This Online Group Posts Pics Of Massive Things That Are A Big ‘Nope’ For People With Megalophobia
People can be afraid of many things, from darkness to spiders, to you name it. Some of these fears are totally irrational, others come from our childhoods and creep in well into our adult lives. One of such bizarre fears is megalophobia.
Think of large objects like huge cruise ships, animals, skyscrapers, underwater structures, and even statues. Now imagine how’d they look if they were bigger. If the thought of it makes your hair stand on your arm, you may also have some traits of megalophobia.
And this subreddit named r/Megalophobia puts a test on your fear of large objects because it offers one hell of a collection. “A place to post images of all things large, particularly ones that are "triggers" for those with megalophobia,” says their description and 340k devoted members are nodding their heads. Scroll down and upvote the most triggering images below!
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The Kelpies, Scotland, During Thunderstorm
This Underwater “Waterfall” Is Giving Me Anxiety
that moment when you don't have megalophobia but you do have thalassophobia (fear of deep dark water). Lmao kinda awkward.
Astronaut Bruce Mccandless II Floats Untethered Away From The Safety Of The Space Shuttle, With Nothing But His Manned Maneuvering Unit Keeping Him Alive. The First Person In History To Do So
To find out more about megalophobia, which is a fear of large objects, Bored Panda reached out to Francis Merson, a clinical psychologist and founder of the Paris Psychology Centre who happily shared his expertise on the phobia.
"Megalophobia is a fear of anything really, really big – from skyscrapers to jumbo jets,” Francis explained and added that “phobias generally have their roots in our evolutionary history, reflecting phenomena that posed a real danger to our ancestors.”
“The classic examples are phobias of heights, snakes, spiders, etc. And Megalophobia is no exception to this trend,” Francis explained.
Redwood Trees
I love everything about it, the tree, the car, the lady chillin'..
This Is Just One Picture
It took me a minute to realize it was not actually two photos, then another minute to process it.
Mt Fuji As Seen From A Nearby Town
Francis argues that in a state of nature, “things that are larger are often more dangerous: insects are afraid of lizards, who are afraid of birds, who are afraid of humans, who are afraid of tigers. Large inanimate objects are also heavy and can crush you. In megalophobia, this primal fear of bigness is projected on the large objects of everyday life.”
The clinical psychologist said that if you find yourself “trembling and wanting to run away in the presence of an elephant at the zoo, or at the foot of a mountain, this could potentially be a sign you have megalophobia.”
It Was Foggy In My Town The Other Day And I Captured This Terrifying Scene
Iceberg Passing A House In Greenland
A Full-Sized School Bus Next To Haul Trucks
Went to a mine in Moranbah, Australia. These things are IMMENSE, so are the mining cranes.
When asked how do we know if a person who feels uneasy next to large objects really has megalophobia, Francis said that it manifests as an “intense anxiety that is out of proportion to the actual danger over a period of at least six months.” This is because “megalophobia falls under the category of a Specific Phobia – an intense fear of a specific type of stimulus.” Only if it corresponds to the kind of disproportionate extreme anxiety which lasts for long periods, it can be qualified “as a full-blown mental disorder.”
That Small Dot Is Mercury In Front Of Sun. Definitely Unsettling
It's not unsettling, we need that very large, hot, bright thing. Alas, In the UK we only get to see it a couple of times a year, if lucky.
Anyone Going On Vacation To Japan Soon? Want To Visit The Godzilla Museum?
A Bridge In Vietnam
Moreover, Francis added that in the case of megalophobia, “you would also have to either be avoiding large objects altogether or tolerating them with extreme distress. And this pattern would need to be causing interference in your everyday life.” Therefore, “feeling a bit queasy when gazing up at the Empire State Building is pretty normal. It’s when large objects freak you out so much that you can’t work, go on vacation, or otherwise function normally that we might begin talking about a Specific Phobia,” the clinical psychologist explained.
