Megalophobia: causes and treatments for fear of large objects. Megalophobia: the root of the problem and methods of treatment

Megalophobia is a disorder in which a person is terrified of large objects.

Being close to a large natural or man-made object causes conflicting feelings in people. Someone admires, someone is shy from the realization of their fragility and vulnerability, and someone feels uncontrollable fear. Anxiety and an overwhelming desire to move away from an object of impressive size is a symptom of megalophobia.

Causes

The main reason for the development of megalophobia is children's fear provoked by a large object.

Also in the formation of a phobia important role play fantasies and features of children's perception of reality. In an adult-friendly world, even home furnishings are dominated by large objects.

Concerning himself, fragile and short, the child sees these objects as huge. The outlines of an object that have arisen in the dark, its fall, movement or the sound emanating from it can scare the baby. Failure to understand the cause of what is happening increases children's fear.

In addition, from the age of 3 to 7 years, the child actively develops imagination. The kid is able to endow a frightening object with non-existent negative characteristics. And the inability to clearly separate fiction and reality gives rise to a conviction in the seriousness of the danger emanating from the object.
Able to scare the baby and large moving technical means.

The child cannot always determine the trajectory of the machine, and also does not always see the person controlling the vehicle. In the eyes of a child, a metal structure turns into an unpredictable living being.

In very rare cases, megalophobia can develop in the absence of negative experience in past. In such cases, the phobia is based on instinctive anxiety when approaching large objects.

The objects of phobic fear include:

high-rise buildings, high-rise buildings,
sculptures and monuments,
transport (plane, ferry, train),
large technical facilities
ancient trees,
large animals,
People tall(in severe cases of phobia).

Symptoms of megalophobia:

palpitations or pain in the heart
feeling of dry mouth,
dyspnea,
disorientation,
bouts of nausea,
stiffness or numbness of the limbs.

Manifestation of megalophobia

The manifestation of an anxiety disorder can vary somewhat.. In some cases, particularly strong negative emotions cause moving objects. To the possessors of a developed imagination, inanimate mechanisms seem alive and capable of harm. The realization that the object is controlled does not help to cope with fear.

It may also seem to Magelophobes that a monument or statue will come to life and the persecution will begin. When approaching the object of fear, a person has a strong desire to run away or hide. But at the same time, being in home environment, people feel an overwhelming need to look at photographs of frightening objects.

Given anxiety disorder often accompanied by nightmares.
It may seem to a megalophobe that a plane flying at a low altitude will definitely fall, and a train will inevitably derail.

Development of megalophobia

With absence timely treatment the disorder progresses. Gradually, the range of objects can expand, alarming. Fear can also change and be complicated by new elements. For example, in addition to the fear of high-rise buildings, the fear of being buried under the rubble of a collapsed building is added.

Megalophobia can provoke the development of claustrophobia. This is due to the fact that being in close proximity to a large object, a person feels as if in a limited space.

The consequence of a phobic disorder may be a neurosis-like state.

Treatment

Megalophobia is a rare but easily diagnosed and treatable disorder. Exposure is the main method of dealing with this phobia. The purpose of the specialist's work is to help the patient get used to the object of fear and stop the appearance of negative emotions. In the course of treatment, the patient looks at photographs of large objects and imagines meeting them.

It should be firmly fixed in the mind of a megalophobe that statues are not able to come to life, massive moving objects do not purposefully pursue people, and multi-storey buildings do not collapse without serious reasons.

The treatment can also be used computer simulation. plunging into virtual reality, the patient finds himself in an uncomfortable situation and tries to find a way out of it (together with a psychotherapist).

If a person has learned to control his emotions, daily walks past the object of fear can be recommended. To begin with, the patient must walk past a large object without looking up at it. Then a person learns to linger for a short time near a frightening object. On final stage, having gradually learned to cope with experiences, the megalophobe can already well consider the previously disturbing object.

Drug treatment is prescribed in cases where neuroses, sleep disorders, increased anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder. Preference is given to light drugs. Appointment of the oppressors nervous system drugs are not welcome.
Additional treatments include breathing exercises, meditation, relaxing baths.

The tallest statues in the world

Megalophobia not only seriously complicates life, but also deprives a person of the opportunity to admire world-famous sights.

