Talk:Phone phobia/2007

Bittersweet to hear I'm not the only one

• When: 2007-10-17 14:08
• Who: anonymous user 24.0.179.190

mmmmmI'm not really sure if this is real or not! I'm in complete shock that anyone else in this world even remotely understands my fear/pain. This has been my life for many years and I too have lost many friends over one (or lack there of) phone call. I was fortunate enough to have someone make an appointment with a pshyciatric group for me. Even with that no one there was able to help, other then to tell me I was depressed. Well, no kidding!!! This is the worst aspect of my life and I'm beginning to think it will be what takes my life too. Thank you all so much for giving me hope and for the first time ever, UNDERSTANDING!!!!

For me, I feel more hatred for hearing the phone ring then fear. No, I don't make calls either but I never really saw it as a fear before. Also, there is one person that I (almost)always answer for. Sometimes I'm even happy to make calls, only to certain people of course. Although I usually feel guilty after hanging up because I don't remember the conversation.Either I'm so proud of myself for making the call or so anxious to get off the phone. This just in turn makes the next call with that person worse. It's a snowball effect. Next time I do talk to them, I don't want to hear them complain about "where have you been"or "what took you so long" I HATE IT. Those two questions are reasons why I never returned calls to people who were very close to me and in turn avoided them feeling embarrassed and ultimately losing them. Maybe, it would help if I knew why, but I really just want to get over this.

Woozle replies

The psychiatric profession seems to be slow to pick up on this one; they always want to try "de-sensitization", if they aren't in the "just do it!" camp.

I may have a solution worth trying -- for getting treatment, that is, not a "cure" outright -- but I have to do some research, in my extremely limited time, so please keep checking back here, or even better contact me.

So far nobody who has posted here ever seems to come back for more discussion; possibly guilt? I know very well the power that guilt and shame have. Just keep trying -- if you can't make yourself do it today, try again another day. Whatever you do, don't decide you're useless and end it all. This thing is not your fault.

If at all possible, nag me about this. My idea (so far) is to work out a way to make connections between phone-phobia sufferers, wherever they may be, and a friendly therapist I know locally -- via email or text chat, not phone! -- as well as setting up forum software to make it easier to post comments here.

--Woozle 15:00, 17 October 2007 (EDT)

i'm also a phone phobic!

• When: 2007-11-16 01:31
• Who: anonymous user 60.48.96.16

Gosh, I thought I'm the only one in this whole wide world who have this problem.Few weeks back, I read several part-time job ads and the ads only listed a phone number and name of a person that I should talk with.Well..till this day I haven't made any phone calls yet because I don't like talking to strangers.I hate it and I feel scared..and I don't know why on earth should I feel scared talking to another human being.Many times I tried to force myself to pick up the phone and call the companies but I just can't.I keep postponing doing it and I feel depressed thinking about it.I think it all began when I was young,I made several calls to companies and government agencies to ask about something.Most of them answer my calls in a rude manner as if I'm disturbing them with silly questions.I also don't like talking over the phone with friends because I always don't know what to say to make the conversation interesting.Anyway,today I'm going to make one phone call to one of the companies.I think I should put the fears behind and make the call!well...it's easier said than done :-)

(no subject)

• When: 2007-12-31 20:38
• Who: anonymous user 207.118.115.171

Haha, like everyone else here, I am so surprised to find that others are dealing with this same problem that I've had for ages now... email has always been my favoured form of communication, and having had more than a few online-friends, I wasn't really forced to use the phone much. Now that I'm in college I have to call professor's offices, advisors, etc. and it's fairly awful - it's not that I can't think of things to say, or that I just forget what I was calling about, but it's just the dialing, calling, and waiting that makes me get all shaky and faint.

The apprehension of calling people at their offices or at their work is worse, I think because it's hard to know when they'll be available to talk and if I'm bothering them at all by calling. It's gotten to the point where I just have to find all possible ways to avoid the phone until I know the person will be away and then will have to call me back. I've thought about talking to my counsellor about this but I don't know, it seems pretty embarrassing to have to admit that I've nearly passed out from knowing I'd have to call someone out of the blue to ask about something.

It's kind of easier knowing that I have no friends anymore that I have to call, but setting up appointments and making reservations and stuff just kills me, until they answer and everything seems to go fine. Blah. It sucks and it's cool to know there are more of you out there.