Phone Phobia

Somewhere between high school and now I have developed a phobia. It sounds ridiculous, I know...but I swear it's legit. Whenever someone calls me, I get so anxious that I cannot bring myself to answer the phone. So I tell myself, "I'll call them back later today....after I hear their message." This is for two reasons. If they do not leave a message, then I know that it was not important, and that I don't have to call them back. If they do leave a message, I can find out if they are "just calling to talk," in which case I also can choose not to call them back. In the case that the message is important, and that I am forced to make a phone call, I spend hours or even days cohercing myself into making that call. I LOATHE talking on the phone.

I can't explain where this came from. It has gotten progressively worse over time, and I continue to worsen. It's not like I get a panic attack when the phone rings....but I definitely get super nervous, and can't bring myself to answer it.

I have looked into this briefly....I found some information on the internet about social anxiety disorder and a few other things....but I'm not really sure that's what the issue is. I am (for the most part) fine in person. I tend to be pretty outgoing, and usually don't get nervous. It's the added element of the phone that starts to cause problems.

What's wrong with me? Does anyone else have this disease?