Sculptural structures are distinguished by their incredible size and grandeur. Eastern peoples. For example, in Myanmar, a 116-meter figure of a standing Buddha was erected. At the time of discovery (February 21, 2008), the statue was the tallest sculpture in the world.

No less impressive is the Chinese "Buddha of the Spring Temple". The height of the religious figure is 128 meters.
The statue of Buddha Amitabha (Ushiku Daibuzu), located in Japan, is the tallest bronze statue in the world. The figure was erected in 1995, the height of the Buddha is 100 meters.

The fear of large objects is called megalophobia. Fear can cause various items- airplanes, skyscrapers, wide corridors, tall trees etc. If the disease is not overcome in time, the symptoms of the phobia will progress over the years, which will eventually lead to a reclusive life. With each time the fear will start to cause everything large quantity items.

Megalophobia - fear of large objects

Causes

Fear of large objects is diagnosed very simply. The phobia often appears in childhood. Not every parent pays attention to the experiences of their child, and fears, not being eliminated in time, develop into phobic disorders. In childhood, a person lives in his own special world, in which inanimate objects can come to life. In the child's mind, huge, frightening objects undergo hypertrophy. As a result, the fear of a dark corridor or a closed door begins to acquire additional details that turn into a full-fledged phobia.

Children's fear can turn into a phobia

Without proper treatment, fear will spread to all large objects. The most common object is an airplane. For the most part, objects in the patient's subconscious acquire new possibilities over time. In the case of a ship, there is a fear of drowning; with a fear of skyscrapers, there is a fear of being buried alive under the ruins. The patient is fully aware that just like that the house cannot collapse, and the ship will not sink, but he cannot do anything with the reaction of his body.

One example of megalophobia is the fear of being chased by large objects (airplane, train). When fearing cultural monuments, there are fears that they will come to life and cause harm, the phobia is especially aggravated in dark time days.

Symptomatic picture

The fear of everything big, like other phobias, has a clearly defined symptomatic picture, the main manifestation of which is a panic attack. In especially severe cases, there is a complete loss of control over a person's actions and behavior. a clear sign fear is heaviness in the legs, numbness of the limbs, convulsions, epileptic seizures, spasms.

Symptoms of megalophobia:

tachycardia;
respiratory failure;
pressure in the area chest;
loss in space;
increased sweating;
dizziness;
stomach spasm.

In a calm environment, patients are fully aware of the absurdity of their behavior and its causes. At the sight of a high-rise building, megalophobes are terrified, causing a wild desire to run away and hide. Such people have one feature that distinguishes them from patients with other phobias. At home, they have an obsessive desire to look at pictures with frightening objects. The experience of wild horror does not deter them from viewing thematic pictures.

Consequences

The fear of large or huge architectural objects must be treated in time, otherwise it will lead to disastrous consequences. First of all, it destroys ties with society. Patients are always aware of the absurdity of their behavior and are afraid to show feelings in front of acquaintances, unfamiliar, and even more so. strangers which further aggravates their condition. In this case, relatives who have noticed the symptoms of the disease can help.

A terrible consequence of megalophobia is the appearance of secondary phobias, as well as more severe mental disorders. Patients are often tormented by nightmares in which they are followed by planes, trains, or houses where they are destroyed.

Nightmares are a symptom of fear

Principles of treatment

Treatment of a phobic disorder begins with looking for the causes. It is very important to understand what and at what age served as an impetus for the development of neurosis. It is preferable to start treatment in childhood, when the behavior is easiest to correct. The treatment of a phobia does not imply a complete elimination of fear, it is a paramount instinct that helps a person survive and adapt to any conditions.

The principles of therapy are to adapt a person to a stressor, in specific case, large items. To eliminate severe symptoms neurosis, in conjunction with psychological moderation is used drug therapy. Drugs are selected depending on the intensity of manifestations. light shape megalophobia is usually treated with the lungs sedatives on plant-based. They improve sleep, relieve anxiety and practically do not cause side effects, except in cases of individual intolerance. Among the light sedatives, the most popular are:

valerian;
"Persen";
"Fitosed";
"Sedavit".

