What should I do if I'm afraid to call strangers on the phone? Fear of telephone conversations Telephone conversation the interlocutor is afraid to talk

Telephones have become a part of our lives. With the help of these necessary items, we can solve many issues and communicate with old friends. They save us from loneliness and save us in unexpected situations.

However, there are people who are afraid of gadgets and are afraid of phone calls. Telephone phobia can ruin your career and life.

What is it and what are the causes?

Fear of telephone calls is compared to glossophobia (reluctance to communicate with people due to negative manifestations).

This disorder should raise concerns for the normal state of the human body.

In life, phonephobes have almost no problems communicating with people face to face.

It's talking on the phone that causes fear, Therefore, such individuals try to send a message or communicate via email. And even though to modern man it's hard to imagine life without a telephone, but he should know that There are people who try not to have such an item.

It should be noted that such a disorder is part of a general social phobia. The causes of these disorders may be different. For some they come from childhood. Some of the patients have been suffering since they picked up the phone after the call and heard a very scary voice. His peers joked about him, but the child took the joke seriously. Then fear crept into the child’s subconscious and one day manifested itself in adult life. There are people who are very suspicious.

Those prone to exaggeration are afraid of receiving deadly radiation from exposure to an electromagnetic field. The fear of getting cancer is so strong that a person stops using the device.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder may be associated with a fear of talking on the phone.

When a person receives unpleasant news about the death of a close relative over the phone, he subsequently begins to fear sudden calls. The fear intensifies at night when everyone is sleeping. At this time, only those who are in trouble can call. And from these thoughts an individual may experience panic attacks.

Other people are afraid of sudden calls because they are afraid of seeming stupid and revealing their weak points in character. Anxious thoughts arise when waiting for a call.

Shy people think that when talking on the phone, they will have to say something in front of a large audience. They feel as awkward as if they were to give a speech in live. This only intensifies the phobia.

Another problem is when the patient is afraid that a sudden call will interfere with some event.

A poor signal can also make talking on the phone unsafe.

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 a thought, and the result of communication will be resentment.

Perhaps these phobias are related to the lack of contact communication

The person has a poor understanding of the interlocutor’s face and cannot supplement his words with gestures.

Because of this, he refuses to call or answer the phone to his friends and acquaintances.

The silence is scary and embarrassing - when the conversation doesn’t go well, but you want to continue it. This awkwardness makes a person feel like he is behaving stupidly and flaunting his low level of intelligence to strangers.

Severe symptoms

The 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 the problem that has arisen 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 overcome with horror;
  • panic attack at a characteristic sound;
  • trembling of the limbs, palpitations, sweating, shortness of breath;
  • nausea or even vomiting;
  • fear of answering calls, inability to give orders over the phone or make an appointment at any institution.

A state of incessant anxiety can be supported by such negative factors as stressful situations at work and at home.

How to overcome

There are several ways, and each has the right to exist.

The first method is a rather complicated process due to the fact that it requires willpower.. As soon as you take the will into your own hands, you will begin to believe in your strength. This is very difficult to do, but necessary.

If you believe in yourself, then try to overcome the effort on your own and overcome your Self.

First, set your phone to answering machine. Listen to the message calmly and try not to think about negative side that seems insurmountable to you.

The person who sent you a message to your answering machine cannot see or hear you in real time. So know that you have nothing to worry about. Try to mentally respond to this message first.

Then speak your thoughts out loud and listen to your voice. Analyze what you said when replying to the message. If you liked your answer, then you don’t have to be afraid of further communication by phone.

Another effective way: sit alone indoors, then pick up the phone, start a virtual conversation as if your interlocutor is talking to you on the other end. Such training will help you overcome your fear of communicating on the phone and relieve suspiciousness.

Good for treating any fear pharmacological method. To do this, you need to contact a specialist who will conduct research and prescribe medication.

Please remember that self-administration medicines may have a negative impact on your health.

Psychological methods will help get rid of phobias of various types. Psychotherapy involves first identifying the cause of fear. After this, an analysis is carried out at a deep level. Then you need to move on to a procedure called psychocorrection, that is, modeling situations that will help get rid of fear.

Escaping from daily problems is telephonophobia.

The fact is that as a result of such an escape, the problems will not disappear, but will only get worse. How more people will move away from society, the more he will plunge into his negative state.