Whale Spine
It Is The Tallest Statue Of Nyoirin Kannon In The World, And The Tallest Statue Of A Goddess In Japan
When asked whether there are treatments for megalophobia, Francis said that “specific phobias generally respond well to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and particularly to a component called Graduated Exposure.” He added that “in the case of Megalophobia, this would involve gradually confronting larger and larger objects, and learning that you can cope at each step along the way.”
We also wondered whether exposure therapy is successful in treating megalophobia. Francis explained that it’s definitely considered as a first-line of treatment for phobias. “This means it’s the treatment with the strongest evidence to suggest it works, with some exposure studies reporting an 80-90% response rate (which is really high).”
Visually, Japanese Spider Crabs Really Are The Stuff Of Nightmares
'Fortunately facehuggers evolved longer legs, thereby making it harder to be impregnated with a xenomorph.'
This One Is Very Unsettling
Sequoia In A Coniferous Forest
Some giant sequoias in California forests/parks have just had their trunks wrapped with fire resistant blankets to try to save them from the wildfires here.
“However, because exposure involves getting people to do precisely the things that scare the crap out of them, there can be a fairly high drop-out rate,” he said. Therefore having a therapist you can trust to guide you through the process is key and can really help, according to Francis. “And if you stick with exposure, it’s the most powerful way there is to conquer your fears,” he added.
“So you might start with looking at pictures of tall buildings, then standing outside a large shopping mall, and gradually moving up the scale to mountains or skyscrapers. It’s like learning to swim by starting at the shallow end and very gradually going deeper.”
Francis concluded that if it feels like megalophobia is a problem for you, there’s no need to let it mess with your life. “Effective treatments are out there,” he assured.
This Is How Big Anchor Chains Are. It Makes Sense But Dang
Mola Mola: The World's Largest Bony Fish
This Saltwater Crocodile
To me, this is human hubris in a snapshot: instead of respecting the croc and leaving it alone, we treat it as a sideshow and get our kicks out of how close we are to danger, but apparently protected. What's really hurting us is our own massive arrogance.
Lochaber, Scotland 2021 By Mhg Photography
Italian Sculptor Lorenzo Quinn’s Massive New Sculpture
Trees Occasionally Beach Themselves In The Search For Food
I snort laughed at this one oh step into my parlour said the driftwood to the tiny man. LOL 🤣. )0(
The Size Of This Tornado Compared To The Wind Turbines
The Dragon's Eye Stone Mine In The UK
Saturn Rising Behind The Moon
King Albert's Tower. Person At The Base For Scale
A Waterspout In Florida
Always Forget How Massive These Supercarriers That America Builds Actually Are
On my device, the paddler looks a little like Bea Arthur from The Golden Girls.
Abandoned Movie Prop In A Mausoleum. Poland
Tokyo Flood Tunnels
Had To Search Up If It Was Real
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!! Australia, put that thing back where it came from or so help me!! (Oh, it's from Australia... than... have a nice day down there.)
Well Yes, But Actually No *shiver*
What I would pay to be able to read the minds of other drivers as you drove that down the highway.
The View From This Apartment In Dubai
Terrifying
So I Herd U Like Salt Mines...
Mt. St Helens Eruption, 1980
Creeping Up
A Mountain Of Timber. All Stacked & Unstacked By Hand
Massive Building
The Sheer Scale Of An Open Pit Diamond Mine Compared To The Surrounding Town
Diamonds as ornamentation need to be a thing of the past. I know diamonds are still needed for machinery, but the process is so destructive, they should at least be phased out of the jewelry industry.
Girl Poses Next To A F1 Tornado A Mile Away
2000+ Metre Tsunami Looking Mountain In Kazbeghi
This Huge Road
Imagine the stress of moving from the outside lane to the inside lane.