In severe cases, tranquilizers, antidepressants, barbiturates are used. All these groups of drugs are not recommended to be taken for a long time, because they are addictive and have a bad effect on the patient's health. Usually barbiturates or tranquilizers are used when necessary to eliminate panic attack if patients need to travel by plane or ship. The most powerful tranquilizer used most often is Phenozepam. Its analogue, but with a shorter duration, is Nozepam. Both of them have a pronounced anticonvulsant, myo-relaxation effect on the body. Cause severe drowsiness.

Anxiolytics for disorders of mental balance

As part of complex therapy patients are taught to cope with stress and its consequences through relaxation, which includes several methods.

Meditation.
Breathing exercises.
Soothing baths.

Fear Correction

Fear correction, or adaptation to a stressor in a different way, can be done privately or in groups. Psychologists, after finding out the reasons, suggest that patients imagine themselves in a stressful situation for them, for example, on board a ship. You need to visualize your behavior when you see him. All sensations are discussed with a psychologist or in a group.

At the next stage, patients are given homework assignments. Patients are offered to take a walk next to the ship or high-rise building. It is expedient to apply the method only when the doctor is completely sure that the patient is able to control himself and his psycho-emotional state from this will not be aggravated, the phobia will not win. Sometimes, before a real meeting with the object of fear, patients visualize the stressor using computer moderation, which allows them to see if the person is ready to face his fear with his own eyes.

At the last stage, the results are summarized. main goal treatment is the transfer of acquired skills into reality.

A person must learn to live next to his fear and tame its manifestations.

Unfortunately, in school courses, even in the presence of such a subject as psychology, no one practices teaching relaxation methods - relaxing the mind and body. Phobic disorders worsen with age. A person is exposed to stress every day, and the central nervous system does not have time to regenerate its tissues when accelerated rhythm life. The deterioration of its functionality leads to the emergence of various fears, because the body begins to react to any stimulus, as if potential danger capable of taking life.

Relaxation can help relieve the symptoms of a phobia

Emotion control and physical condition helps to reduce the impact of stress on the body and recover without help medicines. One of the methods of treatment of neuroses is meditation. This the only way treatment nervous disorders V mild form, not requiring additional methods treatment and adjustment. Sit on a chair or lie on the floor, imagine that your body is dissolving into the air. Feel like a small speck of dust. Breathe evenly, measuredly. At the very beginning of the procedure, focus only on breathing, try to drive away all thoughts from yourself. It's quite difficult, because they will still come. Each time you need to bring your mind back to breath control. So the patient learns to quickly switch attention from the stressor to breathing, controlling the state of his body and thoughts.

A good method of visualizing a place in which a person feels protected. Patients are asked to imagine conditions in a calm environment that will contribute to his comfort. With the ability to quickly abstract away from a stressful situation, a person will be able to quickly transfer himself mentally to another place and completely calm his thoughts.

Self-treatment

Megalophobia, according to the psychologist, can be defeated on your own if the patient is aware of his actions and understands that his fear is absurd. It is not recommended to constantly look at pictures with frightening objects. This will only aggravate the condition. The first step to recovery is not to think about fear, not to focus your attention on it.

Home therapy is no different from medical therapy and involves gradual adaptation to the subject of fear. You can walk past a large statue every day or high building in the city, but don't look at it. When the brain gets used to not noticing this object, you can begin to linger near it for a longer time without looking at it. Over time, the patient will be able to look at the subject of fear without fear.

Conclusion

Megalophobia is a severe phobic disorder from childhood. With timely detection and the desire of the patient to be cured, it can be perfectly corrected even without the help of a psychologist. In an advanced case, it can lead to serious disorders psyche, prolonged depression, suicidal tendencies.

Pathological fears, united in this group, are directed to specific material objects perceived by patients as objects of the highest danger. Many of these phobias are real reason for occurrence. As a rule, this is a negative situation that happened to a person in childhood, in which some object caused a strong fright or harmed health.

