What is Acrophobia?
Acrophobia is one of the most common phobias and is an extreme fear of heights, which can induce feelings of panic, panic attacks, nausea and dizziness if a person is exposed to heights. Acrophobia should not be confused with agoraphobia, the fear of the outdoors or open spaces, which contributes to many people feeling they can’t leave their homes. Both are serious conditions, and both common. Of the two, acrophobia is more common, and is possibly an inborn trait in some people. What constitutes heights can vary for each person with this fear. For some, fear of heights only manifests when a person is in a particularly high place, like a building of several stories or on top of a cliff that overlooks a sheer drop. For others, walking up a flight of stairs or climbing a ladder is enough to induce panic and distress. The fear can easily curtail everyday activities, especially when it is extremely pronounced. Like the agoraphobic person, a person with acrophobia may not want to leave his/h
For those of you who don’t actually know what acrophobia is the basic definition is an acute fear of heights. It doesn’t mean you’re feeling a bit squeamish or uncomfortable because you’re on top of the Sky Tower in Auckland and you’re walking on the glass floor looking down. That is certainly NOT acrophobia, that’s not even a fear of heights, that is basically normal. No, a person suffering from acrophobia can’t even make it to the entrance to the lift on the 3rd floor of the building. A formal definition of acrophobia is this: “Acrophobia is an extreme or irrational fear of heights. It belongs to a category of specific phobias, called space and motion discomfort that share both similar etiology and options for treatment. Acrophobia can be dangerous, as sufferers can experience a panic attack in a high place and become too agitated to get themselves down safely. “Vertigo” is often used, incorrectly, to describe the fear of heights, but it is more accurately described as a spinning sen
