Acrophobia is an extreme, sometimes called irrational, fear of heights. It comes from the Greek words
ákron, meaning peak, and
phóbos, meaning fear. The term "vertigo" is sometimes used to describe the fear of heights, but this is inaccurate, as it actually refers to a spinning sensation. However, this sensation may itself be caused when looking down from a height.
Acrophobia can bring several problems. First of all, it may be dangerous, as an acrophobic (the individual with acrophobia) may suffer a panic attack and become unable to bring himself down safely from the height. Additionally, if the condition is severe enough, it may interfere with common activities in day-to-day life, like climbing a ladder, or going up and down stairs.
Symptoms
The general symptom of acrophobia is simply the fear of heights. Physical responses may include symptoms such as an increase in heart rate, body temperature, and breathing (respiration). Dizziness, nausea, and a faint feeling or trembling may also be experienced. Mentally, the situation may be seen as more dangerous than it actually is. Other issues such as the aforementioned vertigo, panic attacks, and others, may become present in certain cases.
Causes
Particular acrophobia causes are not well-known at this time. Some consider the condition to be related to a traumatic experience with heights, or other conditioning. Some recent studies seem to suggest that it may be inborn, or non-associative.
Treatment
Desensitization can be used in order to slowly expose the patient to greater levels of the "fearful" height situation, until he has been through each step and become conditioned to them. On the other hand, the flooding method is a quick introduction to one of the most fearful situations that the patient could deal with, however this may not be suitable for some individuals, especially those with heart conditions or other potentially aggravated medical conditions.
Virtual reality has at times been used as an acrophobia treatment method. The patient would be brought to something such as the edge of a tall virtual building, in an attempt to reduce the fear though this experience.