The individual needs to prove that ignorance, that is, refusal to suddenly talk on the phone, will have a much worse effect on the psyche than the truth.

Not knowing something is much more worrying.

Once a person knows the essence of the problem, he will feel better that he can influence the situation.

It is necessary to gradually “accustom” the patient to communicating by phone. To do this you need to organize short calls close relatives. Let them tell the person only good news and say pleasant words.

Those who are afraid of talking with strangers should be offered imaginary interlocutor method. It is necessary to make it clear that the ill-wisher cannot cause harm if he is just talking on the phone.

In the end, an unpleasant conversation can always be interrupted, and this will not cause much difficulty for the patient. Moreover, for the fact that the patient stopped dubious communication, he will not be punished and will not suffer any loss.

When anxious patients talk on the phone, they need to be shown various pleasant pictures related to nature.

Personal psychoanalysis will help to quickly identify the cause of the phobia. And then the specialist must determine a way to combat the disease.

Hypnosis- This is another method that can effectively get rid of telephone phobia. This is where the correct “imposition” of behavior when making phone calls occurs.

Autotraining also quite effective method, in order to get rid of obsessive-compulsive disorder. As a result of regular exercises, patients begin to overcome stress, and calmness replaces anxiety.

It must be remembered that the combination various methods and the practitioner leads to faster relief from phobias and to lasting results.

You can find out what to do if you are afraid of phone calls in the following video.

Despite the fact that over the past few years we have practically never parted with our phones, many people experience genuine fear at the prospect of making a call or answering an incoming call. Before calling, they rehearse the conversation for a long time, dial the number with shaking hands and break out in a cold sweat while waiting for an answer on the other end of the line. And the conversation itself doesn’t go well as a result. Embarrassment leads to the fact that it is difficult to concentrate on the subject of conversation, and speech becomes quiet, slurred, and hasty.

Reasons for fear of telephone conversations

Psychologists say there are several factors that contribute to phobias. telephone conversations.

Fear of telephone conversations as a symptom of social phobia

Fear of telephone conversations is called telephone phobia and is classified as a social anxiety disorder. Fear first of all manifests itself when communicating with strangers, when you need to call some institution or organization. Even little things like calling a taxi or ordering food for delivery cause difficulties.

The occurrence of anxiety is associated with the fear of negative evaluation. On the one hand, the search for external approval is a manifestation of a healthy instinct of self-preservation. Man is a social individual. His survival depends on his ability to fit into society. In a positive way, the ability to understand and assimilate the demands of society contributes to the development of internal mechanisms of self-regulation (conscience).

However, sometimes sensitivity to the demands of others serves us badly. Instead of preventing the commission of antisocial acts (theft, murder), it begins to block our creative energy. We are afraid to act, for fear of making a mistake, of not being up to par.

The situation gets worse when we begin to react not to the real assessments of others, but make our own assumptions about their reactions, usually negative. This is how our inner critic manifests itself. When we evaluate ourselves low and feel guilty for our own imperfections, we involuntarily attribute our feelings to the interlocutor on the other end of the line.

In psychology, this process is called projection. The sad consequence of projection is the desire to get rid of the object onto which negative feelings and thoughts are projected. After all, it seems that it is external objects and situations, and not the person himself, that generate painful sensations. In the case of telephone phobia, there is a strong desire to avoid telephone conversations with strangers. After all, if the attitude of close relatives and friends towards us is usually well known, then when communicating with strangers, the projection mechanism works in full force.

Features of telephone communication

Fear of telephone conversations does not always indicate a clinical one. In a personal meeting, a telephone phobe can show miracles of eloquence, without experiencing any discomfort even when talking with strangers. However, as soon as the need to make a phone call arises, confidence and ease immediately disappear.

Psychologists explain this paradox by the fact that for some psychotypes, communication via telephone is indeed fraught with some difficulties. We receive information about the outside world by analyzing data coming from various sense organs (eyes, ears, skin, nose, vestibular apparatus). But as a rule, people find it easier to recognize and decipher one type of information.

It’s easy to guess that auditory learners have the least amount of problems understanding and transmitting information over the phone. They easily read the slightest changes in intonation in the interlocutor’s voice, easily grasp by ear and remember all the details of an oral message. The lack of nonverbal information does not cause them discomfort. But visuals and kinestechs when communicating on the phone are deprived of an important part of the stimuli that help to understand the mood and intentions of the interlocutor. In a calm, even voice they hear unfriendly notes, a harmless joke seems like a mockery, and pauses in speech even make them think that the person on the other end of the line is angry with them.

