Welcome to the World of Scamming Phobias

As I was adding a separate links for every phobia listed in the post below, I quickly became temperamentally irritable. Not only did blogspot fail on me, but I was attempting an arduously frustrating feat... any guesses? I have learned a great lesson-- to go with intuition. My first reaction to the youtube video was correct. It is mostly nonsense and poking fun at phobias.

This photo thanks to Flikr explains how I felt.
Sure, the video may have some truth to it. I did have a friend in high school who didn't like to be touched and all people can be afraid of the dark at times. You can be afraid of peanut butter sticking to your mouth and dying in the midst of chocking as tears form in your eyes. And why wouldn't you be afraid of a flowers at your doorstep on Valentine's day when you just broke up with your boyfriend and are hoping it is finally over? So there can be a bit of truth to all these fears.

I am not quite to the bottom of the bare-boned facts yet, but I believe that these phobia "treatment" centers have created a lot of the phobias themselves.

Let's go through an example. When I first typed in ophthalmophobia, which is the fear of being stared at, into google, the first hit simply provided a bare-boned definition from answers.com. This shows how little information about specific phobias is available. Wait a minute and fear not because information is in the making on ophthalmophobia by website that guarantees 100% satisfaction in 24 hours for only $147.

This website is also in the process of naming the phobia itself. They want to know which name seems the right one for you. This is purely for advertising purposes. Because when you do choose between Being Stared at Phobia, Being Stared at Fear, Stare Fear, and ten other options, it goes to almost the same exact next page excpet the name you choose is now inserted!

Changethatsrightnow.com is one of the two "curing" websites I quickly noticed that always had information about the phobias I was seeking information about. The other website is phobia-fear-release.com that guarantees to stop your phobia with treatment without having to pay for phobia medication that supposedly, as advertised by this company, costs more than $ 1000 a year. Now with just 10 minutes a day and $67 dollars your phobia can be vanished!

Can you imagine if I was suffering from a serious phobia and believed as advertised that "Acclaimed [insert my phobia's name here] treatment seen on NBC & ABC news"? I might not be aware of the scam and subject myself to buying the cds with true hope. They may or may not work, but what matters is that the primary goals of these companies is not to help people to overcome their phobias, but to make a profit. And I would be skeptical if they are drawing any costumers in. I am an advocate that with a strong willingness and determined mind one can cure their phobia independently. I believe this website can put you towards the right step in having freedom from your phobia. You can even do it without buying the manual they suggest! Good luck!

Crazy Phobias

More people have phobias than you would think--actually about 19 million Americans. If you do the math, this is 6.3% of Americans. And just wait, if you thought telephonophobia was bizarre, wait until you hear of some of these other phobias. I first thought that this youtube video was a joke, but these are legitimate fears that people face. A few examples are hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. Having this 14 syllable word entails having a fear of long words. Another phobia that you would think is a complete joke is levophobia or fearing things on the left side of you.

Watch this video to open your eyes to more crazy phobias.

I agree with you. These phobias do seem ridiculous, but there are people who suffer from them and cures are available.

Here are the phobias that were featured in the video. You can get the gist of it with this recap:
• Anthrophobia: fear of flowers
• Arachibutyrophobia: fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.
• Aphenphosmphobia: fear of being touched
• Ophthalmophobia: fear of being stared at.
• Hippopatomonstropsesquippedaliophobia: fear of long words.
• Achluophobia: fer of darkness
• Photophobia: fear of light
• Levophobia: fear of things on the left sde of the body.
• Peladophobia: fear of bald people.
• Ligyrophobia: fear of loud noises
• Kinetophobia: fear of movement
• Androphobia: fear of men

These fears are just the phobias from this video. If you are interested at more phobias, a man has come up with The Phobia List. He has been working on it for years and hundreds of fears on on the list.

Using Hypnosis to Overcome Phobias

This video shows contestants from The Maury Show who were able to overcome their phobias through hypnosis. The hypnotist, Boris, who was the key that allowed those with phobias overcome them, stressed that he wasn't necessarily the key. He said, "all it is her deciding from this moment on, I am ready to move on." I am hoping that Alyssa can make this decision for herself.

