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Fear of heights

nimzov

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Hello.

I have a bit of masonry to do on my house. I will have to go up a ladder maybe some 20 feet (7 meter) high. I have fear of heights (acrophobia) and wonder if there are techniques to overcome this.

I don't think it has something to do with the inner ear or my vision because in building I have acrophobia if I go higher than the 4-5 floor. I don't even have to look outside the building to feel vertigo just "knowing" that I am higher thant 4-5 floor and this is enough to give me somekind of "panic attack".

In your opinion, is this kind of fear of heights a form of irrational thinking ? If so I think skeptics might have suggestion to deal with this in a rational way.

nimzo
 
gradual immersion?

1st day climb 1 step of the ladder - remain there for 1 minute, climb down

2nd day climb 2 steps ....etc....


times and steps arbitrary of course....but i think that's the general technique i've seen applied on tv for various phobias (balloons/spiders/heights etc)

actually, they also used some nifty virtual reality helmets - but they're not the sort of thing most people have lying around :)
 
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nimzov said:
Hello.

I have a bit of masonry to do on my house. I will have to go up a ladder maybe some 20 feet (7 meter) high. I have fear of heights (acrophobia) and wonder if there are techniques to overcome this.

I don't think it has something to do with the inner ear or my vision because in building I have acrophobia if I go higher than the 4-5 floor. I don't even have to look outside the building to feel vertigo just "knowing" that I am higher thant 4-5 floor and this is enough to give me somekind of "panic attack".

In your opinion, is this kind of fear of heights a form of irrational thinking ? If so I think skeptics might have suggestion to deal with this in a rational way.

nimzo
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I don't know -the fear seems quite rational, at least in regards to ladders 20 feet above your house. Perhaps you should listen to it and have someone else climb the ladder and do the masonry.
 
andyandy said:
gradual immersion?

1st day climb 1 step of the ladder - remain there for 1 minute, climb down

2nd day climb 2 steps ....etc....


times and steps arbitrary of course....but i think that's the general technique i've seen applied on tv for various phobias (balloons/spiders/heights etc)
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I thought of this and I will try it. Should I look down when I practice this or look straight to the wall ?

Dave1001 said:
I don't know -the fear seems quite rational, at least in regards to ladders 20 feet above your house. Perhaps you should listen to it and have someone else climb the ladder and do the masonry.
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Actually it's 20 feet from the ground. So a second floor height. What I fear the most is that the ladder will slip sideways with me at the top. ;)

Of course I will have somebody on the ground to check that the ladder does not move.

Thanks.

nimzo
 
nimzov said:
I thought of this and I will try it. Should I look down when I practice this or look straight to the wall ?


Actually it's 20 feet from the ground. So a second floor height. What I fear the most is that the ladder will slip sideways with me at the top. ;)

Of course I will have somebody on the ground to check that the ladder does not move.

Thanks.

nimzo
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It was a typo. Frankly, I think that fear is quite reasonable. Let's hope the cure doesn't end up being worse than the disease.:p
 
however......


Some neurologists question the prevailing wisdom and argue that acrophobia is caused by dysfunction in maintaining balance and that the anxiety is both well founded and secondary. According to the dysfunction model, a normal person uses both vestibular and visual cues appropriately in maintaining balance. An acrophobic overrelies on visual signals whether because of inadequate vestibular function or incorrect strategy. Locomotion at a high elevation requires more than normal visual processing. The visual cortex becomes overloaded and the person becomes confused. Research is underway at several clinics. [1] [2] Some proponents of the alternate view of acrophobia warn that it may be ill-advised to encourage acrophobics to expose themselves to height without first resolving the vestibular issues.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrophobia



andyandy can accept no responsibility for injury, distress or loss of life resulting from or encouraged by advice he may have given or been perceived to give. Any relation to person(s) living or dead is purely coincidental. Your statutory rights are not effected. :)
 
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nimzov said:
Hello.

I have a bit of masonry to do on my house. I will have to go up a ladder maybe some 20 feet (7 meter) high. I have fear of heights (acrophobia) and wonder if there are techniques to overcome this.

I don't think it has something to do with the inner ear or my vision because in building I have acrophobia if I go higher than the 4-5 floor. I don't even have to look outside the building to feel vertigo just "knowing" that I am higher thant 4-5 floor and this is enough to give me somekind of "panic attack".