Another reason that causes nervous tension during telephone conversations is time constraints. If during an email correspondence there is time to think about your words and edit the message before sending, then during a telephone conversation there is no opportunity to take a time out and think about your answer. Of course, having expressed the wrong thought, you can apologize and correct your words, but the first impression will already be spoiled.

Lack of experience

Fear of telephone conversations is also caused by much more trivial reasons. With the abundance of modern methods of communication, people rarely communicate by phone, preferring instant messengers, social networks, and Skype. Lack of knowledge of telephone etiquette and lack of practical skills causes natural anxiety. An unexpected incoming call and the need to engage in a discussion of some issues without prior preparation further increases the tension.

Psychological trauma

Telephone phobia can also develop as a result of psychological trauma. For example, sad news received one day on the phone can develop into a persistent fear of incoming calls. As a result, every time the phone rings, He is afraid to pick up the phone and hear terrible news again.

Fear of telephone conversations can develop in childhood if the child has witnessed constant quarrels between adults on the phone. Or, for example, my father was called to work by phone, he got dressed, left the house and never returned, as he died that day. The pain of loss is associated in the child's mind with telephone calls. Having matured, a person may even forget painful episodes from childhood, but the anxiety associated with the need to use a telephone will remain.

How does the phobia progress?

A strong fear of telephone conversations, when a person does not answer calls and tries to communicate only through text messages, can have an extremely negative impact on work productivity. If you do not treat telephone phobia and simply avoid communicating on the phone, then this behavior will sooner or later lead to a complete inability to use this means of communication. But situations cannot be ruled out when a phone call is indispensable. Sometimes you need to go through a telephone interview, notify your boss about your inability to go to work, or call an ambulance.

Some telenophobes have to constantly use the phone for work, which leads to constant nervous tension and threatens to develop into chronic stress if therapy is not started.

How to get rid of telephone phobia?

Much to the chagrin of telephone phobes, the most effective way to cope with the fear of telephone conversations is to practice more often. You can start with not very important negotiations. For example, call the help desk and find out the address of some organization. One of the responsibilities of help desk operators is to speak to customers on the phone politely and kindly, so there is no fear of being rude. Next, hone your skills by ordering food to the office, calling a taxi, and making reservations in cafes and restaurants. A few weeks of regular training, and such phone calls will become easier for you.

Remember that you are not in the position of a supplicant. You - potential client, which can bring profit to the establishment. So, if they speak to you impolitely, refuse to answer your questions, it’s not about you, but about the incompetence of the person on the other end of the line. Nobody forbids you to simply hang up if the telephone conversation takes an unpleasant turn.

In situations when you get a job or offer the services of your company, it may seem to you that now you are definitely in a dependent position. But that's not true. Remind yourself often that you are not asking potential employers or clients for money. There are people who need exactly your talents, professional qualities, or the products you advertise. If you don't make yourself known, they won't be able to use them.

How to make a call correctly?

If an incoming call takes you by surprise, refer to the fact that you are busy and promise to call back at a certain time. This will give you the opportunity to prepare for the conversation.

There are several techniques that will help you conduct telephone conversations at the highest level.

  1. Rehearsal. If you used to panicky avoid communicating on the phone, preliminary preparation is simply necessary. Sketch out a rough plan for a telephone conversation. Write a list of questions you are going to ask. There is no need to memorize the text, but it is worth practicing saying key phrases out loud.
  2. Have a glass of water nearby in case your throat gets dry due to anxiety. Prepare Blank sheet paper and pencil - you may need to write something down.
  3. Helps relieve stress before a phone call physical activity. Walk around the room, make several active swings of your arms. You can even sing a song about how scared you are to call and do a few dance moves: humor - the best remedy from stress.
  4. Be prepared for anything. Your call may find your interlocutor in bad mood. So you can never exclude the risk of running into a rude answer.
  5. After calling and introducing yourself, do not get straight to the point, but ask if the person can spare some time for you. If he is busy, ask when you can call back.
  6. Don’t jabber, trying to quickly post the information and hang up the phone - the person on the other end of the line should understand you. Try to keep a slight smile on your face - this simple technique will make your voice sound more friendly.

