I've never heard of that one before. Interesting. Don't worry if you feel like your phobia is unreasonable. All phobias are irrational and unreasonable- that's what makes them phobias.

Can I ask what you fear might happen with the mail? Perhaps you fear receiving bad news or that you might get hurt by someone. When did this start? Is it recent or did you hate getting the mail as a child?

Sometimes identifying the answers to these questions will help to solve the problem.

thanks for your input, i even got a school bus mailbox thinking if related to the job i had for thirteen years i would be able to relate it to work and not a mailbox..didn't work..but i do have a cool mailbox now.. glad my son is still at home, haha

never heard of a mailbox phobia. looked it up and couldnt find anything. sorry. im sure there are others out there like that.

are you afraid of something happenning when you open the mailbox or like there being a bomb or something like that? why are you afraid of the letters?

im not sure..maybe i can't deal with what is in it..
the bombs aren't as scary as who will be sending something to me.
everyone wants everything at the same time and it blows me away and it all comes from the mailbox..
maybe it is the bills but i don't have very many.. for some reason i only think it will bring bad news..
come to think about it i hated getting my mail at work in my box.. that was inside..the fear there was better because it was inside with lots of bus drivers and technitions.
my mail there was bad all the time too. the fights that i had to fight all over what was in the mailbox.. i am glad that i am away form there.
i think one possible reason is from a ex.. he raped me and i had to run 18 times.. the lawyer would send the bad news to me.. my protective order was bad..
i changed my name (all of it) to get away and maybe i am afraid of getting a letter with my old name on it..
just thought of one more, i found out when i was 11 that who i thought was my dad, wasn 't.
it took me 15 years to find my real dad..
some of the time involved was writing to my grandma, who told me that she could write but my dad couldn't have contact with me. that i had to seek him out.
she would tell me things about him. maybe the letters were good for me they never brought me closer to my dad.
when my step-dad adopted me the files were sealed. so i felt like my identity was taken away. does any of this make any sense??
i guess i just don't want any part of it. i feel safer if i stay away from it.. hoped this answered some of the questions..

maybe you could take baby steps like,walk past the mailbox one day and then lay your hands on it the next day or whenever and then try to open and close it right away.

ok, i am totally confused..haha i went to my counselor and talked about the mailbox thing.
he asked the same questiions..as i answered as he got a bigggggg grin on his face. and said "maybe it isn't MAILBOXES, but maybe it is the MALEBOXES" ..meaning that everything that comes in it is connected to a male.
copies of court documents, protective orders, so many legal papers, have come in the mail all having something to do with a male .
it is the fear of the bad people that have threatened to kill me, finding me and hurting me.
if i don't see in it anymore, then i can't be hurt by it. .. so i am tying the past to me and i need to let go of it..easier said than done.
i had a total name change in 2000 when i also had a breakdown. because of two men....the threat of being killed by one of them and the mail that came to my mailbox by the judge that gave me a particial protective order "HE CAN'T CONTACT ME, BUT HE CAN CARRY A WEAPON AND KILL ME". all coming from a male.
i used to be a susan and now a jaime.. used to be a denise and now an elizabeth..last name changed also.
the fear of what is inside, making me move again is real.. day after day..fear after fear.
at least my counselor had a sense of humor over it.. don't know if i do, but as long as i don't go near it, it can't hurt me.. one weird crazy person.. that's me...jaime :0)

I know exactly how you feel I started getting scared of the mail around age 10-and on,luckly I have a rmmte that checks it.I have agoraphoia,so I do not leave my hous without being somewhat heavely sadated.I'm on effexor and sereqeul but I am not ready to do yard work,take ouy the trash or get the mail.I know how you feel I hope you are good,Have a good weekend.PEACE OUT!cmf

I know exactly how you feel I started getting scared of the mail around age 10-and on,luckly I have a rmmte that checks it.I have agoraphoia,so I do not leave my hous without being somewhat heavely sadated.I'm on effexor and sereqeul but I am not ready to do yard work,take ouy the trash or get the mail.I know how you feel I hope you are good,Have a good weekend.PEACE OUT!cmf

thanks guys...life just shut down on me again and all i have to do is wait for the LETTER telling me that the school that i want to go to costs too much..

i followed all the requirements to be able to go. i had to get out into public to meet with the school director, student advisor, the graphic design teacher.. to take a entrance test which i forced myself to do (took my son through all of it).

i have a fear of people like none other. and now on top of that i have to wait for that LETTER of denial.i should start having them sent to my counselor so i don't get them. just another MAIL issue..

i know that when i get it, i will shut down..i'll pull myself back into the shell, i learned growing up in closets as a child..it was a safe place where i couldn't be hurt.

every time i try to conquer a fear i fail. i want so badly to shut down permantly, i hate being a failure, that is all i am and will never be anything else so says my mom.

it doesn't matter how much i tried in my life to do things the right way, all i was, was a nothing..

your not a nothing. I hope everything works out for you

you are not a nothing and you dont know that you failed the exam. maybe the mailbox is just the bringer of bad news and its not the mailbox your afraid of but its contents. avoiding the mailbox might be keeping you trapped in this thought process. try to face the mailbox and think of it as just an object. it cant hurt you despite its contents. i think you might have transferred your fear of failure onto the mailbox because of your experiences. so maybe the mailbox is symbolic of something deeper. you are not a failure because you are trying. i dont believe that anyone is a failure i think that they just dont believe in themselves. you are a somebody and you matter. every life touches some other life and the world would be different without you in it. if you fail then just consider it as a learning experience.

I know you posted about your fear of mail 11 years ago, but I was wondering if you could help me. I have literally gone without my mail nearly all year. The post office, I'm sure, is very frustrated/angry with me. I haven't been able to think of a good, fake, rational reason to tell them why I haven't picked up my mail for weeks. Because if your post, I'm sure, for me, it's fear of the unknown and there's always something bad there that I cannot deal with. I don't know what to do, but I know I.have to get my mail. I.just don't know how to get past this.

Were you ever able to work through this? If so, how?