So, one of the most common diseases - (fear sharp objects) often occurs after experienced stressful situations with traumatic consequences, when there was real threat human life (attack by criminals, participation in a fight). Also, the background for the development of a fear of sharp objects is quite often tested and fixed pain resulting from careless handling of cutting and piercing objects. The peculiarity of eichmophobia is the addition of a number of additional fears over time (for example, fear of weapons). Moreover, these specific fears in a severe form of the disease can be transformed into obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Among the fears of objects, there are also quite “global” anxieties aimed at objects that the individual has never come into contact with in reality (for example: atomic bomb). So, in case nucleomituphobia(fear of nuclear weapons and war), various terrifying stories arise in the human imagination, the central place in which is given to the course and consequences of a nuclear war. As a result of the impact of such intrusive thoughts, the patient cannot control and be aware of his actions, as he is convinced that all his actions are aimed at saving his own life.

The appearance of an irrational fear of objects is often preceded by overindulgence mysticism. Often, a pathological fear of mirrors (spectrophobia) and a fear of touching glass and crystal (crystallophobia) arise against the background of a close study by the patient of various superstitions, predictions, prophecies. A fairly common fear of dolls and other artificial imitations of living beings (pediophobia) can also be attributed to an overabundance of hobbies in the occult sciences.

Of the fears formed in childhood, it is worth highlighting necrophobia - the fear of corpses. Those suffering from this disorder at the sight of dead body can feel not only dizziness, nausea, palpitations, but also lose consciousness.

A fair number of "color" phobias associated with fear of certain color, among which: melanophobia, porphyrophobia, xanthophobia, leucophobia. Some fears are aimed at the size and shape of objects, for example: asymmetry, microphobia, megalophobia. A separate group of patients is afraid and avoids cars ( motorophobia) or bicycles ( cyclophobia).

With the rapid development of the pharmacological industry, the emergence of a relatively “young” disorder, neopharmaphobia, can also be associated. With this ailment, the patient experiences an uncontrollable and inexplicable fear of new medications. Strong irrational anxiety occurs in frequently ill people, for whom, for health reasons, doctors are forced to prescribe new medicines. Getting rid of this disorder is extremely important and necessary, because this phobia can really lead to lethal outcome. And today, neo-pharmaphobia lends itself successful treatment psychotherapeutic techniques.

The modern world of anxiety-phobic disorders also presents strange "surprises". There is a pathological fear of money similar to the fear of wealth - chrometophobia. Unlike a plutophobe, a person suffering from this disorder is not afraid to get rich, often being a very wealthy person. He is experiencing severe anxiety at the sight of cash: banknotes or coins. Someone has a background for the development of the disease - excessive disgust, someone is afraid of an attempt because of large sum cash. There are also more exotic prerequisites: fear in officials be caught taking a bribe.

Psychiatry also describes other disorders associated with the requirements of civilization: technophobia(fear of technology) and its subspecies - cyberphobia(fear of computers). So, if it is necessary to use ATMs, gadgets or the Internet, patients experience severe physical ailment, often with a state of panic. Technophobia also has its own oddity: the disease is more common in excellent educated people with high intelligence. Such disorders force the patient to abandon the use of modern technical devices and have a negative attitude towards technical progress.

To cope with the fear of objects on your own, you need to reconsider and change your attitude towards these objects, find strong arguments about their naturalness, usefulness, convenience. If the disease is severe, then consultation and treatment by psychotherapists is indispensable.

Other object-related phobias:

aulophobia - fear of the flute
bibliophobia - fear of books
cyberphobia - fear of computers
megalophobia - fear of large objects
mechanophobia - fear of cars
microphobia - fear of small objects
papyrophobia - fear of paper
- fear of dolls
pteronophobia - fear of bird feathers
chronometrophobia - fear of clocks
cyclophobia - fear of two-wheeled vehicles
eisoptrophobia - fear of mirrors

Article rating:

General picture of the disease

Megalophobia is a common psychological disease that is fairly easy to diagnose by experienced professionals. People who are afraid of large objects afraid to approach big things. Annoying objects cause attacks of obsessive panic fear in a megalophobe.

This fear causes great inconvenience to patients. This is especially true for those people who live in big cities, because the metropolis is simply flooded with buildings of enormous size. What are skyscrapers, stadiums, supermarkets, busy highways with trucks passing by, and various monuments designed to decorate the city worth?

Progressive megalophobia can lead to the fact that a person refuses to go out into the street, where there are so many things that scare him. Having closed in the apartment, the patient will be left alone with an all-consuming fear that will slowly drive him crazy.