If you can’t cope with the fear of phone calls on your own, seek help from specialists. Telephone phobia can be successfully treated with cognitive behavioral therapy and hypnosis.

Psychologist-hypnologist such as

Each of us, at least once in our lives, has had to make a call to a stranger or to some serious company, institution, etc. For certain people, a conversation on the phone with a stranger is almost no different from a conversation with loved ones, relatives, and acquaintances. However, there are people who feel discomfort, self-doubt, and anxiety when talking to strangers. In psychology, this condition is defined by the term telephone phobia.

Causes of phobia

Telephonephobia is the fear of phones and is quite common. In ordinary life, a person can be sociable and confident, but if he needs to dial an unfamiliar number, he begins to speak slurred, confuse words, and become embarrassed.

Psychologists say that phone phobia is not a psychological disorder at all. This is only neurosis, minor stress for a person, which is caused by anxiety from a future conversation. But if the fear of mobile phones is not a disease, then logical questions arise: why talking on the phone causes fear, and how to get rid of this condition.

The reasons for the development of this phobia are very different; they are individual for each person. However The following are considered the most common:

  1. Often, when making a call to a stranger, people begin to fear that they will be rude. If you call someone, you expect that they will start talking to you adequately, easily and naturally, but not in a rude manner. Hearing negative treatment in response to polite conversation immediately creates a feeling of disappointment, insult and resentment.
  2. Some people have low self-esteem. They think that they cannot express their thoughts, formulate phrases correctly and speak slurred, therefore they are afraid to talk on the phone. When speaking, they confuse words, lose the general essence of communication, and often have awkward pauses. Therefore, they lose the desire to talk.
  3. If a person does not know how to concentrate his attention on something for a long time, then he is characterized by a fear of telephone calls. Because during a conversation he will begin to constantly be distracted by foreign objects and lose the meaning of communication. According to psychologists, a low level of concentration most often manifests itself in people with a lack of attention from others.
  4. Once a person receives bad news, they may develop a phobia of telephone conversations. After stress, he will associate the cell phone with bad news, and all the time when the phone starts ringing, he is afraid to answer, thinking that he will hear the bad news again.

All the described factors are caused only by a psychological problem, and not by physiological disorders. For these reasons, fear of making a phone call begins to be accompanied by negative emotions. Just the thought of the call begins to cause psychological stress.

To get rid of the phobia of talking on the phone, doctors are developing trainings that teach people how to overcome their fear and calm down. You can fix the problem yourself, but you need perseverance and a lot of strength to overcome your fear, and most importantly, desire.

Ways to overcome fear

Today, telephony is one of the simplest and most convenient communication options. Since using a telephone you can contact a person at a convenient time, regardless of how far he is. If you are afraid of telephone conversations, then a person is simply complicating his life. Therefore, you need to know how to fix the problem.

There are a large number of ways to combat fear. To resolve the problem, it is necessary, first of all, get in a positive mood. We must not forget that the strangers whom the person called do not care much about him. They will talk, give answers to questions, and then hang up and forget about the interlocutor. Therefore, there is no need to be afraid of conversations with strangers, and there is no point in worrying in vain before communicating.

Therefore, a positive attitude is considered an important factor in successfully getting rid of a phobia. If a person is talking on the phone, then he does not see the emotions of the interlocutor, and often it is impossible to determine from his voice how he reacted to the phrases spoken. To make it easier to communicate on the phone, you need to imagine that the interlocutor is nearby. And you must always try to speak with a smile, in a polite tone and softly, in this case you can get the same return from your opponent.

Various reasons for fear prevent many from collecting their thoughts. In order to overcome anxiety, it is not enough just to persuade yourself to call and convince yourself that it is not scary at all. At first this will not allow you to calm down, you need to practice. But getting yourself into a positive mood is always an effective way. To do this, you need to relax, think about something pleasant, imagine that the conversation has already been successfully completed, or you can come up with a reward after talking on the phone, for example, a cake or a chocolate bar.

