A New Phobia

Another thing I have learned living with Generalized Anxiety Disorder is that it encompasses a lot of other phobias .One that I have is phonophobia also known as ligyophobia or sonophobia which is the fear of loud noise. In particular it is the fear of being yelled at.

I have had this fear for a long time without realizing it is a phobia and could be from the fact I had ear infections as a kid or that I just am sensitive to noise.I didn’t get yelled at often as a child but have had it often in adulthood. I did get it occasionally at school but seldom at home when I was a kid.

It happens frequently at my current job as it seems the only way the foremen can communicate to others is by shouting at you. It is loud in the place but I seemed to get yelled at the slightest provocation. It is not as bad now but on a previous crew I was on it was pretty bad.

On the previous crew the foreman would yell me for often very trivial matters I seemed to be singled out. Also, one his lackeys also seemed to single me out as I got yelled by him often while no one else seemed to be yelled at all by him. This did not help my anxiety (obviously) but made me not want to go into work at all. I often felt very nervous and shaky (among other things) before going into work.

I figured I would have been desensitized to this by now but I as I have learned phobias don’t away on their own but take some helps. There are ways to cope such as tune them out , realize it is them and not you and realize that there are jerks in the world. Also, I live in very quiet environment so it is easy to decompress at home. Even writing about it helps me cope.

As for loud noises I find that at home I can put my earbuds in and listen to some good music or just have things at the right volume. Even ear protection is home or when you are going out is helpful in combatting this phobia. Unfortunately I have to live with the fact that our society can be noisy a lot of the time.