In your opinion, is this kind of fear of heights a form of irrational thinking ? If so I think skeptics might have suggestion to deal with this in a rational way.

nimzo
Click to expand...
I also had a fear of heights, although not as bad as you discribed. I got over it by gradual immersion (as mentioned above). I made it a point to do things that I knew would make me nervous, but not take me too far out of my bounds, and eventually I grew out of it (somewhat). I still get the willies when going over high bridges, climbing tall ladders, and looking from windows in high buildings, but it is a tolerable fear.

As far as whether or not you should look down while on the ladder, I would not do anything to insite a panic attack, or extreme fear. First off, panicing can be very dangerous if you are on a ladder. Second, remembering the panic attack from last time may make you even MORE afraid to go up. The idea is to do something that makes you a little nervous, and keep doing it till you are comfortable. It is definately not an overnight solution.

For someone who has a phobia as severe as yours, I would personally seek professional advice before proceeding, rather than taking advice from an internet forum. From what I hear, it doesn't take very much therapy from a professional to significantly reduce your fear. At the very least, get a professional opinion about whether or not gradual immersion is a good idea. For some people, it only makes things worse.
 
HappyCat said:
For someone who has a phobia as severe as yours, I would personally seek professional advice before proceeding, rather than taking advice from an internet forum. From what I hear, it doesn't take very much therapy from a professional to significantly reduce your fear. At the very least, get a professional opinion about whether or not gradual immersion is a good idea. For some people, it only makes things worse.
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agreed :)
 
I have no problems with heights...... It is depths that scare the hell out of me.

gradual immersion has worked for me though.

Because of my work i often have to travel over big bridges. Over the water(makes it even worse)

To begin with i would feel extremely sick, i would grip very tightly around the door handle(to feel anchored), and hold a hand over my eyes... For the entire trip over the bridge.(not sure how long it takes to drive over, a few minutes, or more).

But during the last year i have driven over that bridge quite a lot. And now i feel slightly sick, But that is it. :)

If i am very stressed, or it is dark or windy, i will feel very sick, and i will grip the door hard. But i don't have to shield my eyes. And most of the time i can just drive accross it with nothing more than a slight clutching in my stomach and my heart.


So, quite a bit better :) And all i have done is travel over it a lot.
 
Dave_46 said:
Hire an access tower. A good steady base (provided it is properly levelled and braced) and it is so much easier to work from than a ladder.

If you do use a ladder, make sure it is tied at top and bottom to give stability.

Dave
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Yes I will do as you suggest and not use a ladder, a bit too unstable to my taste. I will use scaffold. lukily I just found that I can borrow one from a neighbour.

nimzo
 
Is fear of heights always a phobia? Fear of lions wouldn't be classed as a phobia. It is normal to be scared of dangerous things.

I have a mild sense of vertigo when I look over the edge of particularly shart drops. It doesn't stop me actually doing anything and I would never describe myself as being "scared of heights". I assumed that this was just normal.

Are there many people who never experience vertigo at all in any circumstances?
 
TobiasTheCommie said:
I have no problems with heights...... It is depths that scare the hell out of me.

gradual immersion has worked for me though.

Because of my work i often have to travel over big bridges. Over the water(makes it even worse)

To begin with i would feel extremely sick, i would grip very tightly around the door handle(to feel anchored), and hold a hand over my eyes... For the entire trip over the bridge.(not sure how long it takes to drive over, a few minutes, or more).

But during the last year i have driven over that bridge quite a lot. And now i feel slightly sick, But that is it. :)

If i am very stressed, or it is dark or windy, i will feel very sick, and i will grip the door hard. But i don't have to shield my eyes. And most of the time i can just drive accross it with nothing more than a slight clutching in my stomach and my heart.


So, quite a bit better :) And all i have done is travel over it a lot.
Click to expand...

I wonder what it feels like (absurdist irony?) to be knowingly about to die of one of one's greatest phobias. For me it would be riding in a plane at cruising altitude, to hear a loud wrenching sound as an important part of it falls off, and then for it to pitch down at a 90 degree angle and nose dive into the ground. That last minute of my life would be interesting.
 
Dave1001 said:
I wonder what it feels like (absurdist irony?) to be knowingly about to die of one of one's greatest phobias. For me it would be riding in a plane at cruising altitude, to hear a loud wrenching sound as an important part of it falls off, and then for it to pitch down at a 90 degree angle and nose dive into the ground.
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Damned, you crashed right in my ladder. :eye-poppi

nimzo
 
chriswl said:
Is fear of heights always a phobia? Fear of lions wouldn't be classed as a phobia. It is normal to be scared of dangerous things.