Rules of communication

So that the fear of communicating on the phone does not prevent you from calling important issues, there are a number of rules. They will be able to help you successfully carry out a conversation, despite the excitement:

  1. Before dialing an unfamiliar phone number, you need to imagine your interlocutor: what clothes he is wearing, what he looks like, what he does, how he sits. You need to imagine that he is just as simple a person, and you shouldn’t be afraid of him. To calm down, you can first dial the number of friends or family.
  2. It is important to think through the communication in advance; it is advisable to draw up a plan and mark the main remarks. Often, out of excitement, people get lost and even forget ordinary phrases like: “Good afternoon, I am so-and-so,” “I’m calling for these reasons,” etc. A sheet of paper with the necessary phrases can help you concentrate, communicate consistently and competently. You can write down the necessary information during a conversation.
  3. If during communication a person does not know what to answer, you can simply listen to the interlocutor, in some cases “assenting” to him. Thus, he will get the impression that the caller is on the topic of the conversation. At the same time, information received from a stranger can prompt additional questions or a response conversation.
  4. Psychologists recommend rehearsing your future speech before making a call. You can have a conversation with one of your relatives or record the speech on a voice recorder. This must be done until the conversation is intelligible and clear.
  5. It is also advised to think about likely questions and prepare answers in advance. This can give confidence that a person will not put himself in an absurd situation and will conduct the dialogue correctly.

By following simple rules, you can overcome the fear of conversation and successfully begin communicating with a stranger.

The most important thing is regular training and desire. The more often a person starts calling, the sooner he will understand that there is nothing terrible about it. By repeating the same conversation all the time, you can ensure that it will be ordinary, familiar, and the actual phone call will not be a surprise.

If prolonged efforts on yourself do not show any results, then you need to contact a psychologist who will determine the main causes of fears and can help overcome them.

Don’t be shy to talk about fear, this problem exists in large quantity of people. And if you do not act, then this minor problem will cause regular stress and complicate life in the future.

Getting used to telephone conversations

If you get used to telephone conversations, the phobia quickly disappears. But it’s one thing to order pizza, call a theater, taxi, etc., but calling a bank, business partner, director, or a serious company is much more difficult. To do this, you need to understand and accept certain facts, as well as be able to control your emotions.

Anxiety and the fight against it

Before an important conversation, as a rule, a person feels nervous. The opponent will not be able to see shaking hands and frightened eyes, but you can easily tell by his voice that the interlocutor is nervous. A frightened and a confident person, as a rule, is assessed and perceived according to completely different criteria. If the caller begins to worry and worry, then a not very pleasant opinion will be formed about him. Therefore, it is necessary to learn to calm down.

A proven method in the fight against anxiety is considered physical training. Push-ups or squats can help the body switch to other tasks. And after resting, you can already make the necessary call. To calm people down, psychologists have also created anti-stress balls, cubes and other various objects. They can be crushed or twisted in your hand when communicating, this will also reduce anxiety.

Understanding the obvious

Typically, when making a phone call, people want to be perceived as smart and responsible. People are afraid of embarrassing themselves, looking incompetent, stupid, and putting themselves in a ridiculous situation. In some cases, if a person speaks out of character and tries to seem smarter than he really is, he begins to look even more ridiculous and stupid.

It is important to remember that you simply cannot know everything and understand everything; every person makes mistakes. Therefore, there is no need to be afraid to say that you don’t understand something, or to be embarrassed to ask questions or ask again. The caller's interest in the topic raised does not mean that he does not understand it at all; on the contrary, it can show the interlocutor that the person wants to understand the essence of the matter.

Treatment with medication

During a complicated form of phobia, the patient may be prescribed sedatives. This is especially true during times of extreme stress.

  • antidepressants;
  • nootropics;
  • tranquilizers.

These medications reduce the activity of the central nervous system and also have a hypnotic effect, which can affect study or work. The latest generation tranquilizers do not have these side effects, but their price is much higher.

Usually, tranquilizers are used in times of urgent need make an important call. They need to be taken 2-3 hours before. However, sometimes it happens that you need to talk on the phone right now, and there is no time to take action. medicines No. In this case, sedatives must be used for a certain time, usually the course is 14 days. Antidepressants are more of a concomitant medication that is aimed at improving the psychophysical state. Patients recover much faster.

Features of etiquette

The situations and people you need to call vary. You can recruit a person at a completely inopportune moment; he may be in a bad mood, tired, irritated, feeling unsatisfactory, or busy. Etiquette has certain rules for communicating on the phone. People whose work requires them to constantly make calls are obliged to follow these rules, but they do not succeed all the time.

