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Acrophobia (from Greek meaning
"summit") is an extreme or irrational fear of heights. It
belongs to a category of specific phobias, called space and
motion discomfort that share both similar etiology and
options for treatment.
Acrophobia can be dangerous,
as sufferers can experience a panic attack in a high place
and become too agitated to get themselves down safely. Some
acrophobics also suffer from urges to throw themselves off
high places, despite not being suicidal. |
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"Vertigo" is often used, incorrectly,
to describe the fear of heights, but it is more accurately described
as a spinning sensation, which may be caused by looking down from a
high place, as well as by some other stimuli. Vertigo is qualified
as height vertigo when referring to dizziness triggered by heights.
Causes:
Traditionally, acrophobia has been attributed, like other irrational
fears, to conditioning or a traumatic experience involving heights.
Recent studies have cast doubt on this explanation; fear of falling,
along with fear of loud noises, is one of the most commonly
suggested inborn or non-associative fears. The newer non-association
theory is that fear of heights is an evolved adaptation to a
prehistory where falls posed a significant danger. The degree of
fear varies and the term phobia is reserved for those at the extreme
end of the spectrum. It has been argued by researchers that fear of
heights is an instinct found in many mammals, including domestic
animals and human beings. There have been experiments showing
toddler babies and cats of various ages being terrified of venturing
onto a glass floor with a view of a few meters of 'fall-space' below
it. An extreme fear however can interfere with the challenges of
everyday life, such as climbing up a flight of stairs or a ladder,
or standing on a chair, table, (etc.).
A possible contributing factor is dysfunction in maintaining
balance. In this case the anxiety is both well founded and
secondary. The human balance system integrates proprioceptive,
vestibular and nearby visual cues to reckon position and motion. As
height increases visual cues recede and balance becomes poorer even
in normal people. However most people respond by shifting to more
reliance on the proprioceptive and vestibular branches of the
equilibrium system.
An acrophobic, on the other hand,
continues to overrely on visual signals whether because of
inadequate vestibular function or incorrect strategy. Locomotion at
a high elevation requires more than normal visual processing. The
visual cortex becomes overloaded resulting in confusion. Some
proponents of the alternative view of acrophobia warn that it may be
ill-advised to encourage acrophobics to expose themselves to height
without first resolving the vestibular issues. Research is underway
at several clinics.
References:
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Last updated on Tuesday October 16, 2007 at 06:01:57 PDT (GMT -0700)
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