Acrophobia is an extreme and irrational fear of heights. It is not the same as vertigo, which is an inner ear problem that causes you to feel you are moving when you are not.

 

Research suggest between 10% and 20% of the population is affected by acrophobia, which would make it the no 1 phobia. Women are twice as likely as men to be affected by this problem.

 

Phobias are irrational fears of something and very often the sufferer will be fully aware that their fear is irrational, but not able to override the symptoms.

 

Fear of heights is natural for humans as an response to danger, but acrophobia is an extreme reaction and can occur even when the sufferer is not in any danger or high up. 

Everyone is born with the fight or flight reflexes as a protection and it works subconsciously. Heart rate and breathing goes up and blood is diverted to the brain and muscles to make us able to react swiftly without thinking about what to do.

 

Symptoms of acrophobia can include vision distortion, dizziness and feeling like fainting, panic attack, and the feeling that you will jump or fall off the edge. Its harmless as per say, but the stress is not healthy for the body on long term and the crippling effects can also cause other phobias, such as not feeling well in public spaces or in crowds, not to mention the everyday limitations of not being able to take a lift, walk on stairs or take an escalator.

 

There are various treatments for acrophobia and the ones said to work best is exposure, NLP and Hypnotherapy.

In this film we take a look and try all 3 therapy types.

 

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