All About Acrophobia, the Fear of Heights, and How to Overcome it with Psychological Therapy & Counselling
What is Acrophobia?
Acrophobia is the Fear of Heights and, like all other fears and phobias, can be a cause of significant anxiety and stress if you suffer from it.
There may be a number of reasons why you developed Acrophobia such as:
- Childhood adversity.
- Social conditioning.
- Barophobia the fear of gravity.
- Climacophobia the fear of climbing.
- Thanatophobia the fear of dying.
There is no scientific evidence that Acrophobia is the result of any kind of biological fault or chemical imbalance in spite of the traction that biomedical models of mental illness are given in the media.
However, there may be at least some argument for having a hard-wired fear of heights due to the inherent dangers of falling.
On the contrary, Acrophobia is much more likely to be the result of your own, subjective evaluation (meaning-making) of what happened to you and is therefore a psychosocial phenomenon.
Acrophobia Symptoms & Behaviours
All phobias, including Acrophobia, create feelings of anxiety because phobic objects or situations are always perceived as a threat.
Consequently, the symptoms of Acrophobia are both specific and generic and may include:
- Panic or anxiety when exposed to heights.
- Intense fear or dread of high places, such as rooftops, balconies, or bridges.
- Dizziness or vertigo when looking down from a height.
- Sweating or trembling when faced with a height.
- Rapid heartbeat or palpitations.
- Nausea or stomach upset.
- Feeling of loss of control or impending doom.
- Avoiding heights or high places altogether.
- Difficulty functioning or carrying out daily activities due to fear of heights.
You may have all, some or even different symptoms to these listed here and this is due to the subjective nature of Acrophobia.
However, it is important to be aware that these symptoms WILL subside over time and rarely last for more that 20 to 30 minutes.
What causes Acrophobia?
There are suggestions that a fear of heights is a hard-wired reaction as falling from a high place is an obvious threat.
Psychological research indicates, for example, that humans tend to over-estimate how high up they actually are in order to reinforce the potential dangers.
It’s also possible that your Acrophobia may be the result of traumatic events that you experienced in your earlier developmental years.
However, because a fear of heights is by no means universal, the most likely explanation for your Acrophobia is your subjective evaluation of earlier experiences around which you have constructed a set of beliefs.
Is your phobia making you anxious or are you creating the anxiety?
It might be hard to accept, but it’s almost certain that the anxiety you experience when you encounter your phobic object or situation is being unwittingly created by YOU and NOT the thing you fear.
Find out more about the subjective vs objective nature of phobias here.
Therapy & Counselling for Acrophobia
We offer a number of different types of therapy and counselling for acrophobia the fear of heights.
Choosing the most suitable therapy depends on a number of different considerations including factors such as:
- How long you have had the problem.
- Your personal preferences.
- How your problem is affecting you today.
You can read more about the different types of therapy for Acrophobia on the following links:
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Acrophobia
- Reality Therapy for the Fear of Heights
- Pluralistic Therapy for the Fear of Heights
Although all therapies use slightly different approaches, the one thing they all have in common is the relationship that is formed between the client and therapist.
Furthermore, research also suggests that therapy relationship may be the most important factor in achieving a good therapy outcome.
Arrange your FREE initial consultation here.
If you’d like to find out more about overcoming Acrophobia or recovering from related mental health problems then why not arrange a free initial consultation with us.
During this consultation we will discuss your particular phobia and the different types of mental health counselling we offer without you having to commit to any counselling going forward.
The consultation lasts around 50 minutes and is a great opportunity to meet with either Paul or Joan and decide if you would like to proceed with any support.
Applied Psychology Solutions
If you’d like to learn how to overcome Acrophobia but dislike the idea of having “therapy”, then why not learn how to change the way you make sense of your experiences with the CORE Programme.
If you believe that your problems are the result of what has happened to you and not because there is something wrong with you, then this is the solution you’ve been looking for.
Not Ready to Commit to Therapy Quite Yet?
Then why not see if you can solve your own problems using our comprehensive, Online Self-Help CBT course.
Written especially for people who prefer not to engage with a therapist before doing everything they can to overcome their problems.
Mirroring our in-house course of CBT, it contains everything that you need to know to tackle mental health challenges for only £149.
How About Hypnotherapy?
There are numerous ways to overcome and cope with mental health problems and Hypnotherapy is an increasingly popular approach.
If you’d like to find out more about Hypnotherapy for Acrophobia then click here to visit our sister website Wolverhampton Hypnotherapy.
Counselling Locations
We offer counselling for Acrophobia problems for people living in:
- Wombourne
- Wolverhampton
- West Midlands
- Shropshire
- South Staffordshire
- Telford
- Shrewsbury
You can also access our services around the World using online therapy with Paul.