Fear of heights (acrophobia) can occur in two ways. One of these is the innate fear of heights and the other is the imitated fear of heights. People with a congenital fear of heights show signs of this fear even in infancy. However, the fear of heights that occurs in the form of imitation is completely influenced by an event that has been experienced or seen. If a person has fallen from a height or seen someone falling, he thinks that he has a fear of heights due to his anxiety.
The most common problem that those who are afraid of heights face in daily life is not being able to look down from the balcony or window of their house. In such a situation, those who are afraid of heights either feel the need to hold on to places such as walls or windows, or they retreat to avoid looking directly down. Such movements make the life of the individual difficult for those who are afraid.
When a person who is afraid of heights encounters a situation that causes him to be afraid, for example when he has to be in a high place, he may think that he is experiencing intense dizziness. For this reason, there is information that the fear of heights is confused with the complaint of dizziness among the public. However, it is different from the dizziness that a person who is afraid of heights feels at that time. The person cannot trust his own body balance and looks for something to hold on and provide support. Its symptoms are generally no different from other phobias. Apart from physical symptoms such as sweating, heart palpitations, shaking and crying, it is also observed that psychological lock-down and inability to make healthy decisions are experienced.
Support should be sought from physicians to decide whether all these symptoms are psychological or biological. With the psychological treatment of these symptoms coming to the fore, psychotherapy may be recommended to the patient. Facing the situation that the person fears step by step will cause the fear to disappear.
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