4 ms·

I hate telephones too, and I DON'T have an anxiety disorder please!!! I'm just not the guy always ready for a call. I rarely pick up the phone or open the door

I hate telephones too, and I DON'T have an anxiety disorder please!!! I'm just not the guy always ready for a call. I rarely pick up the phone or open the door for a unknown call, and yes it can create stress. Quite often I am very focussed and balanced, one call can ruin that state. If you cannot find yourself in this, please don't create a disease out of it.

strathmeyer 9y ago
Yes, things that cause you stress can be neurosis and psychoses. If it ruins your focus it is affecting your life and can be classified as a disorder.
- jimbokun 9y ago
  How can a phone ringing not ruin your focus? Maybe you never actually focus on anything, and so do not understand the phenomenon?
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - saltcured 9y ago
    Some of us have a different problem, which is that our focus can endanger us or ruin our marriages. For us, it is easy to tune out things going on around us like phone calls, houses burning down, or our spouse repeating the same question with escalating irritation...
  - DanBC 9y ago
    this is not ruined focus: > Recently, when I was at mum’s alone, the house phone rang. I didn’t answer it. It rang again immediately. I didn’t answer it. It rang again immediately. I stood over it, willing it to stop, palms sweating.
- megaman22 9y ago
  I guess managers are a disorder then.
mikestew 9y ago
If a ringing phone or a knock on the door causes you stress, rather than diagnose I’ll simply say: it doesn’t have to be that way. One can be focused while simultaneously not jumping at the sound of a ringing phone.
Singletoned 9y ago
I used to hate them to a phobic degree, now I just hate them. I really dislike how much people are dismissing this. If I hated spiders, people wouldn't say "Oh you're just covering up an anxiety disorder".
- DanBC 9y ago
  Hang on - people aren't dismissing this as trivial; they're saying it's a common phobia (which is a form of anxiety disorder) and that there's good news: phobia is very treatable with a short course of therapy. That's freely available in England with short wait times.
  - naikrovek 9y ago
    It's done over the phone, isn't it?
  - zkomp 9y ago
    Sure, but why should you treat it if it is not a disorder? I think it is more a design issue with phones (than it is a phobia like for spiders). Or rather: It is more a situation like if phones also happens to spew out huge spiders all over you in addition to letting you communicate remotely, and people get phobia as a result. Why should I accept being woken up in the middle of the night for spam? Is this good design?, should I be "treated" to accept it? Why should I be available 24/7 all the time for work? (design for PTSD?, more treatment yay...) How come I can't use a secure medium to communicate to banks, or other services. (completely insane way to communicate securely) The real insanity here: Forcing all people to use ancient remote voice communication and pretending it is even remotely secure. It might have been good enough way back, probably the only option, not so much in the current age of spam and digital communication.
    - DanBC 9y ago
      There is a difference between disliking something, and having an adrenaline-driven fight or flight fear response to something. OP doesn't just dislike phones that ring in the middle of the night. OP dislikes phones all day every day, and dislikes them to the extent that he has a physical reaction to them. Also, I'm not saying that OP must get treatment. I've given OP a strategy to continue to avoid using phones if they want to do so: OP can using UK law to force companies to make "reasonable adjustments". OP can say they have a phone phobia, but OP may face resistance if he says that so he could say he has a hearing impairment. Companies should have things in place to make reasonable adjustments for people with hearing impairment.
grkvlt 9y ago
admittedly, although i also wouldn't class it as a mental disorder, i don't like using the phone. interestingly, i find i often have to have a cigarette to calm myself down before making or answering an important call...

strathmeyer 9y ago

Yes, things that cause you stress can be neurosis and psychoses. If it ruins your focus it is affecting your life and can be classified as a disorder.

jimbokun 9y ago
How can a phone ringing not ruin your focus? Maybe you never actually focus on anything, and so do not understand the phenomenon?
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- saltcured 9y ago
  Some of us have a different problem, which is that our focus can endanger us or ruin our marriages. For us, it is easy to tune out things going on around us like phone calls, houses burning down, or our spouse repeating the same question with escalating irritation...
- DanBC 9y ago
  this is not ruined focus: > Recently, when I was at mum’s alone, the house phone rang. I didn’t answer it. It rang again immediately. I didn’t answer it. It rang again immediately. I stood over it, willing it to stop, palms sweating.
megaman22 9y ago
I guess managers are a disorder then.

mikestew 9y ago

If a ringing phone or a knock on the door causes you stress, rather than diagnose I’ll simply say: it doesn’t have to be that way. One can be focused while simultaneously not jumping at the sound of a ringing phone.

Singletoned 9y ago

I used to hate them to a phobic degree, now I just hate them. I really dislike how much people are dismissing this. If I hated spiders, people wouldn't say "Oh you're just covering up an anxiety disorder".

DanBC 9y ago
Hang on - people aren't dismissing this as trivial; they're saying it's a common phobia (which is a form of anxiety disorder) and that there's good news: phobia is very treatable with a short course of therapy. That's freely available in England with short wait times.
- naikrovek 9y ago
  It's done over the phone, isn't it?
- zkomp 9y ago
  Sure, but why should you treat it if it is not a disorder? I think it is more a design issue with phones (than it is a phobia like for spiders). Or rather: It is more a situation like if phones also happens to spew out huge spiders all over you in addition to letting you communicate remotely, and people get phobia as a result. Why should I accept being woken up in the middle of the night for spam? Is this good design?, should I be "treated" to accept it? Why should I be available 24/7 all the time for work? (design for PTSD?, more treatment yay...) How come I can't use a secure medium to communicate to banks, or other services. (completely insane way to communicate securely) The real insanity here: Forcing all people to use ancient remote voice communication and pretending it is even remotely secure. It might have been good enough way back, probably the only option, not so much in the current age of spam and digital communication.
  - DanBC 9y ago
    There is a difference between disliking something, and having an adrenaline-driven fight or flight fear response to something. OP doesn't just dislike phones that ring in the middle of the night. OP dislikes phones all day every day, and dislikes them to the extent that he has a physical reaction to them. Also, I'm not saying that OP must get treatment. I've given OP a strategy to continue to avoid using phones if they want to do so: OP can using UK law to force companies to make "reasonable adjustments". OP can say they have a phone phobia, but OP may face resistance if he says that so he could say he has a hearing impairment. Companies should have things in place to make reasonable adjustments for people with hearing impairment.

grkvlt 9y ago

admittedly, although i also wouldn't class it as a mental disorder, i don't like using the phone. interestingly, i find i often have to have a cigarette to calm myself down before making or answering an important call...