Macrophobia: symptoms and characteristics of the phobia of waiting

Phobias are a type of anxiety-based psychological disorder characterized by generating a state of extreme and irrational fear and loss of control over the body in the person who suffers. The trigger for this exacerbated fear can be objects, animals or everyday life situations, as long as they do not represent an objective danger.

In any of its manifestations, phobias generate great discomfort in the person and gradually undermine progressively their self-esteem, their personal autonomy and in general their health, both physical and psychological. However, it is not always easy for the person who suffers from a phobia to realize that he has developed a psychopathology of this kind.

In the case of macrophobia, or phobia of long waits, that line that separates the pathological, on the one hand, from the reasonable discomfort generated by a negative experience, on the other, is especially blurred. For this reason, in this article we will talk about this phenomenon taking into account its two aspects: the disorder phobic, and the tendency to feel bad if we do not make good use of time and avoid waiting at all coast.

• Related article: "Types of Phobias: Exploring Fear Disorders"

What is macrophobia?

The intense fear of long waits is known as macrophobia. This fear must be persistent, pervasive, irrational and unjustified. before any situation in which the person must wait for a more or less prolonged time.

It is a little-known phobia and therefore little studied, something that is not surprising if we take into account that there is a wide variety of phobias; and that is partly why it is difficult to differentiate between a tendency to impatience, on the one hand, and macrophobia, on the other.

As a disorder, macrophobia can be caused by the experience of a traumatic event on the part of the person, who has helplessly experienced a very distressing or stressful event that he associates with the experience of having to wait. However, In general, phobias do not have a single cause nor are they necessarily derived from a specific experience, being rather multicausal.

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Symptoms and characteristics of macrophobia

These are the main characteristics of macrophobia, the symptoms associated with phobias in general (in most cases only the triggering situation varies).

1. Anxiety

The investigation that has been carried out in this regard indicates that macrophobia usually occurs in people who are anxious, insecure, or impatient.

This psychological profile is propitious for a person to despair and end up losing control in the face of a waiting situation in your daily life, whatever the time and place, and within the circumstances that be.

• Related article: "What is anxiety: how to recognize it and what to do"

2. irrational fear

Like any other phobia that can be diagnosed as such, macrophobia is characterized by generating an irrational fear of waiting situations, that is, any time in life when one must wait for a relatively long period of time.

This phobia can be triggered, for example, in a hospital waiting room; in any government building where we have to wait our turn or in any other situation of daily life in which a waiting situation is involved.

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3. Easy to suffer other psychological affectations

Most phobias end up generating a notable psychological affectation in the person who suffers from them and can often be that not only one psychological disorder develops, but more than one, and that these interrelate and act in a joint.

For example, if a person tends to be anxious in their daily lives and develops a case of macrophobia, they may also end up developing an addiction.

4. physical affectation

The aforementioned psychological affectation increases progressively over time, which in turn can lead to physical problems of all kinds in the person with macrophobia.

These physical alterations are related to the intense fatigue that the person may end up feeling, with a general tiredness, insomnia, headaches, sweating while waiting and a wide variety of physical symptoms that may be to a greater or lesser extent.

5. social affectation

As also happens in most phobias, macrophobia is usually also linked to an alteration in the social life of the person, since his fear of being in waiting situations where there are also other people can make him vary his habits social.

That's why it's so important Contact a psychology professional when we feel that we can present this type of alteration, since with your help we will be able to overcome it successfully.

What to do with those symptoms?

To be diagnosed, macrophobia must present, like all phobias, a series of symptoms well differentiated that indicate us without fear of being wrong that we are facing this type of disturbance. This diagnosis can only be made by health professionals, and in any case, the person is not diagnosed with the concept of "macrophobia" but with specific phobia.

In the event that someone presents any symptoms that may be associated with an anxiety disorder, it is important to correctly assess whether these if you have a case of macrophobia or if you are simply impatient (perhaps due to another psychopathology that does not fall into the category of phobias). The good news is that phobic disorders respond very well to psychological therapy, and with professional support it is possible to overcome them in a few months.

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How is it related to impatience?

As we have seen, it is not easy to identify macrophobia; It could even be said that there are certain social dynamics that push us to experience waiting in a negative way, enhancing impatience. In a society where many people feel guilty or anxious if they don't spend every minute of their day wisely, psychologically managing a wait can be quite a challenge.

Thus, there are several aspects that can lead us to feel anguish if we have to wait, such as:

• Tendency to procrastinate and leave tasks until the last moment
• Excessive perfectionism applied to work
• addiction to work
• Work stress
• Reconciliation problems. Tendency to compare our lives with others

Do you want to have professional psychological assistance?

If you want to learn how to overcome psychological problems such as phobias or anxiety disorders in general, contact me.

My name is Ignacio Garcia Vincent and I am an expert psychologist in anxiety problems; I attend in person and online.