You need to accept that a person may be rude, will not answer the required questions, or will not want to communicate at all. It doesn’t matter what issue the call is about.

In any case, you need to prepare to hear any answer and you don’t need to give up talking on the phone after unsuccessful communication.

By 50%. Many people prefer SMS messages, social networks and instant messengers to talking on the phone - calling without warning has simply become indecent. This phenomenon even has a name - telephone phobia (or telephobia). It was first described in 1990 - long before the mass distribution of the Internet and SMS. The Village spoke with a psychotherapist and rhetoric expert to find out what makes people phone-phobic and how to deal with the fear of dialing.

A person needs to see the reason for his fears, and not attribute them to the weather, nature and karma

Dmitry Kovpak

psychotherapist, candidate of medical sciences, associate professor of the department of psychology and pedagogy of Northwestern State Medical University named after I. I. Mechnikov

The complaint of being afraid to make phone calls is part of the typical set of fears of a person with social phobia. The emergence of such a phobia is associated primarily with the so-called evaluative attitude. A person has a certain attitude towards objects, situations, people, processes - and it was formed in the past. It is based on certain experiences, including traumatic ones, usually received in childhood. If a person reacts to the need to call or speak publicly, it means that he has already experienced troubles in the past and is avoiding their repetition.

Avoidance of telephone communication comes from fear of being judged. He characterizes people with high demands on themselves: “I must be ideal so that people around me cannot reproach me for anything, cannot mock me and would accept me into their company.” Behind such phobias is the fear of rejection or aggression. And every time a person’s throat dries up during a conversation and his tongue sticks to the roof of his mouth, it works to reinforce such fear.

First, a person needs to learn to notice his thoughts. We think we notice them, but in reality a person can only think about nine things at a time (and that's the maximum), and the vast majority of our thinking goes on in the background. Something resonates or plays in your head in the form of memories or fantasies. And sometimes - in the form of rumination (an obsessive type of thinking in which the same topics or thoughts constantly arise in a person’s head, crowding out everything else. - Ed.), when we go deep into memory, we pull out troubles from there (for example, how we didn’t manage to communicate normally last time) and project them into the future. A person needs to see the reason for his fears, and not attribute his troubles to the weather, nature or karma - and put it on an external medium - write it on paper, for example.

Secondly, you need to immerse yourself in situations that you are avoiding. If you want to learn to swim, you have to jump into the water. Same with telephone conversations. You can start talking on the phone with loved ones. Then with strangers and with people whose assessment is important to you. Through a series of severe tests, a person will be convinced that if he makes a mistake, he will not be stoned. If you begin to realize that talking is just the vibration of the eardrum, and everything else is a matter of your personal interpretation, then you will begin to perceive conversation as just a tool, and not a source of suffering.

It is rare that any activity can give a person as much pleasure as communication does. Fear of talking, including on the phone, is simply thinking errors that can be treated with psychotherapy.

On the other end of the phone there is a person with the same problems as you - he is just as offended and afraid

Daria Voronova

founder of startup Update 360, public speaking coach

What is a telephone conversation? This is reading information through only one channel - audio. What you need to take into account: timbre, your mood and how your voice is presented. I, as an auditory person, can tell you that everything can be read through the voice - from a person’s inner age to banal things: what region he is from and what level of education he has. Therefore, try to be positive: speak confidently and always be in a good mood.

Warm up

If the fear is physiological, pay attention to where this fear sits. People complain that there is a tingling sensation in the heart area, or their palms are sweating, or they just want to get up and get away from the phone. This is a normal process when hormones and adrenaline are released into the blood during fear. This happens all the time. You need to warm up, get rid of excess adrenaline: jump, maybe even clap your hands to get your blood flowing.

Direct your inner attention to yourself. Close your eyes, breathe evenly and calmly - as soon as you begin to breathe calmly and relax your body, you begin to calm down.

Say the main points out loud or write them down

A story spoken out loud always works - it's an order of magnitude better than if you just thought through the conversation. You can also write abstracts - because your motor skills help your brain formulate thoughts more clearly.

Determine the purpose of the conversation

Before you pick up the phone and speak, decide on the final task that you want to solve with this call. You can write it on a piece of paper. It is very important. Even if it's an invitation to a date. In terms of wording, the goal should be as simple as possible. If you keep this goal in mind throughout the conversation, then, starting from it, you begin to formulate only what is important. In addition to the goal, you must convey a certain meaning to the person, arguing for him - why the person needs what you are talking about and why it is good.

