Megalophobia is characterized by panic and irrational fear of big things and large objects. Skyscrapers, big car, airport, airplane, shopping mall, etc. Faced with an immensity that will seem – or will be – larger than his own person, a megalophobe will be plunged into a state of unspeakable anguish.

It’s about the phobia of sizes, but also things that can appear unusually big in a specific environment. Like the enlarged image of a food item on an advertising billboard, for example.

Fear of being crushed, of getting lost in the immensity, of being caught up in the extremely great, the anxieties of the person suffering from megalophobia are numerous and can be important enough to become handicapping on a daily basis. Some patients prefer to stay at home in a place that they consider to be a safe cocoon in order to avoid the sight of a building, a statue or an advertisement.

While it is difficult to pinpoint a cause by which to explain megalophobia, it may be thought that, like many phobias and anxiety disorders, it develops as a result of a traumatic event that took place in childhood or in childhood. ‘adulthood.

Trauma most often due to large objects, a feeling of significant anxiety in front of an adult or in an excessively large place. A child who is lost in a shopping center, for example, may develop anxiety at the idea of ​​entering a building of several thousand square meters. 

If you suffer or think you suffer from megalophobia, it is important to consult a specialist doctor who can confirm or make a diagnosis and thus set up support. 

A megalophobic person suffers from panic fear that can interfere with everyday life. Avoidance strategies punctuate the daily life of the patient, to the point of pushing him into isolation in order to protect himself from a possible anxiety disorder. 

The phobia of grandeur manifests itself in several physical and psychological symptoms, including:

• Inability to face something big; 
• Trembling; 
• Palpitations ; 
• Crying; 
• Hot flashes or cold sweats; 
• Hyperventilation ; 
• Dizziness and in the most important cases malaise; 
• Nausea; 
• Sleeping troubles ; 
• Brutal and irrational anguish; 
• Fear of dying.

Treatment is tailored to the individual and the severity of symptoms. You may find help from a healthcare professional to get started:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT: it combines the exposure and distancing of paralyzing thoughts through relaxation and mindfulness techniques;
• A psychoanalysis: the phobia is the symptom of a malaise. Psychoanalytic treatment will help the patient to understand the origins of his panic fear by exploring his subconscious;
• Drug therapy may be recommended in the treatment of megalophobia to reduce physical symptoms of anxiety and negative intrusive thoughts;
• Hypnotherapy: the patient is immersed in a modified state of consciousness making it possible to influence and work on the perception of a fear.