Imagine being on the roof of a one hundred story building and looking down, with nothing to keeping you from falling over the edge. Imagine the fear and anxiety that would fill your body, thinking about being that high up. Do you have a fear of heights? Most of us do. Most of our fears are plausible; they are fears of things that could cause us harm. But what happens what your silly little fear of heights goes beyond being silly and little? What happens when it turns into a full blown phobia?
Acrophobia is the fear of heights. When someone who suffers from acrophobia is at certain height (depending on the severity of their acrophobia) the fear is so intense that it can be mistaken for vertigo. The fear can cause the person to become very dizzy and lightheaded. Someone with a plausible fear of heights is very different than someone with acrophobia. A person with acrophobia has a much more irrational fear and will even refuse to go anywhere that has any height at all, even the second story of a building.
Like mentioned above, most fears of heights are very rational. In fact, it has been proven that it is a fear that is ingrained in our brains. An experiment was done in 1960, where a glass sheet was placed over a “drop off” to give the illusion that if you stepped too far you would fall. They tested the illusion on infants and with all the coaxing possible, the infants would refuse to cross over the drop off, in fear that they would fall.
Thousands of people suffer from acrophobia; it is one of the most common phobias. There are many different theories as to what causes acrophobia. Some researchers say that it can be caused from a past experience involving a fall from a height, even one that is not quite clear in your memory. Another possible cause is that it is a learned reaction from observing a parent that was overly nervous about heights. Some researches even believe that acrophobia may be hereditary.
While there is no immediate danger involved in this phobia unless the person suffering from the phobia is actually in a situation where they are high off the ground, it can in a sense debilitate someone’s life. There are things that people take for granted, like walking up a flight of stairs, that someone with acrophobia can’t do without a sense of panic. If a person with this phobia is, for example, on a roof, trying to desensitize themselves (a form of therapy for a phobia) and they have a panic attack, it can lead to danger.
Conclusively, a fear of heights can be worse that a silly little fear that can actually keep us safe. It can be a debilitating phobia and in fact is one of the most common phobias. As for treatment, there are drugs, hypnotism, positive thinking, therapy and gradual desensitation.
Resources-
http://phobias.about.com/od/introductiontophobias/a/acrophobiaprof.htm
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/acrophobia-fear-of-heights.html
http://www.spwickstrom.com/acrophobia/
