many, old habits die hard.
Girls do it too (even more than men!) 50% of women interviewed by the survey say that they musturbate, compared to just 31% of men.
While it’s unlikely to make you go blind, it’s a habit nevertheless. Around 80% of Flemish feel negative emotions when they musturbate and it can leave them feeling stressed (50%), fatigued (45%), insecure (33%), and exhausted (24%).
Musturbating less can improve your health in the long run and help you to focus on your own well-being.
Not what you think
Musturbation, completely unrelated to a similarly named habit, is a concept first devised by world-renowned U.S. psychotherapist Albert Ellis. He is considered the most influential psychologist in history after Carl Rodgers.
According to the APA Dictionary of Psychology, musturbation is the belief by some people that they “must absolutely meet often perfectionist goals in order to achieve success, approval, or comfort.” A perfectionist trait, individuals will often place large amounts of pressure on themselves to achieve perfection in everything they do.
“Putting too much pressure on yourself. Thinking that you must do certain things. That is musturbation. Helan conducted research into musturbation behaviour in Flanders. We saw that we all collectively suffer from it,” the survey said.
The Great Musturbation Survey aims to analyse the stresses of Flemish citizens, helping to understand the stresses that our perfectionist tendencies place on our mental health.
“I constantly have to do something. And if I’m not doing anything, I’m stressed that I’m not doing anything,” one frequent musturbator told the survey. Those who heap too much pressure and expectations on themselves frequently end up with professional burn-out.
We must learn to let go of these self-critical goals, the survey recommends. Too much musturbating can be bad for our mental health in the long-run.
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“As with many health topics, it’s only a problem if you musturbate too much. If your ‘musts’ are so overpowering that they no longer help you make decisions, but force you to do certain things, musturbating can be bad for your mental health.”
40% of Flemish residents state that they experience side-effects to stress about their achievement, ranging from anxiety to guilt when things don’t go as they should.
Julie Denis, a psychologist at the Helan listening line, says that Belgians are generally too hard on themselves to achieve.
“Many people are flying solo nowadays, only to be completely exhausted and unable to do anything anymore. And that is a pity. Don’t forget to take a breath now and then and do what you feel like doing,” the psychologist advised.
If you think that you might be musturbating too much, take the Great Musturbation Survey's test online.
