Telephone phobia
Telephone phobia (telephonophobia, telephobia) is reluctance or fear of making or taking phone calls, literally, "fear of telephone".[1] Telephone phobia is also considered to be a type of Social Phobia or Social anxiety problem.[1]
Sufferers typically report fear that they would fail to respond appropriately in a telephone conversation,[1] and fear finding nothing to say, which would end in embarrassing silence, stammering, or stuttering.[1] The associated avoidance behavior includes asking others (e.g. relatives at home) to take their phone calls and exclusive use of answering machines.[1] As a result, the sufferers avoid many activities, such as scheduling events or clarifying information.[2]
Another reason is the sufferers may believe that people who call them bear bad or upsetting news.
As is common with various fears and phobias, there is a wide spectrum of severity of the fear of phone conversations and the corresponding difficulties.[1] In 1993 it was reported that about 2.5 million people in Great Britain have telephone phobia.[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f "Social Phobia: From Shyness to Stage Fright", by John R. Marshall, 1995, ISBN 0465078966, Section "Telephone Phobia"
- ^ "Break the bipolar cycle: a day-by-day guide to living with bipolar disorder", by Elizabeth Brondolo, Xavier Amador, p. 179
- ^ As cited in: "The Newspapers Handbook". By Richard Keeble, Third edition, 2001, ISBN 0415240832, p. 64
[edit] External Links
Social Anxiety Anonymous Nonprofit, has free telephone support groups (that allow listening-only, if needed) for people with telephone phobia and other social phobias.
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