Find a quiet place and avoid distractions

The most negative impression a person can make is to call from some noisy place, where he is being jerked, distracted, and something is constantly happening in the background. If you want to get results from a conversation, you must be clearly heard.

Don't try to do one more thing during a conversation. Because as soon as you are distracted, the person immediately automatically reads that you are not interested.

Don't try to joke with your interlocutor

There are such funny people who try to joke just for the sake of creating good mood, but at the same time they are not very good with humor. You don’t need to joke, but you can joke.

Keep the pace of the conversation

We are talking now, and I deliberately pause for understanding. If you are simply trying to rattle off some information, like a salesman, and not a very experienced one, then the interlocutor will think that you just want to chat him up. Emotion is important, but if you want to get results from a conversation, you need to speak clearly and structuredly.

Relax, your interlocutor is the same person as you

Imagine, on the other end of the phone is not some menacing person, but a person with the same problems, he also has a stomach ache, for example, or is tired and wants to sleep. Yes, maybe he has a different position or a different income, but he is exactly the same person. He is just as offended or afraid, the same situations happen to him as to you.

Recently, such a fear as telephone phobia has become widespread. It affects people who have a strong fear of phones, calls and conversations on mobile devices. This type of phobia can cause mental illness accompanied by unpleasant symptoms. Therefore, you should not ignore it to avoid such complications.

The name of the phobia already makes it clear what is meant by it. Fears caused by mobile devices and anxiety when talking on the phone cause serious discomfort. Therefore, a person with a fear called telephone phobia tries to get rid of it.

Many psychologists are of the opinion that this phobia does not belong to the category of fears and mental disorders. They define it as one of the variants of neurosis, provoked by stress or severe anxiety.

Highlight different reasons, which lead to the development of similar phobias associated with phones and calls:

  1. Fear that during the conversation the interlocutor will begin to swear or be rude. This thoroughly forces a person to refuse to conduct a conversation or causes him severe anxiety.
  2. Negative experiences in the past. If a person has previously encountered rudeness or rudeness on the phone, then he will expect the same behavior from the interlocutor in his subsequent mobile conversations.
  3. Low self-esteem. One of the common reasons that causes telephone phobia. People with this feature constantly feel that they will not be able to express their thoughts correctly, which is why the interlocutor simply will not understand them.

Many people claim that they are afraid of phones and conversations on them for these reasons. Adults are afraid of these things, and this is not normal. You should start sounding the alarm in cases where a person is afraid of mobile devices, as well as calls on them, and because of this experiences severe discomfort. In this situation, fear of the phone must be treated immediately.

Symptoms

The need to frequently make phone calls causes sleep disturbance in such people

A person who is afraid of calls on a mobile device and cannot make a call due to fear exhibits symptoms characteristic of the pathology. We are afraid at the moment when they call on the phone, and this becomes noticeable to the people around us. It is the signs of malaise that reveal a phobia.

During a panic attack, which is caused by telephone phobia, a person is bothered by the following symptoms of illness:

  1. Cardiopalmus.
  2. Dizziness.
  3. Headache.
  4. Increased sweating.
  5. Pulsation in the temples.
  6. Increased blood pressure.
  7. Weakness in the body.
  8. Nausea.
  9. Sleep disturbance.

This symptomatology indicates the activation of defense mechanisms in the body against the stimulus. Along with this, a patient with telephone phobia may show aggressiveness towards the people who surround him at the time of the attack.

A phobia may be accompanied by other symptoms that are uncharacteristic of different types more afraid. A person with such fear will try in every possible way to avoid visiting places where there are telephones or where there is a possibility of accidentally hearing a phone call.

Often the phobia is mild. In this case, it is caused only by a person’s fear of talking on the phone with strangers. If you need to call a family member or friend, then there is no anxiety.

How to get rid of telephone phobia

To cope with a phobia, you must first convince yourself of the existence psychological problem. Next, you need to tune in to fight the fear of conversation. If you are afraid that you will not be able to cope on your own, then you need to contact a specialist. He needs to talk about the problem, share his fears. He will tell you how to get rid of the phobia that manifests itself when I talk. People talk and continue to talk on the phone everywhere, so it is very important to rid yourself of fear in order to improve your quality of life and avoid awkward situations in society.

