Without knowing it, I suffered from acrophobia for a long time. However, I did not realize it right away. As well, finding myself at the top of the Eiffel Tower was not a problem; finding myself on the footbridge of the cable car was a tragedy! But that was before I discovered ways to treat my acrophobia with behavior therapy.
Perhaps you are wondering if you have acrophobia? Unless you have asked yourself the question because you have already felt a significant or surprising fear of heights? Perhaps you have noticed that, since that first unexpected time, you continue to suffer from acrophobia? Suddenly, even if you don’t spend your life on top of skyscrapers or the top of the Himalayas, you wonder what your acrophobia is due to. In addition to wanting to cure this acrophobia of which you are a victim.
So, I’m going to explain to you everything about this fear of heights. That is, the symptoms of acrophobia and how to cure acrophobia. But rest assured. Suffering from acrophobia does not mean being sick (in the medical sense of the term). It’s a fear we’re going to talk about right now.
Definition of acrophobia
It is obvious to write it down, but in acrophobia, there is a phobia. Phobias are usually irrational, out-of-control fears or fears.
Therefore, acrophobia is a fear, an obsession, or even an extreme fear of heights and heights. It is one of the most common and common phobias. It is a serious and crippling problem, even if this feeling of fear is irrational.
There are a whole bunch of people who are forced to turn down jobs because of their fear of heights. The very idea of being stuck in the office on the 24th floor of a tower is unbearable to them. Likewise, they can refuse to see a sick friend because he is hospitalized in a room on the 4th floor. The perception of said height is specific to each individual. Thus, some people can feel acrophobia symptoms from the 1st floor (about 5 meters), others not before the 5th floor.
In the same vein, for a person who has acrophobia, going up or down a ladder, going to the balcony, or even looking out the window are real ordeals. These people will therefore do everything to avoid confronting what is causing them problems. And, of course, as I usually write, the more the avoidance process is used, the more counterproductive it is.
The symptoms of acrophobia, this fear of heights
Imagine. You are high up. You expressly seek to come down. Or you avoid looking down. Or, you are trying to grab hold of, or hold onto, someone or something.
You are scared when you are high up, and that puts you in an awkward position. So this is confirmed. You have acrophobia.
Acrophobia is not vertigo. Indeed, vertigo is one of the symptoms of fear of heights and heights. The fact of being in height will generate a panic attack in the person victim of this phobia. We speak of a panic attack based on the following elements:
- Vertigo (sensation of spinning, trembling of the legs)
- Wobbly legs
- Increased heart rate
- Dizziness
- Temporary paralysis
- Inability to reason, to objectify
- Irrepressible need to flee
The causes of acrophobia
To better understand acrophobia, we must seek to know its source. Three factors are often at the origin of this fear of heights, or heights:
- An old trauma (ex: fall during your youth)
- Inner ear failure
The inner ear plays an essential role in the circulation of information from the brain to the limbs and the body’s balance. If this function is affected, there is a risk of conflicting information to the body, muscles, eye, and brain.
There will then be confusion at the organism’s level, which will react differently and, suddenly, unsuitable. The information received can no longer be properly assessed. You are going to feel unsettled.
Friends, my wife and I had been waiting for a long time for the cable car to arrive to come back down. There were several of us perched on a spiral footbridge. I felt the gangway move sideways. No doubt the weight of the people present and the wind. I felt I was liquefying. Everyone laughed at me. It wasn’t until I got back down to Chamonix that I regained my calm. I came out traumatized by this ordeal.
For years, I was mortified at the thought of going to heights. I think, in a way, I was ashamed of not knowing how to control my fear. I had no reason to be afraid. In all the high places, everything was expertly secured. And yet.
Years later, faced with the consequences of my acrophobia, I got help from a colleague. Since then, I know what to do and how to do it. I no longer feel any anxiety, shame, or guilt at the thought of being standing on my feet and legs 3000 meters high.
Acrophobia: the symptom of an anxious temperament
Acrophobia affects women much more than men. Maybe it’s because women naturally tend to be anxious. A naturally anxious person is, therefore, more exposed to acrophobia than the rest of the population.
It should also be noted that, in some people, the source of acrophobia comes from the reactions of their parents, or those close to them, to heights.
Parents who are generally afraid of heights model negative and anxious reactions to their children. Which ends up appropriating it and reproducing it. “Why should I, the child, manage what my parents cannot do. If they can’t do it, neither can I. If they are afraid, I can only be afraid”.
In turn, some of these children, who have become adults, will become acrophobic. Once it is not customary, it confirms how much education has its share in an individual’s pathology.
Treating acrophobia relies on behavioral strategies specific to each person.
The different treatments for acrophobia
There are several methods to treat acrophobia:
- Homeopathy
- Hypnosis
- Physiotherapy
- Behavior therapy
It is common knowledge that Kentucky Case Management is the most effective method for treating phobias. It is, therefore, just as effective in treating acrophobia. The behavioral approach leads you to gradually correct and then eliminate your erroneous thoughts and beliefs.
In the behavioral approach, the therapist will try to get you to accept your acrophobia beforehand. Unfortunately, people are afraid of heights, and therefore, suffering from acrophobia is often treated as weak people. And, more simply, it is often said of them that they lack courage. They then tend to hide the reality of their acrophobia because they feel ashamed of it (e.g., your servant).
This is how we hear about dizziness much more often. It’s a bit like people who say they are allergic to tobacco to justify their abstinence, instead of simply acknowledging that they are addicted to tobacco (I speak knowingly, I am…). Besides, don’t we say that tobacco is… a drug?
Treatment of acrophobia using the behavioral approach
Then, the behavioral therapist will help you describe, and decipher, your emotions. Identifying your emotions will allow you to anticipate them. Then, thanks to various complementary techniques (ex: relaxation), you will be able to more easily change your behavior in a situation of stress or panic and the face of situations of exposure to vacuum or consequent heights.
For example, you will know how to better manage an anxiety attack when faced with emptiness. Over time, the goal is, of course, to neutralize your acrophobia. That is to say, no longer to experience it as a problem. This is also my case. I know I’m acrophobic, but I no longer see it as a problem after a colleague’s help. I’ve worked out what to do and how to do it.
Regardless, to treat acrophobia, you can refer to in-office behavior therapy or resort to an online therapy program.
In the meantime, when you are exposed to a vacuum, you can:
- Breathe deeply
- Keep your eyes open rather than close
- Support a straight vision, and far in front of you
- Focuses you on a task, or a point, so you don’t panic
- Lean on a person, or something, to move forward
Treat acrophobia: Don’t do anything!
As part of your treatment, there is a strong suspicion that you are trying to brave your fear of heights and go to great heights. You could also try to go over a bridge or a catwalk. If you were considering such exposure behaviors, be very vigilant. Don’t force anything. Progress very slowly. Take one step forward and two back (in the therapeutic program that I designed, explain how to do it, and why this very… paradoxical method)… In short, respect yourself!
Indeed, I see too many people who have tried massive exposures and find themselves even more blocked than before. Simply because, out of pride, they asked too much!
If you live, there is no behavioral therapy practice in the area; I invite you to watch the video below. She explains how to treat acrophobia quickly and easily.
For information, acrophobia, or fear of heights, or fear of heights, is resolved in less than two months with this online therapeutic program, which guarantees you more than 94% of positive results.
Wisdom of Life 