The NHS describes phobias as a prevalent form of anxiety disorder that can impact anyone, irrespective of age, gender, or social status.
When confronted with feared situations, individuals might experience symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, upset stomach, sweating, heart palpitations, or trembling.
Although aerophobia, the fear of flying, is a prevalent fear, a particular video on Twitter showing a plane has sparked a different form of anxiety.
The video captures the silhouette of a large jet plane cutting through the fog and seemingly flying low above the ground.
It’s the imposing size of the aircraft that has left viewers feeling uneasy.
The discussion on social media points to megalophobia as the source of this unease, which is essentially a ‘fear of large objects’.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, individuals with this unusual phobia experience ‘an intense fear of large objects,’ including structures like skyscrapers, airplanes, ships, stadiums, and statues.
This phobia also encompasses vast natural landscapes such as mountains, volcanoes, lakes, oceans, and even large animals like elephants and whales.
Megalophobia can manifest when individuals encounter these objects or even think about them.
Those afflicted by megalophobia often steer clear of situations or places where large objects are present.
The Twitter thread compiles numerous examples of these intimidatingly large scenarios, ranging from the overhead jet to massive ships, the Egyptian pyramids, large transport trucks, bridges, and the Bodhisattva Kannon statue in Sendai, Japan.
The thread also showcases a 1979 photo of a window cleaner at the Twin Towers and the abandoned Goldin Finance 117 building in China, standing at 597 meters as the tallest abandoned structure globally.
Nature itself can make us feel insignificant, with sights like the Sorvagsvatn lake in the Faroe Islands, which appears to hang over the ocean, and an underwater waterfall in Mauritius creating optical illusions that seem to pull the island into a ‘drain’, along with Norway’s 604-meter rock offering a daunting view.
The man-made Bingham Copper Mine in Utah, the world’s largest excavation and deepest open-pit mine, also unsettles some individuals.
The Twitter discussion has led many to realize they may also have this phobia.
Sally Tanner commented: “Omg! Yes! I have a huge fear over large ocean liners and especially the underneath of ships.”
Another Twitter user, Julie, said: “I was today years old when I learned I have Megalophobia.
“My heart rate increased as my stomach ‘dropped’ with each image/video.”
Some users noted that the fear stems not from the size of the objects, but rather ‘it’s that we are small’.
Others mentioned that the airplane in the fog serves as a ‘perfect example’ of this fear.
The positive aspect is that megalophobia can be diagnosed and potentially treated through exposure therapy. To pursue treatment, one must have experienced a ‘persistent fear and anxiety of large objects for at least six months’ and find that it interferes with daily life.