Psychotherapy


During individual conversations the doctor will try to find out when the first fears appeared and why

Often people with telephone phobia simply ignore treatment and try to avoid the irritant. This option is not a way out of the situation. The lack of adequate therapy will contribute to the progression of the pathology. Sooner or later, a person will encounter the object of his fear, as a result of which he will experience real panic. To prevent this from happening, you need to undergo full treatment under the supervision of a competent specialist.

Psychotherapists offer several methods to solve the problem:

  1. Cognitive therapy. The specialist invites the patient to cope with his fear by directly confronting it. He will invite the patient to make several phone calls to those people who are in his close circle. After some time, conversations on a mobile device will be made with unfamiliar men and women. During the conversation, the patient should receive pleasant news that evokes exclusively positive emotions.
  2. The imaginary interlocutor method. This treatment option is ideal for people who are very afraid of talking to strangers. The psychologist explains the rules for calculating a pleasant interlocutor and an ill-wisher. This information allows him to feel more confident when talking.
  3. Hypnotherapy. The specialist instills in the patient at a subconscious level the correct attitudes that help suppress fear and prevent its activation in the future.
  4. Psychoanalysis. One of the popular methods of treating various fears that take on the appearance of a mental disorder. During therapy, the factor that caused the phobia is determined and ways to eliminate it are found.

Only an experienced psychotherapist can understand which treatment option to choose for a patient with telephone phobia. They carry out a thorough diagnosis, the results of which suggest what to offer a person in order to relieve him of the fear of mobile conversations and mobile phones.

Medication method

If a mental disorder caused by a strong fear of telephone conversations is severe, then the patient will need medication to alleviate the condition. Their action is mainly aimed at suppressing the symptoms of a panic attack.

In the treatment of telephone phobia, drugs from the following groups can be used:

  1. Nootropic drugs.
  2. Antidepressants.
  3. Tranquilizers.

Drug therapy helps normalize the functioning of the nervous system and calm it down. But they cannot completely eliminate the phobia itself. Therefore, without psychotherapy, such treatment will not have a positive outcome.

Important! The patient must necessarily agree with the attending physician about the possibility of using specific medications in treatment.

The help of strong drugs, such as tranquilizers and antidepressants, should be resorted to in especially extreme cases. This is because their uncontrolled and frequent use can have negative consequences for human health.

Self-help methods


You can make a cheat sheet in advance with the upcoming dialogue so that you don’t get confused or confused during the conversation

The fear of calling and talking on a mobile phone greatly complicates a person’s life. Therefore, he should learn several self-help methods to help suppress the symptoms of telephone phobia.

To cope with a task that leads to panic and extreme anxiety, you must adhere to the following recommendations:

  • Before making a call, it is recommended to imagine the image of the interlocutor in as much detail as possible. You need to convince yourself that he is an ordinary person and there is no reason to be afraid of a conversation with him. To reduce anxiety and prepare, you can first call a close friend or relative and chat with him for a while.
  • You should think through a conversation plan in advance so as not to get lost in the conversation and start to panic. If necessary, you can write down the main lines that should be used in a telephone conversation. It is important to concentrate as much as possible on this process and not allow unnecessary thoughts to arise that cause anxiety and worry.
  • It is necessary to listen carefully to the interlocutor and, at a convenient moment, agree with him, agree with the opinion expressed, if necessary. This method can fill moments in which a person does not know what to say.
  • You need to focus on the speech of your interlocutor. Thanks to this, you will be able to distract yourself from unnecessary thoughts that cause anxiety and anxiety. In addition, the information you hear will allow you to build your own monologue to support the topic.
  • It is advisable to rehearse the conversation before calling your future interlocutor. It also helps to have a test conversation with a real person from your close circle. It is recommended to repeat these steps until speech becomes smooth and clear.

Compliance with the above recommendations allows you to reduce to a minimum the likelihood of a cause for alarm during a mobile conversation. After some time, this behavior when talking on the phone will become a habit, and a person with telephone phobia will no longer need to carefully prepare for each call.

You should not avoid telephone conversations in order to prevent a panic attack in this way. It's best to start having an active conversation on your mobile device. This is how a habit is gradually developed that suppresses the phobia.