Telephone phobia
Encyclopedia
Telephone phobia is reluctance or fear of making or taking phone calls, literally, "fear of telephone". Telephone phobia is also considered to be a type of Social Phobia
or Social anxiety
problem.
Sufferers typically report fear that they would fail to respond appropriately in a telephone conversation, and fear finding nothing to say, which would end in embarrassing silence, stammering, or stuttering. The associated avoidance behavior includes asking others (e.g. relatives at home) to take their phone calls and exclusive use of answering machine
s. As a result, the sufferers avoid many activities, such as scheduling events or clarifying information.
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. In 1993 it was reported that about 2.5 million people in Great Britain
have telephone phobia.
Social phobia
Social phobia may refer to any of the following conditions:* Social anxiety disorder – a diagnosis referring to clinically excessive social anxiety...
or Social anxiety
Social anxiety
Social anxiety is anxiety about social situations, interactions with others, and being evaluated or scrutinized by other people...
problem.
Sufferers typically report fear that they would fail to respond appropriately in a telephone conversation, and fear finding nothing to say, which would end in embarrassing silence, stammering, or stuttering. The associated avoidance behavior includes asking others (e.g. relatives at home) to take their phone calls and exclusive use of answering machine
Answering machine
The answering machine or message machine, also known as the telephone answering machine in the UK and some Commonwealth countries) and previously known as an ansaphone, ansafone, or telephone answering device is a device for answering telephones and recording callers' messages.Unlike voicemail,...
s. As a result, the sufferers avoid many activities, such as scheduling events or clarifying information.
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. In 1993 it was reported that about 2.5 million people in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
have telephone phobia.