I have a mild sense of vertigo when I look over the edge of particularly shart drops. It doesn't stop me actually doing anything and I would never describe myself as being "scared of heights". I assumed that this was just normal.

Are there many people who never experience vertigo at all in any circumstances?
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No, it is not always a phobia. It is certainly healthy to keep yourself safe from falling. However, a phobia is when the fear is irrational, and it inhibits your life. In my case, if I was in a building above the 10th floor or so, I wouldn't go near the windows, for fear that I would see out to the ground. I also couldn't get more than half way up a moderate height rock climbing wall (the fake ones, where you are tied in and safe). Also, I couldn't do high ropes courses, so I sat out of these activities at summer camps. There is no reason why I shouldn't have been able to enjoy these things, they are all safe. The phobia prevented me from doing so.
 
Interestingly, I too have a fear of hights, but mine is learned!
I used to work in a smelter, and often my work would take me hundreds of feet up on metal latice framework, over yawning drops to the smelter work floor far below. Initally I had no problems with clambering out over these drops, but I was always required to wear a safety harness, in case I lost my grip and fell.
Well eventually after doing this work for some months, I suddenly realized, that if I got more than 10 ft from the ground, or came close to a drop of more than 10 ft, I would have a panic attack, unless, I was wearing a safety harness!:D
And I've been that way ever since!
 
Heights and I have never been friends either. I don't get the effects mentioned above, by others, but I get wobbly knee'd and all trembly.

It's strange, but I can work on ladders, at fairly high heights and stuff, but I have to take it slow going up, and allow a few minutes to get accustomed to being there. After a bit (10-20 Min's) I'm reaching, climbing up and down with no problem, and generally would appear to have no fear at all. But those first few minutes are pure hell.

The only thing that really scares me is the idea of falling. I can just think about it, and I start trembling. That's even if I'm on the ground, and the thought comes to me. The only night mares I have are of falling.

Anyway, I think I understand the feelings you have Nimzov. Sounds like some good suggestions above.

Think I'm just gonna get a good sized anchor to tie to my butt, so it stays on the ground ;)
 
Rational or not, I have an extreme fear of heights. This is especially problematic since I work on a high floor in a skyscraper at the tip of Manhattan. The biggest problem is when I have a meeting in an office where I have to face the person who occupies the office. Since most people have their backs to the window, I'm left staring out into the abyss. It's actually worse when the office is on the water side. With buildings in the background it isn't so uncomfortable, but a clear shot of the open water or the Statue of Liberty makes it difficult to focus on whatever is being said in the meeting. Of course the second a workman or a window washer appears on a building in my line of sight it becomes even worse. I haven't hit the point of a full panic attack during one of these times, but I've often excused myself from a meeting to go to the restroom and collect myself for a minute. I've even avoided job interviews if the interview is on too high (an ever-changing standard) a floor. Of course, I realize this has nothing to do with the OP, but I feel better having gotten that out.

Anyway, having said that (and I do feel much better now), I would say that if your fear is anything like mine, your balance is definitely affected by this phobia. I will often get vertigo in a situation and lean away from whatever eyeline is bothering me, overcompensating, and becoming even more off balance. If you're planning on doing masonry work, which I assume will require you to use both hands and possible get into less than ideal balancing positions, I would recommend against it. I especially like the idea of having a professional mason do the work. But perhaps that is more a result of my other fear: getting off my ass and doing home improvement work.
 
This Guy said:
Heights and I have never been friends either. I don't get the effects mentioned above, by others, but I get wobbly knee'd and all trembly.

It's strange, but I can work on ladders, at fairly high heights and stuff, but I have to take it slow going up, and allow a few minutes to get accustomed to being there. After a bit (10-20 Min's) I'm reaching, climbing up and down with no problem, and generally would appear to have no fear at all. But those first few minutes are pure hell.

The only thing that really scares me is the idea of falling. I can just think about it, and I start trembling. That's even if I'm on the ground, and the thought comes to me. The only night mares I have are of falling.

Anyway, I think I understand the feelings you have Nimzov. Sounds like some good suggestions above.

Think I'm just gonna get a good sized anchor to tie to my butt, so it stays on the ground ;)
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call yourself an orangutan?! :D
 
I don't have a fear of heights I have a fear of landing.

I would do a little bit of masonry at twenty feet up but I wouldn't do a lot. For lots I would hire a pro. For a little I would just make sure the ladder is secured well.

Sounds easy! :D
 
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