Telephone sets have firmly entered our lives. With the help of these necessary items we can solve many questions, talk with old friends. They save us from loneliness and save in unforeseen situations.
However, there are people who are afraid of gadgets, afraid of phone calls. Telephonophobia can ruin career and life.
What is it and what are the causes?
Fear of telephone calls is compared with glossophobia (unwillingness to communicate with people because of negative manifestations).
This disorder should cause concern for the normal state of the human body.
In life, telephonophobes have almost no problems when dealing with people face to face.
Fear is exactly talking on the phone, therefore, such individuals try to send a message or communicate via e-mail. And although it is difficult for modern man to imagine life without a telephone apparatus, he should know that There are people who try not to have such a subject available.
It should be noted that such a disorder is part of a common social phobia. The causes of these disorders may be different. In some, they come from childhood. Someone from the patient suffers since he picked up the phone after the call and heard a very scary voice. Peers joked at him, and the child took the joke seriously. Then fear crept into the child’s subconscious and once manifested in adulthood. There are people who are very suspicious.
Natures prone to exaggeration are afraid to receive deadly radiation from exposure to an electromagnetic field. Fear of getting sick with oncology is so strong that a person stops using the device.
Obsessive compulsive disorder may be associated with the fear of talking on the phone.
When a person receives unpleasant news about the death of a close relative by telephone, he subsequently becomes afraid of sudden calls. Fear increases at night when everyone is asleep. At this time, only those who are in trouble can call. And from these thoughts the individual may experience panic attacks.
Other individuals are afraid of sudden calls because they are afraid to seem stupid and betray their weak points in character. Anxious thoughts arise when waiting for a call.
Shy people think that when they talk on the phone, they will have to say something in front of a large audience. They feel awkward as if they have to give a live speech. From this phobia only amplifies.
Another problem is when the patient is afraid that a sudden call will interfere with any event.
A bad signal can also cause fear of telephone conversations.
The individual is afraid that as a result of the loss of sounds during a conversation, his interlocutor may not hear something important or misunderstand the thought, and the result of communication will be an insult.
Perhaps these phobias are related to the lack of contact
A person badly imagines the face of the interlocutor and cannot supplement his words with gestures.
From this he refuses to call or answer the phone to his friends and acquaintances.
The embarrassing silence is also terrifying when the conversation is not going on, but I want to continue it. From this awkwardness, it seems to a person that he is behaving foolishly and parading his low level of intelligence to strangers.
Severe symptoms
Fear of talking on the phone greatly affects the quality of life.Personal life and career are at great risk. Fear of uselessness due to a problem leads a person to panic attacks.
When he begins to experience the following symptoms, he should immediately contact a specialist:
- at the next sudden call you are horrified;
- panic attack with characteristic sound;
- trembling limbs, palpitations, sweating, shortness of breath;
- nausea or even vomiting;
- the fear of answering calls, the inability to give orders by telephone or to make an appointment with an institution.
A state of persistent anxiety can be supported by such negative factors as stressful situations at work and at home.
How to overcome
There are several ways, and everyone has the right to exist.
The first method is a rather complicated process due to the fact that it is necessary to apply an effort of will.. As soon as you take the will into your own hands, you will begin to believe in your own strength. It is very difficult to do, but necessary.
If you believe in yourself, then try to overcome your own efforts and overcome your own Self.
To get started, transfer the phone to an answering machine. Listen to the message calmly and try not to think about the negative side that seems insurmountable to you.
The person who sent you a message to the answering machine, can neither see nor hear you in real time. So know that you have nothing to worry about. Try to respond to this message first.
Then express your thoughts out loud and listen to your voice. Analyze what you said when replying to the message. If you like your answer, then you can not be afraid of further communication by phone.
Another effective way: retire indoors, then pick up the phone, start a virtual conversation as if your interlocutor was talking to you on the other end. Such training will help you overcome the fear of talking on the phone and remove suspiciousness.
For the treatment of any fear is well suited pharmacological method. To do this, contact a specialist who will conduct research and prescribe medication.
Remember that self-medication can adversely affect your health.
Psychological methods will help get rid of phobias of various directions. Psychotherapy is that it first becomes clear the cause of fear. After that, the analysis is carried out at a deep level. Then you need to go to such a procedure, which is called psychocorrection, that is, modeling situations that will help get rid of fear.
Escape from everyday problems - this is telephonophobia.
The fact is that as a result of this flight, the problems will not disappear, but will only get worse. The more a person moves away from society, the more he will plunge into his negative state.
An individual needs to prove that ignorance, that is, refusal from a sudden telephone conversation, will affect the psyche much worse than the truth.
Ignorance of something causes much more concern.
As soon as a person learns the essence of the problem, it will become easier for him because he can influence the situation.
It is necessary to gradually "accustom" the patient to communicate by phone. For this you need to organize short calls to close relatives. Let them tell the person only good news and say nice words.
Those who are afraid of speaking with strangers should be offered imaginary interlocutor. It is necessary to make it clear that the ill-wisher will not be able to cause harm if he simply talks on the phone.
In the end, an unpleasant conversation can always be interrupted, and it does not give the patient much difficulty. At the same time, because the patient has stopped dubious communication, he will not be punished and will not suffer any loss.
When anxious patients talk on the phone, they need to show various nice pictures related to nature.
Personal psychoanalysis will help to quickly identify the cause of the phobia. And then the specialist must determine the method of dealing with the disease.
Hypnosis - This is another method that is able to effectively eliminate telephonophobia. Here is the correct "imposing" behavior when making phone calls.
Autotraining also a fairly effective way to get rid of the obsessive state. As a result of regular exercises, patients begin to get out of stress, and calm is replaced by anxiety.
It must be remembered that the combination of various methods and practices leads to more rapid deliverance from phobias and to a sustainable result.
You can find out what to do if you are afraid of phone calls in the next video.
