Why am I afraid of spiders? Why am I afraid of heights? Why am I afraid of being in a confined space?

Every person has encountered an unpleasant feeling of discomfort when finding himself on the roof of a high-rise building, flying on an airplane, or simply imagining a picture when he is not in his usual environment: high from the ground. What is it: awareness of the value of one’s life and the instinct of self-preservation, or is this fear of heights a phobia, scientifically called Acrophobia?

Acrophobia - fear of heights

Being afraid of falling in love is like being afraid of heights.
We are not afraid of heights, but of falling. author unknown

• 1. What is Acrophobia? 1.1.How to distinguish a normal state of fear from pathology?

• Xenophobia is fear/intolerance of the unfamiliar/strange.
• Anatidaephobia is the fear of being watched by a duck.
• Ergophobia is the fear of work
• Haptophobia - fear of being touched
• Social phobia - what is it, a disease of the mind or soul?

What is a phobia?

Probably, each of us has heard, or maybe knows from our own experience, how great the power of fears over human consciousness is. But, unlike rationally justified fear, there are irrational fears. In psychology they are called phobias. The term "phobia" comes from the Greek "phobos" - "horror". This term denotes a persistent, inexplicable, uncontrollable fear of something.

How does a phobia differ from ordinary fear? Rational fear helps a person survive in the world around him and adapt to his environment. A phobia, on the contrary, becomes an emotional inhibitor that prevents you from really assessing the situation and state of affairs.

Moreover, fear in the form of a phobia sometimes takes on absolutely absurd forms. With a phobia, the human brain is faced with something that it is not able to assimilate and process. This means that he is unable to give an emotionally correct reaction. In the case of a phobia, anxiety takes on prohibitive proportions; it is so strong that a person can even neglect the instinct of self-preservation in order to avoid an unwanted situation or contact with the object of the phobia.

The fear is so great that the body’s vital signs even change. The person turns pale or blushes, shortness of breath and loss of speech may occur. Nausea, rapid heartbeat, and increased sweating may occur. Moreover, these psychosomatic symptoms can arise with just the thought of the subject of panic fear.

If a phobia significantly complicates life, interferes with ordinary daily activities, we can even talk about a mental disorder. This cannot be done without the help of a professional.

Reviews

The development of civilization provoked the construction of skyscrapers, air vehicles and other things that cause panic disorder in acrophobes. Due to the medical illiteracy of the population, most are not aware that the disease can be cured and corrected.

Maria, 25 years old

As a child, I rode a cable car with my parents and it got stuck. A terrible panic reigned inside. The transport started moving again five minutes later, but the experience was etched in my memory. An obsessive fear of heights turned my life into hell. I couldn't use the elevator, I could only go up the stairs. I gave up my dream of climbing the mountains. I was treated for more than a year, but this was not enough to overcome the disorder.

Dmitry, 34 years old

What to do if you are afraid of heights - rise higher! I have tested this motto in practice dozens of times. I tested my body with many years of rock climbing. On an unlucky day, the cable broke, I fell and remained in the gorge with broken bones for a day. The bones have fused, I walk and run, but I can’t even go out onto the balcony in my sister’s apartment on the third floor. Group therapy gave me a second chance, and within a few months I got rid of the disease. After treatment I can even use the elevator. But just a year ago I didn’t know how to overcome obsessive behavior.

Milena, 41 years old

I've been struggling with this all my life. I didn’t know what this phobia was called until I saw a psychotherapist. It took four months to be able to fly again. Hypnosis, group and individual therapy did their job. Two years have passed since the last session, the symptoms have not returned. I'm no longer afraid of heights!

Gennady, 19 years old

As a child, I fell from a tree and remembered this moment forever. Until I reached adulthood, I didn’t know how to get rid of my fear of heights. But I was advised to group therapy, and after that I contacted a doctor who helped me forget about the terrible feelings. Previously, I immediately began to feel sick, my legs felt weak. I sat on the floor, was afraid to move, but now everything is fine.

What are the types of phobias?

It is customary to divide phobias by type. For example, specific or isolated phobias are phobias caused by specific objects or situations. This category includes: fear of certain animals (mice, insects, snakes, bats, birds, etc.); fear of heights, closed spaces, darkness, blood, etc. That is, to put it in plain language, a person is afraid of something specific.

There is such a thing as social phobia. With this disorder, people are afraid to communicate with other people, to make new contacts, that is, these are fears associated with a person’s communicative functions. This also includes fear of criticism and fears associated with low self-esteem. Such people do not like to be in public, are afraid of becoming a victim of ridicule, and experience discomfort when meeting new people.

Agaraphobia, the fear of open spaces, also falls into this category. A person suffering from such a phobia is very afraid to leave his comfort zone. This also includes the fear of crowds, travel, and “unprotected” places. This type of phobia, as a rule, is more common in adults, while social phobia is more common in young people and adolescents.

