I have a phobia which doesn’t appear on the list, and I have no idea what the medical term would be either (epistolaphobia maybe?). You will probably know. It’s the fear of letters (especially in plain envelopes without any company name). It’s not so bad with letters when I know the sender and am expecting them, like e.g. the phone bill. But any unexpected letters that arrive in plain envelopes throw me into a mild panic. I take them all downstairs and put them in the storage room. I won’t even have them in the house and of course I don’t open them. Also all letters from the lessor of the place I live in. I never open these either, as it’s bound to be something bad. I developed this phobia recently (although I have always had a cordial dislike of receiving letters) after I received a particularly unpleasant anonymous communication three years ago, sent by post from a person I used to be acquainted with 30 years ago, and whom I now have a particular reason for disliking and despising. I have no idea how he found out my postal address, although he doesn’t appear to have discovered my e-mail or phone number. And he also found out a lot of really personal information about me (which nobody could possibly know), which he included on the front of the envelope in huge letters. The envelope was size A4 and the lettering (font) must have been 30 points at least. I have never told anyone at all about this incident. But I now realise I should have gone straight to the police and reported it as harassment, but my first instinct was total revulsion so I went outside and burnt the lot. However if he ever tries any kind of approach a second time, I shall go straight to the police.
I am not in the least afraid of him in a physical sense – in fact if he ever showed his nasty little face here in person, I’d probably punch him on the nose! – but this sneaky, furtive, hole-and-corner business of finding out my postal address and all the other info and subsequently sending me an anonymous communication, although totally contemptible, is quite scary. And this has exacerbated my dislike of opening letters and turned it into a phobia. I have no problem whatsoever with e-mails, but now I feel there’s something sneaky and furtive about all letters, which to me represent the machinations of this person.
By the way, I never open the door or answer the phone either unless it’s someone known to me whom I want to see or speak to.
Fear of letters
What Now?
Read comments from others who are dealing with this phobia or share your own experiences below. Remember, you're not alone!
Mr.gross says
Ever since my parents died, I haven’t opened any mail. I’m terrified of it, and now when I think of it, I was even scared of it when I started living on my own at 18 years old. I have four piles of mail in my house like a goddamn hoarder. All that envelope is bad news to me, and my dumb self thinks if I don’t open it, then I didn’t see it, and it’s not my problem. And now my water is shut off. After my wife died a year ago, it’s gotten even worse. I can barely read or open my text messages. But I guess I just have to man up and get a letter opener in the shape of a bong. Get stoned, put a blindfold on, and open all my mail. Then I’ll wait another ten years to actually read it until I get evicted from my house. I’m in a pretty cool psychedelic Punk band. And I won’t even reply to journalists. But seeing this and all of you guys and people having almost the same issues makes me feel less crazy. I love you guys. Also, I heard a story of a Route of houses that stopped getting their mail for months. They called the Postal Service, and it turns out they followed the postal worker who had been burying bags of mail for over a year when he got caught and questioned. He said well, one day I did it; it felt really good, so I just kept doing it. My true hero.
Harvey gross says
I’m getting kicked out. I manifested my nightmare. I prolonged the inevitable, aka instead of being an adult taking care of business, I lied to myself from reality, watching myself in a birds-eye view like a reality show, screaming at myself, destroying my life intentionally as my subconscious withered. The house is foreclosing. I have one week to figure out my next chapter. Now, I want to use this pile of folded rectangle doom as fuel to burn these walls down. Epistolophobia won the war. I’m being colorful with my words. I’d never harm myself. I’m just so disappointed with my actions or no action. I have no family, no love of my life, and no friends. You can call me Frankenstein, but instead of fire, it’s envelopes. WHATEVER FOREVER. I’ll deal the hand I’ve been dealt again, or I guess I was handling the deck the whole time and gave myself his hand, and I should slap myself in the face. I wish you were here to tell me to act right or my old man and mom were here to make me want to do better. Whatever forever. I’ll figure it out; no one will hold my hand.
Dan says
Wow, I’ve often searched for a name for my own phobia of letters. I feel sick, I sweat, and I have to leave the room. One bad letter makes it worse each time. Subconsciously I’ve learned that letters are very bad news and best avoided. I’ve had two unknown driving bans, and bailiffs come to my house so often that I have installed a gate to avoid them. I’m fully buried in the sand, and there’s nothing I can do. The letters pile up for years. I’m coining the term epistoliphobia.
Pasi says
I have had this opening letter phobia for 15-20 years. My chest feels crushed, and I almost throw up, like a panic attack. I don’t even want to go to the mailbox to get new letters of pain and misery.
Piling up letters also causes money issues, bills, etc., which are not coming in electronic form. I have no issues if the bill comes directly to my bank.
I now have about 40 unopened letters; the only way is to have some other people open letters for you. Since I live alone now, it is hard.
Shermy says
The end is in sight. I had over 20 years of unopened letters, but I got my sister to help me. I was sweating when we were going through the process. It took a long time to go through everything. I missed so many appointments, including jury service. The best bit was burning all the letters once we’d gone through them all. I can open some, especially if the sender’s name is on the front and they have told me to expect it. I have some new letters that I have not opened, but I just take each day as it comes.
ribhouseriot says
I have a fear of clerical work, professional document handling, and mail handling. I’ve had it for years since I went into credit card debt, but it persists even after becoming debt-free. My wife opens my paperwork. At my job, I have somebody send me a form or template they have filled out so I can plug and play my content as swiftly as possible and get it away from me. I try to be meticulous, so it doesn’t get sent back. The anxiety is a crushing weight.
Jess says
I have an overwhelming scared feeling every time I see something with my name on it. I panic like crazy, and I can’t sleep. I have never known anyone else who has this.
Jamie says
I have a mail phobia too. I cannot get or open the mail. It has been an escalating problem but reached a peak in 2015 when I was laid off. I used to get anxiety and force myself to work through it. Then I’d get stomach cramps followed by diarrhea. I can’t even force myself to go through it anymore because it’s physically painful, and I have to keep running to the toilet. My husband has been handling the mail since 2015. However, he is extremely disorganized about it. He leaves it in his car, the basement, the closet, anywhere. He misses giving me bills and so many other important things. My credit has been completely ruined because the bills just go to collections since I never see them. My husband resents me for putting this on him and gets mad when I tell him he’s not giving me the important things. I see no way out as I’ve tried several times to work through this phobia on my own and failed. It’s really embarrassing to tell anyone. Pretty much everyone laughs. There’s not even a name for this phobia. I’ve tried looking it up and never found one.
Lisa Anderson says
I cannot open letters sent from an organization (yes, address on the back). It stems from one person who is continuously threatening me without grounds. I will return to sender with a covering letter, yet, they persist despite my voicing this to the CEO’s PA.
Jaz Freeman says
I’m so glad you posted this. It’s good to know we’re not alone. I have the same fear of letters. I also have a fear of Forms. Add this to the worst fear Disposaphobia! So I have a house full of unopened letters that I can’t dispose of! I am trying to tackle the Disposaphobia. But it is really hard. I keep seeing these wonderful blogs on decluttering and then despair because It is taking me weeks to get rid of the rubbish, hoarded items, unopened letters & junk mail that has built up over the last ten years. I wish I had a magic wand that could just whisk it all away and organise the stuff I need to keep. The worst thing is the tiredness that all this anxiety creates. I can easily sleep the day away then kick myself for wasting a day. It just seems to be never ending vicious circle!
Deborah Samara says
I also have this problem, what do I do?