The Telephone: Fear of the Telephone:

“Don’t answer the telephone!” Rachelle commanded her psychology student, who was also her boarder.

Amanda nodded. “Aren’t you going to answer your telephone? It might be important!”

Rachelle just let the call go to her answering machine.

Over time, Rachelle appeared increasingly fearful of telephone calls. No one knew why she cringed every time the telephone rang. 

“Let it ring. The answering machine will pick it up.”

Sometimes, after identifying the caller, Rachelle would pick up the telephone and speak to the party on the telephone.

“Don’t answer the telephone when we are not here!”

“What if the call is for me?” Amanda wondered. 

"Telemarketers can be overbearing, frightening and frustrating, because they are so aggressive with their telemarketing. So are creditors,” said Amanda.

Rachelle remained silent.

“Is this real fear, or something imaginary?” she wondered. As a friend and student counselor, Amanda decided to look for a way to resolve this dilemma. No one should be afraid to answer a telephone and yet Rachelle seemed to be.

“Is there such a thing as a telephone phobia?” she asked herself, as she went online to research the topic.  

“Telephone phobia (telephonophobia, telephobia) is reluctance or fear of making or taking phone calls, literally, “fear of telephone.”

“What is she afraid of? Maybe she has been receiving heavy breather calls from a stalker?”

Amanda found numerous possible answers, including fear of embarrassment, related to inappropriate responses like stuttering and stammering.

“Shyness or the fear of having nothing to say should not be her problem. Is this avoidance behavior, or fear of receiving bad, or upsetting news from callers? Is it work related?”

She decided to confront Rachelle, openly.

“There’s the possibility of social phobias, social anxiety or a bipolar disorder related to fear of answering the telephone, but there are organizations like Social Anxiety Anonymous, that help people who have fear of the telephone, Rachelle.”

“Aren’t you going overboard on this?” responded Rachelle, with a smile. “I might as well tell you, as you are going to find out, sooner or later. My husband has another woman and I have a new boyfriend.”