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When even the mere thought of stepping out onto the balcony of a high-rise building and looking down causes sweating and a racing heart, a panic attack is a symptom of a phobic disorder.
What is the name of the fear of heights
Panic, pathological fear of heights is called acrophobia. This is a fairly common phobia that many people suffer from.
Acrophobia can bring a lot of trouble to a person, especially if his activity is connected with life in a metropolis, the need to stay in high-rise buildings. People may be terrified of elevators that take them to a high floor, stairs or escalators. Without treatment, this phobia can progress, causing isolation and stress, and health problems.
Causes of fear of heights in adults
Fear of heights is quite natural – it is part of the instinct of self-preservation. But at the same time there are no vegetative reactions and panic, paralyzing fear. Pathological deviations, height phobias occur under special conditions. They can be divided into two groups:
Psychological fear of heights due to increased sensitivity, fixation on specific episodes seen in films, real life or told by people. This provokes a fixation on a specific problem in receptive and emotional personalities. As a result, fear is cultivated, which is especially strong when specific circumstances coincide. Often problems are possible in people with disorders of the vestibular apparatus, suffering from instability and dizziness.
Often, fear of heights for no reason can occur after experienced stress, severe moral trauma. Consequences lead to the fact that certain events or situations form an uncontrollable horror.
Symptoms of a fear of heights in adults
An attack of acrophobia or a panic fear of heights most often accompanies:
- dizziness even at a low altitude, a fainting state that threatens to fall, the inability to stand on one’s feet – a person, feeling a similar symptom, convulsively grabs objects, trying not to fall;
- palpitations that are felt in the temples, chest – sometimes this is also accompanied by discomfort in the chest, discomfort;
- severe shortness of breath, a feeling of lack of air – difficulty breathing adversely affects health and the psyche, which leads not just to fear, but to a real panic attack;
- increased sweating – due to fear and the release of a large portion of stress hormones, it leads to increased sweating, the skin becomes covered with cold, sticky sweat;
- dry mouth due to suppression of salivation as a reaction to stress hormones, a metallic taste in the mouth is also possible, problems with swallowing saliva, chewing, breathlessness – because of this, a person may realize that it is difficult for him to ask for help;
- trembling of the limbs and trembling in the body – overexcitation and emotional stress lead to tremors, muscle contraction with trembling, which worsens the condition in combination with other factors.
Treatment of fear of heights in adults
If acrophobia is severe, it can significantly complicate a person’s life and requires treatment by a specialist. Without therapy, normal activities may become impossible.
Diagnostics
The basis of the diagnosis is a detailed discussion of all the symptoms that the patient has, with a detailed study of the anamnesis of the disease and life. This allows you to find out where the phobia came from. In addition, the doctor can conduct a series of tests that will show the severity of the condition, the presence of additional problems – depression, panic attacks.
Modern treatments
– The treatment of this phobia, – explains psychiatrist Alexander Pyatnitsky, – either a psychotherapist or a clinical psychologist is engaged. Despite the fact that there is a general algorithm for helping with phobic disorders, each person is deeply individual, and therapy is built specifically for his personality. Conventionally, we can divide therapy into two stages. The first is work with thinking and emotions, in which we analyze various distortions of thinking, learn to work with emotions, and study self-regulation techniques. The second is gradual exposure, i.e. contact with the specific situation of the patient that causes the phobia.
Prevention of fear of heights in adults at home
First of all, the basis for the prevention of any phobia is the rational upbringing of the child, the laying of a healthy attitude to the surrounding reality without risky behavior, but also without excessive guardianship and prohibitions.
Popular questions and answers
We talked about the nuances of treating fear of heights with psychiatrist, psychotherapist Alexander Pyatnitsky.
Such fears do not directly harm health and life, but, of course, they can greatly spoil the usual life, since a person deliberately limits himself in many ways. Acrophobes cannot work in certain professions, there are problems with flights, even the choice of housing in high-rise buildings.
In the case of acrophobia, we are talking about some kind of incident that occurred at high altitude. For example, I had a client who got stuck on a ferris wheel when the cabin was in the up position and swayed in the wind. After that, he began to experience a fear of heights and avoid such places and situations. It is with all these problems that you need to deal with the treatment, consult a doctor.
Similarly, with various dietary supplements, herbs, unconventional methods – they can do harm! Therefore, as with any other health problem, it makes sense to see a professional.