Persistance is the Path to Success... "My friend" came out!

Here's a little background before I reveal to you the victory that happened yesterday! I am doing this story with a particular phoneaphobic in mind. This friend was unaware that interviewing her for my final project meant telling the world about her phobia on the web. She initially thought that it would be an edited audio recording for my class's enjoyment. She did not know the whole picture.

Since I did not tell her from the bat and conveniently could not get a hold of her because surprisingly enough she wasn't answering her phone, I thought I would keep her as "my friend" the whole time. Now she is willing to go public with her fear. Her name is Alyssa. She is my dear friend who has a fear of using her cell phone to call or answer. However, texting and voicemails pose no problems whatsoever. She can control those messages.

You may be thinking she can control what she says on the phone, but it is not that easy. Fear of judgment may be her real phobia.

Telephonaphobia isn't that uncommon....

I found a hot spot where people go with a goal in mind and find other people who are partaking in the same goal. On online support group! Right now 14 people are seeking to get over their fear of phones. I love that phonophobics are relating to one another.




This website can be historically special to one who fears phones. In 2003, some people with fear of the phones related to one another for the first time. I find it comforting that people who share this unfortunate phobia were finally given the opportunity to relate to someone else. Finding another person to share your fear is ideal. Especially when you are seeking to overcome it ! ! !

Phones: a necessary, but sometimes scary commodity

Phones make my life easier! I can't imagine my life without one. Cell phones should be directly linked with the definition convenience. I set up an interview today using my handy dandy cell phone. I will be interviewing a psychologist and asking them possible solutions or suggestions for my friend's phone phobia. Although my friend wants to get some help with her phobia, getting the free 10 sessions of counseling that our school takes pride in offering per academic year could be problematic. Why so???? Because it would take a lot out of her to call up for the appointment! !

Even though she fears conversation over the telephone, my currently anonymous friend (I haven’t been able to contact her and ask her permission to be a cell-phone-no-so-anonymous on my blog) uses her cell phone as tool to use in case of emergency. God forbid her car ever breaks down in the middle of the road. She thoroughly enjoys and has fun communicating to her friends through text messaging. But for her talking on the phone isn't something to turn to when you are bored and too lazy to do any real work. When I am burnt out, which is a frequent occurrence being a sleep deprived college student, I frequently lay in my bed, pick up the phone, and make calls to friends on campus or across the country to get updates on their lives. Talking on the phone for entertainment purposes is quite indulging.

Being a fan of telecommunications, I understand and can relate to why my friend detests making small talk and finds "dead" time on the other line very painful. When someone has been talking to you and there is nothing else you would rather do than hang up and get along with your present life, do so. Honesty pays off for both parties in this case. Here is a story that perfectly illustrates the payoff. Sure, no one wants to be rude, but no one thrives on boredom either. Do yourself and your phone-mate a favor. If you are in a direct mood just simply say, "I am sick of talking on the phone. Have a good....day, afternoon, night." If you don't want to offend them say, "I really got to run. Nice talking to you." I will let your white lie slip in this situation, but it does feel more empowering to tell the truth. It will also strengthen your relationship. Maybe they will respond "I wasn't feeling it either," “I’m glad we can be so honest with one another,” or "You are such a self-centered bitch. Just because your not having fun, conversations over?"


I have found that time on the phone doesn’t commemorate the present. It handles the past with “Oh my god, you wouldn’t believe what this boy in class so obnoxiously said today.” Conversations also look to the future with, “So does Friday night at 7 work for you? Okay, see you then.” The least frequented conversations are for the now. Few deal with the present. Some do deal with the now, but they tend to be the shorter phone calls. For example, "Dad, I am on my way into the voting booth. How did you say I should vote on the Indian Caisinos?," "I am completely lost, did you say I should take the 85 south or north, “I'm at the box office and forgot my credit card. Can you give me your credit card information now?”