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Cacomorphobia – The Fear of Fat People


The Excessive Fear of Obese People

What is the first thing you experience when a fat or obese person approaches you? Does your heart race? Do you look for an escape?

Do you experience unexplained fear or disgust when you see someone overweight? Have you tried to control your anxiety around fat people and found that you just couldn’t? You may have a fear of fat people.

It might help you to know that there is a phobia for what you’re experiencing—it’s called cacomorphobia, or the fear of fat people.

What Is the Fear of Obese People Called?

Cacomorphobia is the term used for an extreme fear of fat people. Fearing fat people does not mean you discriminate against them. Although irrational, having a fear of overweight people is a legitimate phobia.

Let’s take a closer look at what this fear is. Knowing more about it will put you in a better place to cope with your fear.

What Fat Phobia Is All About

While some may simply not like overweight people, what you experience goes beyond having a personal dislike. Fat people trigger in you an unexplained and uncontrollable fear.

Cacomorphobia is different from the fear of obesity or fear of getting fat. The fear of obese people has to do with fearing the sight of fat people.

We encounter people of different shapes and sizes everywhere; this includes those who are overweight. As a matter of fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 70 percent of Americans are overweight or obese. This makes it difficult for someone with a fear of fat people to go about their day-to-day life without experiencing incidents of fear or anxiety.

What Causes Cacomorphobia?

For some, fat phobia is a media- or culture-induced fear. We rarely see fat people in movies and films, and when we do, they’re often portrayed in stereotype. We aren’t shown the human within the body shape. This can create misconceptions about those who are obese.

To understand your fear, however, you need to discover its root cause. Can you remember a traumatic experience with an obese person when you were younger? Like other phobias, negative experiences are often responsible for our fears.

You might have been bullied in school by a fat student. Perhaps you felt intimidated by an overweight person even though it wasn’t their intent. For this reason, you could have grown up thinking that fat people are harmful and are out to get you.

Fat Phobia Symptoms

Cacomorphobia has varied symptoms, many of which it shares with other phobias. The symptoms and the degree to which one experiences them differ from one person to another. Symptoms can also be influenced by the specific trigger for your fear of fat people phobia. You may experience symptoms that are physical, mental, and emotional.

Physical Symptoms

  • Increased heart rate
  • Profuse sweating
  • Shivering and trembling
  • Rapid or difficulty breathing
  • Wanting to flee and hide when you spot an obese person

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

  • Obsessive and uncontrolled thoughts about fat people
  • Having mental images of being attacked by an obese person
  • Experiencing agoraphobia, the fear of places that cause panic
  • Having an uncontrollable, irrational, or exaggerated response to a fat person
  • Intense focus on fat people to the extent that you find it hard to concentrate on anything else

Treatment Options for Fear of Fat People

Your fear of fat people is controllable. You don’t need to suffer because of unreasonable, illogical fear. The quality of your life may be severely impacted because of it. It might have even reached an extent where you find it difficult to function normally and carry out normal day-to-day tasks.

Don’t be discouraged. While there is no magic pill that will make all your fears go away overnight, there are options you can explore and steps you can take to get better. The first step is to start with self-help and see if it reduces your anxiety and fears.

Self-Help

Self-help calls for you to put more effort into your recovery. You can do things on your own that can help you minimize your cacomorphobia and its effects on your lifestyle. Go at a pace that you’re comfortable with. Be open to trying different methods since not all methods will work equally well.

Remember that recovery is a process that requires willingness, discipline, and commitment. Here are a few self-help methods you can try.

Write Down Your Thoughts

Only you truly understand what you go through when you encounter fat people. Write down what you feel and think. Go into as much detail as you can. Review what you write to gain more insight into your anxiety. Identify possible triggers and coping activities you can do the next time you start to experience your fear.

Talk to Someone You Trust

Whether it’s a close friend or a trusted family member, this person should care about you and have the capacity to calm and comfort you. Tell your selected confidante how your anxiety strikes you, what causes it, and what you have tried to do about it.

Mention specific incidents and how they played out. Use the opportunity to unload some of the weight of your fears and as a springboard for discussing how you might handle them better. Narrate incidents you care to share. You will realize just how helpful this is once you start doing it.

Try Relaxation Techniques

Relaxation techniques include meditation and controlled breathing. When in public and within sight of a fat person, breathe in and out until you get your fears and your breathing under control. You will realize that this relaxes your mind and releases anxiety.

Another relaxation technique is self-affirmation. Look for positive, affirming statements that can help you overcome your fear and are meaningful for you. For example, you can remind yourself that you’re in control and that your fears are only as great as you make them.

Look into Support Groups

It is comforting to know that you’re not alone when dealing with cacomorphobia. Support groups can help you find people who are going through the same challenges as you. Sharing your fears with others who have gone through similar experiences is not only cathartic but can also provide you with helpful ways to deal with your fear.

If joining a support group in person seems like too big a step, you can look for one online. For people who may be shy or feel too embarrassed to talk about something so personal in front of strangers, it’s a good alternative.

Professional Help

If you’ve been considering getting professional help, try therapy. You can look for therapists, counselors, psychologists, or even psychiatrists who specialize in handling phobias. Some therapies you may encounter include psychotherapy and desensitization therapy.

Talk Therapy or Psychotherapy

In psychotherapy or talk therapy, you’ll talk with a mental health professional. Your therapist will listen to help you cope with your situation better. Together, you’ll work to understand your moods, sentiments, and behaviors. Your therapist can help you define the root of your fear based on your past experiences. He or she can also offer tips on how you can cope with your anxiety better.

Desensitization Therapy

Desensitization therapy in fear of fat phobia requires you to spend time in the company of fat people. While it may be hard at first, you will gradually get used to their presence. Desensitization therapy works by creating new thought associations to modify former behavior. It seeks to reduce fears with relaxation and more positive reactions.

How to Cope with Fear of Fat People

Remind yourself that being overweight doesn’t make a person bad. A person’s shape does not define their character. Together with the support network you choose, you can work on your fear of fat people and create a calm environment where you can peacefully and more healthily coexist with those of all shapes and sizes.

Conclusion

While your doctor may prescribe antidepressants or sedatives for short-term relief, you should also look for non-medicated ways to manage your fear. Now that you know more about what cacomorphobia is, you can look into getting the help you need whether it’s by engaging in self-help activities or by looking for a trained professional for treatment.

As you learn to manage your fear, be patient with yourself. Have faith that you can overcome this and you’ll become stronger from the experience.

Stories Submitted by Our Readers

Fear of Fat People

I’m not sure it is a phobia, but I am very uncomfortable, nervous, and my anxiety begins to raise around those that are grossly overweight. I may have this feeling since I was at one time obese. I mainly just get nervous but then I get sad, and I try to avoid fat people at all costs. I may not have a panic attack, but I do feel like I need to get away. I just wish I could control it since I know it is wrong to dislike others due to their weight or appearance, but I cannot control it. This makes me sad and depressed because of the way I feel.

Elaine B.

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