Megalophobia (fear of huge objects): symptoms, causes and treatment

The word phobia in the field of psychology is used to refer to that set of reactions of intense fear that are usually accompanied by avoidance behaviors, having been normally induced by situations (anticipated or real) that objectively do not justify such forms of avoidance. reply.

There is a wide variety of types of phobias, among which we are going to highlight in this article megalophobia, which It consists of the experimentation by a person of an intense fear of objects that have large dimensions (eg. e.g., skyscrapers, large ships, airplanes, trucks, cranes or even smaller objects than the previous ones).

In this article we will see what megalophobia consists of and how this type of phobia could affect the daily life of those who suffer from it. We will also give some brief guidelines that can be applied to your treatment.

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What is megalophobia?

Megalophobia is not a very common phobia among the general population; however, there have been cases or times when many people could have experienced something quite similar.

megalophobia is the panic or fear that some people feel for large things or objects, being able to suffer an intense feeling of anxiety in those situations in which some remarkably large object is present (eg. g., passing in front of a skyscraper).

In this case we are not referring to objects that are larger than normal, but because of their Nature have a large size, such as airplanes, trucks or cars. skyscraper. It could also happen to large animals such as a giraffe, an elephant or a hippopotamus.

megalophobia is an anxiety-related disorder that can significantly interfere with the lives of people who suffer from it, so they tend to avoid any type of situation in which they are exposed to large objects, which is why they tend to have preference for the rural environment because there are no large buildings, they can avoid traveling in large means of transport size such as an airplane or even experience a section of fear when they pass close to a large truck on a highway with your car.

Therefore, in the most extreme cases in which megalophobia is suffered, it could happen that a person does not want to leave their house in order to avoid exposure to large objects, even missing work, missing their study center or avoiding going out with friends, among others (p. g., tall buildings); This usually occurs to a greater extent in those who live in large cities.

It should also be noted that there is no single factor that can generate megalophobia, as is the case with other phobias or even other types of mental disorders. These factors could include genetic inheritance from a parent who had suffered from a similar phobic disorder and, on the other hand, it could be that a behavior learned from the past had also influenced having experienced some negative situation in the past with respect to the stimulus phobic Therefore, megalophobia could be due to the combination of both factors, both genetic and past experiences.

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Symptoms

In the main diagnostic manuals on mental disorders, such as the ICD-11 of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the DSM-5 of the Association American Psychiatry (APA) could frame the classification of megalophobia within specific phobias, which is one of the types of disorders of anxiety. Below we will see the main characteristics of specific phobias in each of the manuals that we have just mentioned.

1. Specific phobia in DSM-5

The main characteristics of megalophobia, being a type of specific phobia according to the DSM-5 they would be the following:

• Intense anxiety or fear when the person is in the presence of large objects.

• Fear or anxiety usually occurs immediately before large objects.

• The person tends to actively avoid any situation involving large objects.

• The fear of these large objects must last at least 6 months.

• The person usually experiences clinically significant discomfort that interferes with their daily life.

• This condition cannot be explained by another psychopathology (for example, panic disorder or the like).

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2. Specific phobia in ICD-11

The characteristics that would allow diagnosing megalophobia, being a class of specific phobia, according to the ICD-11 would be those listed below:

• Excessive or marked fear or anxiety that occurs when a person is exposed to large objects.
• Those symptoms of fear or anxiety are out of proportion to the actual danger.
• These large objects are often avoided or endured with intense fear or anxiety.
• The symptoms of megalophobia just mentioned should last for several months.
• Furthermore, such symptoms must be severe enough to cause discomfort and/or impairment.

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Treatment of megalophobia

If a person thinks that he might suffer from megalophobia or any type of phobia (eg. g., aerophobia, agoraphobia, acrophobia, etc.) that seriously affects your quality of life, because you have come to avoid a wide variety of situations in your day to day, it would be advisable contact a mental health professional so that it can help you face your situation and little by little train a series of guidelines that will allow them to face this type of situation that causes the phobia they suffer from and thus recover their life normal.

In addition, megalophobia or any other type of problem that is related to mental health should be evaluated and diagnosed, in case of be necessary, by a qualified professional, so that he or she could seek the most appropriate treatment for each case particular.

Next, we will briefly explain what they consist of. psychological treatments that have a wide range to treat specific phobias.

1. behavioral therapy

Within the psychological treatments for specific phobias, and more specifically for megalophobia, is behavioral therapy, which It is based on behavioral learning theories and usually begins with relaxation training., where progressive muscle relaxation exercises, attention management exercises and breathing exercises are included in a combined manner.

It is important to note that relaxation training has high efficacy for a wide variety of disorders. related to anxiety being used in isolation, as well as in combination with other techniques and therapies psychological.

A technique that is highly effective for this type of phobia, such as megalophobia, is exposure to the feared stimulus (in this case it would be large objects), and can be applied live, in imagination or even through virtual reality, being very The last two are advisable when it is difficult to expose oneself during therapy to the feared stimulus in vivo, as would occur in the case of megalophobia.

It is important to note that for the exposure to work, the person must first be trained to perform this technique. correctly, being able to do it gradually and managing your thoughts and emotions in a controlled way during the exposition. Exposure is also a good tool to reduce cognitive distortions that could be associated with megalophobia.

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2. cognitive therapy

Another of the psychological treatments that can be used to treat cases of megalophobia is therapy. cognitive, since it is based on the dialogue between the patient and the therapist so that the latter helps the first to identify which are those automatic and distorted thoughts, of a negative nature, in order to be able to analyze them so that they can be replaced by other thoughts that are more rational and are better adapted with respect to the real situation, as it would be in the case of megalophobia exposure to objects big.

Among the most used techniques in cognitive therapy, it is worth highlighting cognitive restructuring, which would be oriented towards the case of megalophobia to help the patient identify her irrational beliefs regarding exposure to objects of large size and modify them through their rational questioning in order to replace them with another rational perspective and more adaptive.