Phobia Of Heights

Were you the odd one out who stayed back and watched the rest shriek in enviable excitement as they sat perched on the extreme tips of a colossal ‘Ferris Wheel’? Do you find yourself crippled by a terrorizing panic attack at the mere notion of climbing a ladder? Then you are irrefutably a victim of acrophobia, an intense and irrational fear of heights, predominant amongst many. Acrophobia, a widespread space and motion discomfort is very often confused with “Vertigo”, an unpleasant spinning sensation usually triggered whilst gazing down from summits and tall precarious boundaries. Identified by extreme dizziness and nausea, vertigo is a significant element within the broader picture that is acrophobia.

One justifies their phobia of heights as a natural reflex or survival instinct. Nevertheless, manifestations of extreme fear can have negative influences on a person’s day to day activities like walking up a slope or even standing on a chair! Consequences can be hazardous when one suffers a panic attack while ascending a high place and the agitation hampers the ability to descend safely. Acrophobia is commonly attributed to a possible prior traumatic event involving heights. It isn’t entirely curable, but can certainly be controlled by psychological remediation. Scroll down and ingest a few interesting facts about Acrophobia and its symptoms.

Interesting Facts About Acrophobia

Symptoms Of Acrophobia

• Breathlessness
• Excessive sweating
• Nausea
• Inability to speak or think rationally
• Dizziness
• Dry mouth
• Convulsions
• Heart palpitations
• Losing control and tremendous anxiety

• Fear of falling is empirically suggested to be an innate phobia.
• A popular experiment conducted by researchers Gibson and Walk in the 1960s have proven that fear of heights is an intrinsic trait in all humans and animals. In a “Visual Cliff" experiment, toddlers and babies of multiple species were used as guinea pigs. Their reluctance to cross a thick glass panel floor seemingly portrayed a few meter drop off below, they inferred that phobia of heights might actually be a normal survival mechanism.
• A psychologist specializing in phobias made a fantastic discovery aiding him to diminish acrophobia amongst several patients. He concluded-"The cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body's energy system." According to him, while your thoughts, habits, beliefs; strategies are the “branches” of this phobia tree, the energy system is "the root". Energy psychology sprouted from this revelation and self-help was rendered a suitable means to healing acrophobia.
• The rate of our visual processing takes a steep rise once our bodies arrive at an elevated location, say a mountain peak or the terrace of a skyscraper. As a result, visual cortex becomes weighed down leading to unforeseen side effects. Vestibular issues must be resolved before exposing yourselves to extreme heights.
• Acrophobics are often over the moon to learn that they share this looming phobia with a crowd! This encourages them to make a group effort to overcome their overwhelming fears.
• Alleged to be treatable by employing unadventurous methods such as hypnotherapy, where emotional triggers are spotted and patients are made to take in the irrationality of their fears. This treatment is often used in union with exposure to situations of perceived risk. Regular therapy enables one to get the better of their fears and move on.
• Acrophobics seek succour in talk therapy and are willing to avail of it, even if it means extensive sessions and much higher expenses.
• Some people are too afraid to let go of their phobia. They tend to inculcate the phobia into their identity and fear what they will be without it. To them, their predefined character is at stake!
• Adults with acrophobia are often aware about their fears being silly. However, once they have to brazen out these fears, or even think about confronting them, they are bound to be directly struck by a severe panic attack.
• The fear of heights is one of the most common forms of phobia distressing people around the world.