Acrophobia meaning, causes, symptoms and treatment

Acrophobia is part of the so -called phobic disorders, which are characterized by A disproportionate and irrational fear to certain objects, situations or activities. The suffering of the person suffering from the phobia emerges both by the anxiety that generates the phobic stimulus, as well as the conscience of uncontrolled irrational fear that the person suffers. In order not to suffer these sensations of anxiety, the person reproduces counter-phobic responses, that is, avoidative behaviors with the aim of avoiding the phobic object. The unjustified fear of acrophobia is based on the fear of heights. In this psychology-online article, we will present the Acrophobia: meaning, causes, symptoms and treatment.

1. Meaning of acrophobia
2. Causes of acrophobia
3. Acrophobia symptoms
4. Acrophobia treatment

Meaning of acrophobia

Acrophobia means fear of heights. This phobia is part of the situation phobias, that is, phobias referring to places, in this case to the heights, affecting 5% of the population. So that, Acrophobia is the irrational and unjustified fear of heights, which can manifest in different situations and involve high levels of anxiety. Acrophobia is a specific type of phobia. This phobia has a high relational component with vertigo.

Difference between acrophobia and vertigo

Acrophobia and vertigo have similarities, however, they are not equivalent. Vertigo arises from an alteration of the ear, which regulates balance, producing a subjective sensation of a rotary movement around or the feeling that it is oneself that is turning. On many occasions, he is accompanied by a feeling of dizziness and fainting, loss of balance and nausea. On the other hand, in acrophobia the person can suffer at a given time the sensation of vertigo, this being only one of the symptoms that can occur in the disorder.

Causes of acrophobia

Acrophobia may appear at the end of the childhood stage or at the beginning of adulthood. The causes of the development of the phobia at the heights, can be produced by a history of direct experiences of the person, due to vicarious observation experiences, informative, inheritance or by own cognitive biases, being also determining the pressures or psychological stress. The causes of acrophobia can be:

• Direct experiences - Vicarias - Observation: Result of a traumatic experience in childhood that has developed a negative vision and a terror component at the heights. This traumatic experience does not have to have been experienced by the person, there may have been an observation of a foreign situation or that has been informed about it.
• Inheritance: Several investigations estimate that there is the possibility of a hereditary factor in the development of acrophobia. However, that in a family there are more members who suffer from this phobic disorder can also be because children of young same fear of heights.
• Cognitive biases: The reasoning processes that we establish are in a fundamental role in the development of phobias. If the person begins to turn the idea of ​​danger that the heights entail, he can develop an irrational concern to these, giving rise to the phobia.

Acrophobia symptoms

The symptoms appear when the person is exposed experientially or in their imagination to the feared stimulus, producing before the knowledge that a state of anticipatory anxiety will have to be exposed to the phobic object. The symptoms of acrophobia are the same or similar as those that occur in other specific phobias, the most characteristic being the following:

• Anxiety - Anticipatory Anxiety
• Fear and panic
• Increase in heart rate
• Sweating
• Tachycardia
• Sensation of dizziness or vertigo
• Stomachache
• Tremors
• Nausea and vomiting
• Chest pain
• Breathing difficulties
• Chills or increased body temperature
• Catastrophic thoughts

Acrophobia treatment

The most effective treatment in improving phobias is reproduced in the techniques of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Within this orientation, the most used and validated treatment technique with its effectiveness is Gradual exposure to the feared situation, where the person must progressively expose the stimulus caused by irrational fear. The exhibition is structured with a hierarchy of situations of less impact to greater impact, that is, it is first exposed to situations that cause a minor fear, ending with the one that most. This gradual exposure can be reproduced "in vivo" or in imagination, being more effective the exposure to the dreaded situation experientially.

Once it has been determined whether the exhibition will be experiential or in imagination and the list of hierarchies of feared situations has been developed, the person must expose themselves to these. It should be noted that when the patient faces the feared situation, their anxiety levels will increase significantly, therefore, it is recommended perform relaxation exercises between the exposure of a hierarchy to the next To be able to stabilize anxiety of the person.

In many specific phobias, it is very difficult to control a gradual exposure due to the limitations of the phobia itself, for example, a person who is afraid of airplanes cannot be exposed to them gradually, because once the plane take off you can't get out of it. However, with the advance of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) a Virtual reality treatment (RV) that is being very effective in the treatment of phobias. In the RV the dreaded object, situation or activity is reproduced, where the person has the feeling of being physically with the stimulus, in addition to allowing an interaction with this in real time. This technology allows the person to gradually expose the phobic stimulus in an environment that provides them with security and is controlled.

If you want to know more, in this article we explain how to overcome the fear of heights.

This article is merely informative, in psychology-online we have no power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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