There is a wide variety of phobias; virtually any situation we can imagine can become the focus of a pathological fear. Acrophobia, or the fear of heights that is extreme , is one of those types of phobias that, in different degrees of intensity, assail 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 is, what symptoms it produces and what psychological intervention measures can be useful in dealing with it.

What is acrophobia?

Acrophobia is an extreme fear of heights that results in some degree of incapacitation for the person experiencing it and therefore damages the quality of life. It is therefore an irrational fear, as it is not an adaptive response to a danger that really poses a threat

Fortunately, in urban life there are usually not so many locations where the person is exposed to places where he or she can suffer from vertigo compared to natural mountain environments, but this phobia can also appear in elevators with transparent walls, rooftops, steep or hand held stairs, bridges and balconies located at high altitude or glass floors.

In addition, it is often not necessary to be near an elevated place for the symptoms of acrophobia to occur ; sometimes, by imagining situations where there is a cliff nearby, the feeling of intense discomfort already appears. This is why 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 is much more common in women than in men.

Differences between acrophobia and vertigo

Vertigo and acrophobia are not the same thing, although the former is often spoken of as synonymous with what we experience through fear of heights.

The difference is that vertigo is, specifically, an illusion that makes us notice as if things around us, including the ground, were spinning or shaking, which makes us lose our balance. When this happens in a situation where we are near a precipice or similar downward void, this phenomenon is known as altitude vertigo.

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

The symptoms of extreme fear of heights

As with all types of phobias, acrophobia is expressed through a series of symptoms that are expressed in specific situations. Furthermore, many of these symptoms are shared with the rest of the pathological fears , being the source of the 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 that causes the whole body to shake with tremors. This occurs because the sympathetic nervous system is highly activated, causing the muscle fibres 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 anxiety appear, which is a state of physiological and cognitive activation in which all the attention is focused on possible dangers. This produces discomfort and, moreover, prevents thinking as rationally as one might in other contexts.

3. Panic

A wave of fear through which all the person’s mental activity is directed towards experiencing the mixture of sensations produced by the anticipation of pain or death and, at the same time, the 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 slope.

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

4. Loss of control

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

5. Tachycardia

The abrupt increase of the blood pulse also causes a feeling of shortness of breath to appear .

6. Headache

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

Overcoming Fear of Heights

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

Cognitive Behavioral Therapies are the most effective in this regard. Specifically, exposure is widely used both in this and other types of phobias

Treatment of acrophobia by exposure

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

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

Each time a target is exceeded, such as staying near a cliff for 30 seconds, it goes into a more complicated phase. In this way, you stop for a series of tests ordered hierarchically according to their level of difficulty , and progress is accumulated. Passing through this series of situations marks an upward curve of difficulty.

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