This Abandoned Power Plant
This Picture Of The Empire State Building From Nj Gives Me A Weird Feeling
It Really Gives It A Sense Of Its Scale. Look At Those Itty Bitty People. (Statue Of Unity, If You Haven't Seen It. Nearly 600' Tall)
Bagger 288, The World's Largest Land Vehicle
Victor’s Way Sculpture Park In Ireland
Crystals In This Mexican Cave Grow Up To 11m Long, And Weigh Up To 55 Tons
I saw a documentary about this. It's so hot in there you can only be in there for like 10 minutes. (sans suit)
Tallest Statue In Africa
That's A Big Honking Nope
This is Bregenz, Austria. A theater right on Lake Constance. They perform operas there while the orchestra is sitting in a hall about 1,5km away. Amazing how they synchronize the vocals to the orchestra!!!
These Powerlines Showing The Curvature Of The Earth Really Drives The Point Home We Are Living On The Most Monstrously Large Object Any Of Us Have Ever Seen.
They are so heavy that they bend down the edge of the earth! Nice try, round-earther..hihihi
This Circular Building In China Is Masssssive
Worlds Largest Single Firework Shell
Funny Yet Terrifying
Bigger Than I Thought
my mom grew up in iowa on a farm, so i used to go all the time, and there were so many close to the farm she grew up on that we visited, and i went upt to them, it was crazy especially since i was like 7 first.
Just An Iceburg Casually Strolling By.
Lady Buddha Statue Located At Linh Ung Pagoda, Da Nang, Vietnam
Langfossen In Åkrafjorden, Norway. Stupid Amounts Of Water With The Melt This Time Of The Year
Railway Bridge In Nairobi National Park, Kenya
Never Realized These Were That Big
The Norwegian «troll» Platform. It Is The Largest Moveable Object Created By Mankind. (In This Image, It Is Not Submerged)
At Tillamook Air Museum, Home Of The Largest Wooden Hangar Ever Built, Intended To House Us Navy Blimps, Someone Hung Up A 192-Foot High Basketball Hoop.
I will have to check that place out next time I'm in Tillamook! Usually I visit the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinville, where the Spruce Goose is. (That sucker's enormous too...)
This Gets Me Every Time
Winter In Paris.
The Buildings In The Background
This Is The Motherland Calls In Russia. It Stands At 279ft Tall (85m)
1,320-Ton God Of War Statue In China
Big Boats Have Big Propellers. Imagine Seeing This From Underwater While Diving.
Scares The Shit Outta Me Every Time
Golden God
Too High
The Way It Blocks The Sun Is Just Terrifying
Beirut port explosion on the 4th of August 2020. One of the biggest non-nuclear explosions in history. It claimed the lives of more than 218 people, more than 7.000 injured and around 300.000 people became homeless. All of that and no one was held responsible or taken to court!!!
House Near A Plantation
Just Passing By
Here’s A Terrifying Underwater Oil Rig
Saturn Enigmatic Hurricane, Twice The Size Of Earth
I Pass This Everyday On My Way To College , But The Fog Makes It Seem Like It's Straight Out From A Movie
One Of Two Spillway Tunnels At Hoover Dam On The Arizona/Nevada Border. 50 Feet Wide And 600 Feet Deep, You Can Hear Rushing Water Down In The Darkness. The Walkway Above Gives A Sense Of Scale.
The Inside Of 160 000m³ Lng Containment Tank
Boat Under The Bridge
Yall I know this isn't water but thalassophobia update: this affected me majorly for no reason.
Amoco Cadiz
26ft Tall Marilyn Monroe Statue That Ended Up In A Dump
A 35 Story Tall Nuclear Cooling Tower
I Do Not Like It.
Most of these are perfect examples of why we've completely effed up the planet.
I knew I got a weird feeling in my stomach when I would see things like this but I never realized there was a name for it. I'm more fascinated than phobic by most of those images but it doesn't erase the almost sick feeling,
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Most of these are perfect examples of why we've completely effed up the planet.
I knew I got a weird feeling in my stomach when I would see things like this but I never realized there was a name for it. I'm more fascinated than phobic by most of those images but it doesn't erase the almost sick feeling,
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