Manifestation of acrophobia in children

In children, acrophobia can be either congenital or a consequence of the child being dropped or falling on his own. Sometimes the fear of heights in children is provoked by the parents themselves through excessive care.

The child experiences significant discomfort even when he is on a slight elevation - a stool, a high chair. Like an adult in a state of panic attack, a child's heart rate increases, he becomes dizzy, feels nauseous, and has a fever.

If an adult with acrophobia cannot control his emotions, then what can we say about a child whose psyche is just developing. Panic does not allow the child to make a decision about how to protect himself and get down from the hill.

To develop an adequate response to heights in a child and stabilize the functioning of the vestibular apparatus, any jumping (on a trampoline, jump rope), riding bicycles and scooters, climbing ropes and children's sports ladders are very helpful. Such activities should be encouraged.

If your child has had a negative experience of falling from a hill and has already developed fear, then you need to gently explain to him that nothing terrible happened and there is no need to be afraid of possible falls. A good educational example would be cartoons and children's programs in which characters overcome similar fears.

What happens when we are overcome by fear?

To do this, let's figure out what happens to us when we face the source of our fear one on one. Let's start with physiology. Scientists have found that the amygdala is responsible for the instinct of self-preservation, and therefore for the feeling of fear. This is an area that is located in the temporal lobe of the brain. And, it is the amygdala that is responsible for consolidating in memory the chain leading to the emergence of fear.

What does it mean? That every time we are faced with our fear, the amygdala gives a command to produce certain hormones that force us to take protective actions (run, fight, hide). Definitely, our body perceives all this as a not very pleasant event, which means a rapid heartbeat occurs, blood pressure rises, and breathing quickens. And even if fear was not caused by a real event, but only by our imagination (after all, there is no need to run anywhere, and there is no one to fight with...), the reaction will be the same.

How to get rid of acrophobia with the help of specialists

Acrophobia is a disease in which, if it is mild, you can live comfortably and not worry about your mental health. In most cases, no one forces people to climb to the top and stand on the edge of the abyss.

It's another matter if fear of heights causes daily stress. And its manifestations are expressed very clearly. For example, a person lives on a high floor and does not have the opportunity to move to another apartment or works on the top floor of a building. Such people who systematically suppress their phobia are likely to develop a depressive disorder.

Thus, depending on the severity of the disease and the frequency of its manifestation, the phobia must be treated.

How to prevent panic attacks if you have a fear of heights:

• Autotraining and visualization
  . In a calm and relaxed state, imagine yourself being on a hill, preferably in the place where you actually experienced a panic attack. Convince yourself of safety, look around with your inner gaze, find arguments that exclude the causes of fear. With regular exercise, the subconscious will record positive reactions to heights.
• Determine for yourself a critical height, for example, 3 or 4 meters
  . Gradually carry out lifting exercises to a lower height - 1-2 meters. Gradually, you will be able to calmly climb to a level that does not cause panic.

If the disease is pronounced and interferes with normal life, then you should contact a professional: a psychotherapist or psychiatrist.

The doctor will first conduct a diagnosis, finding out the duration of the symptoms of the disease and its specific signs. Practical tests can be performed to record the patient’s sensations.

Drug treatment is used only to relieve acute symptoms of the disease, such as neurosis, excessive anxiety, depression, if they occur in a person. Anti-anxiety, sedative drugs, and in rare cases antidepressants are prescribed.

Good results in the treatment of acrophobia are shown by hypnosis sessions, in which entering a trance is accompanied by a corrective effect on the patient’s subconscious.

The following therapeutic method is based on the principle: “The best way to overcome fear is to face it head-on.”

First, the psychotherapist helps the patient relax using the complete relaxation method. No medications are used in this case.

Next, a practical lesson takes place, during which the person is placed on a small hill, while the doctor is nearby. There is an artificial infusion of fear, its provocation. Height simulation can be created using special virtual simulators.

As soon as fear arises, the patient begins to apply the knowledge received from the doctor to neutralize it.

As soon as a small height is conquered, all three stages are repeated at another level, until the signs of panic attacks completely disappear.

If acrophobia interferes with your normal life, and you are unable to overcome your fear on your own, contact a specialist. There are enough methods of help in this case in modern psychiatry.

How do we get a phobia?