The main causes of a phobia

Megalophobia, like any other disease caused by obsessive fear, can develop according to various reasons. Psychologists identify several of the most common factors for the appearance of a phobia:

Childhood memories. According to experts, in 99% of cases, the disease is rooted in a person's childhood. After all, it is known that many ordinary objects seem to a small child just huge. The kid, left alone in a dark room, could be frightened of some thing that seemed gigantic to him due to the twilight. The first fright, of course, will pass, but the memory of it can haunt a person all his life. The result of such memories is often megalophobia.
Negative experience. A person may begin to experience fear of large objects when confronted with negative consequences from them. An accident involving a huge truck, a plane crash, the destruction of a multi-storey building, and other events that occurred in front of a person can cause seizures. obsessive fear. If during the tragic events he died close person, then the fear is almost inevitable.
Impressionability. Overly emotional and suspicious individuals with a weak psyche become an easy victim for outside influence. Various TV shows, news, films - all this can lead to unpredictable results. Disaster films are especially dangerous for such people, in which huge objects are often the cause of various horrors. Adolescents are most susceptible to outside influence. An incompletely formed psyche can give out a completely unpredictable reaction to the most harmless stories or TV shows.
Genetics. American scientists have found that in a family where one parent suffers from a phobia, the child runs the risk of inherited obsessive fear with a probability of 25%. When mom and dad are exposed to any kind of fear, the risk of developing the disease in a baby increases to 50%.

These are just the most common causes, which may develop psychological pathology. In fact, there are many more factors for the appearance of phobias. All of them depend on individual characteristics person.

Symptoms of obsessive fear

A phobia is not a disease that can be seen with the naked eye. Obsessive fear has no bright symptoms This is what makes him treacherous and dangerous. After all, the sooner the disease is detected, the faster and more effective the treatment will be. To understand that a loved one has become prone to attacks of obsessive fear, one should be attentive and observant . The most noticeable symptoms of megalophobia (and other psychological fears) are:

trembling in the body (easy to notice by the hands of a person);
constant sleepiness;
sleep disturbances, frequent awakenings;
excessive sweating;
nausea, which can turn into vomiting;
sudden change in temperature;
isolation;
obsessive thoughts about death and fear of it;
inappropriate behavior;
frequent headaches;
fear at the sight of large objects.

Almost all of these symptoms are inherent in all psychological diseases. However, there may be more. After all, the symptoms are directly related to the personality of the person. Noticing abnormal deviations in the behavior (both physical and psychological) of a relative or friend, you should act immediately.

Help Needed

Many people, faced with psychological problems, are lost and do not know how to respond to them. After all, the majority of the population rarely seeks help from such doctors as psychologist, psychotherapist and psychiatrist. By the way, people, as a rule, do not see a big difference between specialists in these areas.

What to do if a loved one suffers from megalophobia? How to help him and whom to contact? First of all, you should make an appointment with a psychotherapist. Megalophobia is quite common in modern world disease. It will not be difficult for an experienced specialist to find out its cause and provide qualified assistance. The most commonly used treatments for phobias are cognitive behavioral therapy, hypnotherapy, energy psychology, meditation, group therapy and medicines for correct human mind.

It should be noted that at an advanced stage of the disease, a psychotherapist is unlikely to help. With a severe form of a phobia, it is necessary to contact a practicing psychiatrist.

The specialist will select required method treatment aimed at alleviating the condition and removing aggression. Medicines for severe form phobias are a must.

Don't expect a quick recovery. Any psychological illness associated with the brain, and this organ is difficult to study. Treating megalophobia can take quite a while. long time. Be patient and wait for the first results to appear. They will not keep you waiting long: the patient's well-being will improve quite quickly. But a complete cure is a matter of time and qualifications of the doctor.

Another point to which you should be prepared is the unwillingness of the patient to seek help from a specialist. People suffering panic fear are usually aware of the abnormality of their condition. However, few of them quickly agree to treatment. Relatives have to go to various tricks so that a dear person still decides to visit the clinic.

However, it is strongly not recommended to delay the trip to the doctor. A phobia, like any disease associated with the human brain, can lead to severe consequences one of which is schizophrenia. As you know, this pathology is very dangerous and incurable.

