Acrophobia (fear of heights): what is it and how to overcome it?

There is a wide variety of phobias; practically any situation that we can imagine, can become the focus of a pathological fear. Acrophobia, or fear of heights that is extreme, It is one of those types of phobias that, in different degrees of intensity, assaults some people when they are near a cliff or a steep slope or even when they imagine it.

In this article we will see what acrophobia consists of, what symptoms it produces and what psychological intervention measures can be useful to face it.

What is acrophobia?

Acrophobia is an extreme fear of heights which is somewhat disabling for the person who experiences it and that, consequently, damages the quality of life. Therefore, it is an irrational fear, since it is not an adaptive response to a danger that really poses a threat.

Fortunately, in urban life there are not usually so many locations in which the person is exposed to places where vertigo can be experienced compared to the surroundings. mountainous, but this phobia can also appear in elevators with transparent walls, rooftops, steep or ladders, bridges and balconies located at high altitude or floors of crystal.

What's more, in many cases it is not necessary to be near a high place for acrophobia symptoms to be unleashed; sometimes, imagining situations in which there is a cliff nearby and the feeling of intense discomfort appears. That is why the fear of heights of this type can affect many people, wherever they live. In fact, acrophobia is considered to affect between 2 and 5% of the population, and it is much more common in women than in men.

• Related article: "Aerophobia: when the fear of flying is pathological"

Differences between acrophobia and vertigo

Vertigo and acrophobia are not the same, although the former is often spoken of as a synonym for what we experience through fear of heights.

The difference is that vertigo is, specifically, an illusion that makes us notice as if the things around us, including the ground, rotate or shake, which causes us to lose our balance. When this occurs in a situation where you are near a precipice or similar descending void, this phenomenon is known as vertigo of height.

Thus, acrophobia is related to vertigo from height, but technically it is not the same and, in any case, the latter can be one of the symptoms of fear of heights.

Symptoms of extreme fear of heights

As in all types of phobias, acrophobia is expressed through a series of symptoms that are expressed in specific situations. What's more, many of these symptoms are shared with the rest of pathological fears, being the source of fear (or trigger) what varies the most.

Thus, the main symptoms of acrophobia are the following:

1. Agitation and muscle tension

The disabling fear of heights is expressed among other things through a state of muscular tension which makes the whole body shake with tremors. This occurs because the sympathetic nervous system it is highly activated, causing the muscle fibers to receive more activation signals so that they are ready to react quickly.

2. Anxiety

The anticipation of accidents and misfortunes due to the presence of a cliff makes the anxiety what it is a state of physiological and cognitive activation in which all the focus of attention is concentrated in the possible dangers. This produces discomfort and, in addition, prevents thinking as rationally as one could do in other contexts.

3. Panic

A wave of fear by which all the mental activity of the person is directed to experience the mixture of sensations produced by the anticipation of pain or death and, at the same time, sensory stimuli that arrive about the present situation and that, in the case of acrophobia, have to do with the constant appreciation of the distance between oneself and the bottom of the cliff or earring.

When this feeling of fear is very extreme and comes abruptly, panic attacks can occur.

4. Lost of control

One of the cognitive aspects of acrophobia is loss of control, that is, the inability to manage executive processes well such as the management of care or the establishment of plans and consistent sequences of actions.

5. Tachycardia

The abrupt increase in the blood pulse also causes the appearance of a feeling of shortness of breath.

6. Headache

Once the rest of the symptoms have appeared, it is very common to also experience a headache, produced by changes in blood pressure and by over-activation of the nervous system.

Overcome the fear of heights

Pathological fear of heights can be treated through psychological intervention, thanks to the which most of the symptoms will subside (although in most cases they do not disappear from the everything).

The Cognitive Behavioral Therapies They are the ones that have shown the most effectiveness in this regard. Specific, the exhibition is widely used both in this and in other types of phobias

Treatment of acrophobia through exposure

Exposure involves facing the source of fear gradually, setting simple, short-term goals.

To do this, you can go physically to high places (at first, accompanied by the psychotherapist) or use the resource of virtual reality.

Each time a goal is passed, such as staying near a cliff for 30 seconds, it goes to a more complicated phase. In this way, it stops for a series of tests hierarchically ordered according to their level of difficulty, and progress is accumulating. Going through this series of situations marks an ascending difficulty curve.

Of course, to carry out the exhibition it is essential to have the supervision and direction of a professional sufficiently instructed in these techniques and dedicated to the field of health psychology.