A logical question arises: why are some people afraid of one thing, and others of another? How do we “choose” a phobia for ourselves, or how does a phobia choose us? Unfortunately, scientists have not yet found an explanation for this. There are versions that the tendency to develop phobias may be associated with birth trauma, others explain this by a violation of intrauterine brain development. There is also an opinion that some negative experience or series of events can lead to the development of a phobia. There is evidence that fear can be learned from a close relative, for example, from a mother who is terrified of something, or from a complete stranger who vividly spoke about her fear. An example would be appropriate here: how children begin to fear getting sick when they learn about the existence of incurable diseases or bacteria and viruses. Phobias can also arise as a result of severe stress, extreme experiences associated, for example, with the threat of losing one’s life.

Proponents of psychoanalysis associate the occurrence of phobias with internal mental problems. In particular, phobias may indicate a person’s fear of the fulfillment of his secret desires. Such a desire, especially if it is socially condemned, begins to be perceived by the psyche as a danger.

What is fear of heights called?

What is acrophobia? Acrophobia or fear of heights is considered by experts to be the most common disease of the 21st century. The word comes from the Greek words: “akros”, meaning upper and “phobos”, which means fear.

The content of the article

1. What is fear of heights called?
2. Causes of acrophobia
3. Treatment of acrophobia

According to Freud (an Austrian physician and psychologist who studied human neuroses), the word Acrophobia means a fear of heights that haunts a person even in situations where he is in places not related to heights.

Often, a person does not pay due attention to his condition, considering it a common manifestation, because fear is an instinctive feeling inherent in the body at the genetic level, associated with human life in the ancient world.

When the feeling of fear, causing the heart to pound, increased adrenaline in the blood, helped our ancestors to intensify mental activity, physical endurance, in the process of fighting wild animals and the desire to save their lives and the lives of their offspring.

Life in modern society is not fraught with so many dangers, therefore, in the course of evolution, some human reactions, both physical and psychological, have transformed into a feeling of anxiety or panic.

How to distinguish a healthy feeling of fear from a pathological fear of heights

Imagining yourself on the edge of a tall building, feel your sensation. What feelings arise inside? Discomfort, maybe a desire to be distracted and not think about it? This is exactly how healthy people behave.

People prone to acrophobia experience a panicky fear of heights even when there is no real threat of falling. A state of panic can occur if a person stands on a chair or goes to the window of a high-rise building and looks down.

Healthy fear mobilizes the body’s strength, forces it to concentrate and find the right solution to the problem in a given situation. Pathological fear disarms a person, making him weak and unable to monitor his thoughts and actions.

Fear of heights in exaggerated manifestations is amenable to systematic treatment. Treatment is necessary only because the manifestations of this disease can be sad. In an attack of panic, people who find themselves in extreme conditions are not able to get down from there on their own and can fall from a height.

Overcoming fears

We can definitely say that we acquire fear, which develops into a phobia, in the course of our lives. And it is logical that if fears and phobias prevent us from living, we will strive to get rid of them. Psychotherapy is considered the most effective way to treat phobias. That is, therapy aimed at combating conscious and unconscious states: anxiety, fear, panic attack, etc.

Why am I afraid of lightning, why am I afraid of spiders (heights, darkness, birds..)? It is impossible to answer this question right away. For each person, the mechanism of occurrence of a phobia is both standard (from a scientific point of view) and purely individual. After all, we are not programmed machines that just need to change the algorithm of action or adjust the data processing process.

To figure out where your fears come from, you need analysis, you need to get to the core of the problem. This is the task of the psychologist: to find the answer to where the phobia came from. And only then will it be possible to choose the right path of treatment. During the appointment, a psychologist or psychotherapist not only finds the cause of the phobia, but also draws up a treatment plan, which may include cognitive behavioral therapy, and in some cases, medication. You can get rid of one phobia in one conversation, while another takes 3-4 months to treat. The main thing is to start and want to overcome your fear.

Causes of acrophobia

To diagnose a disorder, a person's condition must meet established medical criteria.
Why does such a feeling of animal fear arise? A phobia is subject to fantasy: the more impressionable a person is, the greater the likelihood of his illness. No extreme situation is needed, just a thought that will give rise to panic. Having seen a person fall in a dream, you can be charged with negative emotions for the whole day and remain in a state of trance or excitement.

People have evolved, but there remains a connection with the past. If thousands of years ago falling or being at a height was a crime for primitive man, then genetic memory begins to impose this fear on him. There is a desire to jump.

There are theories that prove that animals are also subject to acrophobia. Conclusion: if there are eyes that can see, then there is fear.

Overcome fear of heights
Scientists identify the following medical causes of fear of heights:

1. At a certain time, the brain was damaged through mechanical action or inflammatory processes occurred.
2. Regular frequent stress.
3. Frequent drinking of alcohol.
4. Psychological factor: the child was either not appreciated at one time or was overpraised.
5. Excessive emotionality, slight excitability, or, conversely, shyness and timidity.
6. Experienced a similar situation. It leaves its mark on the memory, and begins to control a person’s thoughts and feelings.