The relatives of the patient should also provide him with proper care. Assistance of relatives in the recovery of the patient plays significant role. Psychologists recommend creating a calm environment for such a person and providing increased attention. Relaxing music, good films, walks on fresh air(preferably in secluded places), relaxing and soothing teas - all this will be very beneficial effect to the recovery process.

Everyone knows that a phobia is a fear, moreover, completely unfounded. Irrational fear arises when there is an imaginary threat to the existence of an organism, while a person suffering from a phobia is sure that his ideals and principles, and sometimes life itself, are also in danger. Such fears become a real problem, they constantly make themselves felt under various circumstances, and at the most inopportune time for this. Numerous studies have been conducted that have helped to understand the mechanism of action of a phobia. This fear is due inadequate response personality to a neutral stimulus. That is, a person is frightened by something that in reality is not at all scary and not dangerous. In this case, a person who is afraid of statues suffers from monumentophobia.

It should be emphasized that such a phobia is far from the last place, and there are great amount people who have high intelligence, they wrote scientific works on serious topics, but, nevertheless, they are monumentophobes. Moreover, perfectly understanding the absurdity of such an attitude towards statues and various sculptures, those suffering from monumentophobia in every possible way mask their fear, trying not to be noticed by others. Thus, a person can live with his phobia for many years, suffer from it, exhausting his nervous system and causing significant harm to it. Many are sure that given state over time, it will cease to be so sharp and disturbing, and the fear of the statues will imperceptibly melt away, as if it did not exist.

With such thoughts, those suffering from monumentophobia wait for recovery, and are even sure that everything is going as it should, until one day, quite by accident, moreover, in Once again, do not find themselves in a city square with a monument to Pushkin or another celebrity, and understand that dreams of healing with time are completely in vain. It is especially difficult for monumentophobes living in big cities. After all, in a metropolis, statues and sculptures are found everywhere. These are monuments in parks and squares, sculptural compositions at metro stations, memorial plaques with bas-reliefs on historical buildings.

Psychologists have no doubts about the emergence and development of monumentophobia, and they unequivocally state that this fear comes from childhood. But why is ordinary sculpture so scary, and why does it produce on kids similar effect? First of all, children are frightened by their own fragility and defenselessness, the statue seems unnatural, and at the same time unusually majestic, causing inner anxiety. It is known that the child's fantasy is practically unlimited, and mostly negative images are projected from the depths of the subconscious, thereby providing a reaction of absolutely uncontrollable fear. However, until a certain time, these are just images that live as if by themselves. Fear transforms into phobia when its presence interferes Everyday life person.

A special role in the development of monumentophobia is played by various films from the category of so-called horror stories, which for some reason young people love to watch so much, and every year more and more young viewers prefer horror films. Of course, psychologists have long proved that a certain amount of such fear is only good. healthy person, but this cannot be said about individuals with an overdeveloped imagination and weak nerves. Having seen enough wild scenes where statues come to life and pursue people, trying to take away their soul and instill it in themselves, the child begins to be very wary of any sculpture.

And the press, in which you can almost always find mystical story, about how the statue in the museum shed a tear, or its open stone eyes all of a sudden closed? Of course, such stories repeatedly stir up public interest in various exhibition items, and attract crowds of gullible tourists to such places. But certain part a population in which phobias appear at an incredible rate acquires a long-term dependence on monumentophobia. And of course, such a person in the future will in every possible way refuse to go to museums, interesting tourist trips, and other pleasures, since anywhere you can meet a mysterious statue that is closely watching him from under stone age, and tries to remember, then to find!

Phobia has not only a psychological component. The manifestation of this disorder is always indicated and autonomic symptoms which are very varied. But most often, there are signs such as heart palpitations, profuse sweating, redness of the face, trembling of the limbs. The person's mouth dries up, it becomes difficult to breathe, and it seems to him that he is suffocating. In the chest area, pain occurs, it can feel sick, dizziness is observed. To correct this condition, medical examination and expert advice. Phobias are treated by a psychotherapist, you can contact a psychiatrist. The success of treatment is largely due to timely appeal. A phobia gives up faster if you start treatment earlier, and do not postpone the solution of such a serious problem until later.