Talk:Phone phobia

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anonymous user 192.88.21.10 said

I know one reason why I don't like to answer the phone or make calls. The phone is a huge time-suck, especially when friends insist on blathering away for hours on end. I don't know how to say goodbye, so I get stuck listening to the endless drone.

Ginaphobia said

My fear is mainly calling someone though ocassionly if a number I don't know calls me I will pass the phone off to a friend to answer... Mostly my fear is that the person will be busy, not want to talk to me, or for some reason angry that I called. And not being able to read their facial expression to judge how they're feeling about whatever we're saying bothers me quite a bit. I dont have a problem answering messages... it was on the other hand very scary for me while trying to record a my voicemail message(if you hear it you'd picture a cornered rabbit). I get very nervous leaving people messages too. It's good to know I'm not alone on this!!

Sooo... anybody figured out how to cure this yet???

HELP ME!!! It's embarrassing, but thank goodness I am not the only one. I hate the phone, hate hate hate it. I don't know for sure where this all came from, but I am sure it stems from many points of my early childhood--I won't bore anyone with all my personal possible causes. Everyone's comments seem so familiar to me, for the most part, but I fear (ha ha) that my Fear has gone way off the deep-end on this one. I can't make calls, and I can't answer them. I only text from my cellphone, I Instant Message people, I e-mail, I write letters, but I ignore all phone calls. Whether I know who it is or not, I never answer the phone unless it is specifically a friend who I am on my way to meet up with and either I or they are lost. I text-message while driving (yeah, highly-illegal and extremely unsafe), and lie to people when I don't call back, making up all kinds of excuses. They believe me, for a little while. My credit was stolen in 2004 by a girl I considered to be my best friend, and I still haven't been able to call these businesses and tell them what happened or to leave me alone, so they leave angry messages on my parents' answering machine, and I just end up lying to my parents by telling them that I am handling it. But I never can. It eats me up inside, I feel like I am going to break down and cry at the thought of making phone calls, I fall fast into a spiralling depression that lasts for as long as I think about having to call anybody, so I keep putting it off by telling myself I will feel stronger tomorrow, and to just put it out of my mind. But the truth is, I have so many calls I need to make, so many things that are past the point of my being able to handle, and so many people I hurt by not being able to just get on the god-foresaken telephone, that I am constantly depressed by it. Whenever I try to fight through it, my throat seizes up and swells like I have an entire apple caught in it, my voice starts to tremble and I am no longer in control of myself. My mind starts racing as I can feel the panic growing, but the only thought that comes in clearly is "Hurry up and get off, say whatever they want to hear, and hang up." But then afterwards, yeah i am so proud that I did it, but I have no memory of what they said, and I recount all the other things I needed to discuss with them which my hasty retreat has kept me from dealing with. I recently lost my job five months ago (not phone phobia related), and I have missed out on countless numbers of opportunities because... well, I just can't call them back! Now my family is getting angry, perceiving it for sheer laziness and an unwillingness to work, when in reality, it is all that I want. If anybody out there is now or has ever been as torn-up over this "unrecognized phobia" PLEASE post something! I have been alienated by this for way too long.