Press Release

Client: Professor Steven Soifer, M.S.W., Ph.D., President of the International Paruresis Association

Audience: London area press

Brief: Call attention to a problem facing 7% of the population, and what they can do about it (published in "Time Out", January 2001).

PRESS RELEASE

Distribution: London area press

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - JANUARY 3rd, 2001

UK Contact: Simon Carreck
Tel: 01923 775 193 or 01923 775 221
email: simon@thewritestuff.org.uk

US Contact: Professor Steven Soifer
Tel: 0101 410 706 7927
email: ssoifer@ssw.umaryland.edu

TO PEE OR NOT TO PEE …

... That is the problem. More than twenty million people in North America suffer from a social phobia second only to the fear of public speaking.

It ruins people's social lives, makes travelling hell for them and even limits their choice of career.

It's a condition known as paruresis.

In plain English: they can't pee in public.

In the US, people know what you're talking about when you say "shy bladder syndrome", but here in the UK it's not something that's talked about much.

If the proportion of sufferers here is the same as it is in North America, then there's an awful lot of people in stiff-upper-lip Britain suffering in silence …

... and suffering needlessly

Professor Steven Soifer aims to change all that.

As an associate professor at the University of Maryland, he's been holding workshops for some years around America, to help people overcome their anxiety - and sometimes downright fear - of using public facilities.

He helped establish the International Paruresis Association and its website http://www.shybladder.org, and will be bringing his weekend workshop to the UK for the first time, from January 26th - 28th.

Full story and booking details available from listed contacts.

END