MEGALOPHOBIA: what is it, causes, symptoms and treatment

Have you ever felt intense discomfort from large objects? Have you avoided situations in which these objects were present? If your answer is yes to any of these questions, you may be experiencing megalophobia.

Specific phobias are anxiety disorders whose phobic object (what causes you fear) is very limited. These are fears that are very circumscribed to certain stimuli such as animals, objects or even situations.

Megalophobia is not very common among the population, however, it is possible that at some point we have experienced something similar. In this Psychology-Online article, we talk about what is megalophobia, its causes, symptoms and treatment.

Index

1. What is megalophobia?
2. Diagnosis of megalophobia
3. Symptoms of megalophobia
4. Causes of megalophobia
5. Treatment.

The megalophobia consists of the experimentation of a intense fear of large objectsThis is, for example, before large buildings such as skyscrapers, large cars such as trucks, large buildings such as ships or even before objects such as large sculptures.

The fearLike any emotion, it has been crucial in the survival of the human being in particular and of the human species in general. Sometimes we are afraid of situations, objects, animals, etc. that they do not pose a real danger, which is known as irrational fear. In certain cases, these fears can be experienced so intensely that interfere with our daily lives.

Megalophobia would fall within the specific phobias, a kind of anxiety disorder collected in the main classifications of disorders: DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association) and ICD-11 (World Health Organization). In them, the object that provokes the intense fear is very delimited.

Fear of large things can be mild, that is, it can cause us some discomfort but it does not interfere with our daily life. We do not avoid situations in which such danger may appear or we anticipate, accompanied by great discomfort, situations in which we may find ourselves with large objects.

When would we talk about specific phobia disorder? To do this, we turn to DSM-5 diagnostic classification manuals (American Psychiatric Association)^[1]and ICD-11 (World Health Organization)^[2], in which we find its main characteristics:

• First of all, of course large objects should always cause intense fear or anxiety.
• Exposure to large objects it is avoided. If you resist, you will always be experiencing great discomfort.
• The danger we perceive is disproportionate to reality.
• Hard fear, anxiety, or avoidance at least six months if we attend the DSM-5 or for a long period of time (several months) according to the ICD-11.
• Fear, anxiety or avoidance negatively interfere with our daily lives or cause clinically significant discomfort.
• Fear of large objects is not better explained in the context of other disorders (for example, under the influence of substances in which perception may be altered).

The symptoms that people with megalophobia will show, following Sosa, C.D. and Capafóns, J.I. (2014)^[3], covers the physiological, cognitive and motor area. Next we will see the symptoms of this phobia classified:

At the physiological level

The physiological symptoms that can appear in megalophobia are:

• Tachycardia
• Elevated blood pressure
• Sweating
• Sickness
• Diarrhea
• Inhibition of saliva

At the motor level

The behavioral symptoms of a phobia of big things are:

• Avoidance or flight of places or situations in which there are large buildings or large feared objects.

At a cognitive level

The symptoms of cognitive megalophobia are:

• Negative beliefs in relation to their interaction with large objects and their own coping capacity.

There are several theories about how the phobia that we expose below could develop.

Cognitive-behavioral theories

Broadly speaking, these theories postulate that the fear response is acquired by classical conditioning, namely, the large object is associated with aversive stimuli. Fear is then maintained by operant conditioning, that is, by avoiding exposure to large objects they decrease our anxiety symptoms, which reinforces our avoidance behavior and makes it more likely that we will repeat this behavior in a future.

In addition, irrational thoughts or beliefs about the danger that large objects can pose could be involved.

The vicarious conditioning It could also influence the development of phobia, that is, acquire a fear of large objects observing said fear in other people.

Biological theories

Biological hypotheses support the existence of an evolutionary predisposition for the development of phobias. Remember that fear (like the rest of emotions) has been fundamental for human evolutionary development. In this sense, it is possible that the person may feeling helpless around large objects from which, under any adverse circumstance, it would be difficult for us to defend ourselves or flee.

There are also theories that point to a genetic predisposition for the development of phobias, as shown by studies with families.

Integrative theories

Finally, we find theories such as Barlow's (seen in Sosa, C.D. and Capafóns, J.I., 2014), which take into account biological, psychological and social factors to explain the origin of phobias.

The cognitive behavioral therapy It would be the one indicated for the treatment of specific phobias. Among them, we find the techniques that are exposed below and among which the exposure technique stands out.

1. Psychoeducation

Psychoeducation is the first step to overcome megalophobia. Explaining to the patient what is happening and why it is happening can help her attitude towards the treatment to be collaborative and increase her commitment.

2. Long-term exposure to large objects

The anxiety response does not last long. Think that your body is using many resources to survive, so we will not be able to last long in this state. If you expose yourself to large objects for a long time, your anxiety level will decrease..

Of course, we must avoid taking anxiolytics and flee during exposure. We will help each other, yes, of relaxation techniques previously learned. You can start practicing relaxation with the guided session that you will find at the end of this video.

The exhibition can be in imagination or live, virtual reality has even been introduced as a tool to implement the technique (although it does not completely replace the live exhibition).

3. Cognitive techniques

These techniques can be used as a complement to the presentation to work on thoughts and Irrational beliefs that the patient may present regarding the danger of large objects.

4. Pharmacology

Pharmacological treatment for specific phobia consists of the administration of anxiolytics, among which are the benzodiazepines, As the diazepam, the clonazepam, the alprazolam and the bromazepam.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Megalophobia: what is it, causes, symptoms and treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

1. American Psychiatric Association (2014). DSM-5. Reference guide to the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-5-Breviary. Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana.
2. World Health Organization (WHO) (2018) International Classification of Diseases, 11th revision. Recovered from https://icd.who.int/es
3. Sosa, C.D. and Capafóns, J.I. (2014) Specific phobia. In Caballo, V.E., Salazar, I.C. And Carrobles, J.A. (2014) Manual of Psychopathology and Psychological Disorders. Madrid. Pyramid.