Altophobia

Phobia is the term that defines the excessive fear of either an object or situation experienced by a person. The affected individuals can feel extremely restless when exposed to their phobic conditions. Moreover, it is found that they can go to extremes to avoid exposure to any such situations. They can even faint or cause harm to themselves under such conditions. Panic attacks are also not so uncommon in such situations. Phobias can be of three primary types: 

• Specific phobia: These are the most common types and are related to specific objects or situations. 

• Social phobia: Also known as social anxiety disorder, it is the extreme fear or anxiety of being in social or public situations.

• Agoraphobia: It is the fear of being alone in public places from where the possibility of easy escape is difficult.

Altophobia vs. Acrophobia

This belongs to the category of specific phobia. Both the terms can be defined as the irrational and persistent fear of heights. Specific phobias are usually the result of some negative past experience that impacts the brain. Altophobia or acrophobia can be due to falling off from a high place in childhood or seeing someone falling. The treatments usually involve exposure therapy as medicines are not so helpful in such cases.

An altophobic person feels an irrational and consistent fear of being at a certain height. They can even experience panic attacks in such situations. They get an anxious feeling every time they are at some height. An altophobic person will try to avoid situations to encounter heights as much as possible. The fear of heights is one of the most common phobias experienced by people with some bad experiences. It is necessary to eradicate this fear from the person’s life as it limits their opportunities and prevents them from enjoying their life without any anxiety. 

Causes of Altophobia

Specific phobias such as altophobia do not hold any specific cause of it. However, scientists came up with their theories to evaluate the cause of fear of heights. These hypothetical causes or theories to justify the fear of heights are as follows:

• Having a past traumatic experience of falling from a high place or seeing someone else fall. The injury caused to them or seeing someone getting injured due to falling from such a height can negatively impact the brain for a great time. 

• Another theory of classical conditioning states that the person who has had a negative experience due to falling might associate heights with falling. As a result, every time they see a place of some height, their brain starts to think of falling, causing a panic attack. 

• We have evolved a lot and are continuously evolving to adapt to our surroundings. Some evolutionary theories state that height acts as a threat to survival, due to which the human brain starts to fear it. 

Symptoms of Altophobia

The symptoms may vary from person to person, depending upon their state of mind. For example, some people might only feel fear of great heights, whereas others can be fearful of even standing on a small stool. The most common symptoms experienced by an altophobic person are as follows:

• Consistent panic and anxiety on exposure to heights

• Sweating and chest pain

• Increased heartbeat and shivering on exposure to heights

• Having dreams of being trapped at a place of great height

• Feeling anxious while looking out of the window

Diagnosis of Altophobia

Mental health professionals diagnose various phobias, including altophobia. The person experiencing fear and anxiety due to heights must consult a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist will ask about your mental and physical health. They would like to know about any harsh past incidents that can be the cause of this fear. Therefore, always be honest with your psychiatrist, and tell every symptom you are experiencing. Moreover, tell them about the duration of time you spend worrying about the fear. 

Treatment of Altophobia

• Exposure Therapy: Exposure therapy involves slowly introducing the person to the situation or the object of the phobia. The therapy shall take place under a person whom the patient trusts. The therapy involves a few sessions of the exposure until the person gets ready to confront their fear. Three to four sessions can easily help the person eradicate their fear of heights. Exposure therapies are becoming very common due to their ease and high success rate in treating different types of phobias.

• Congenital Behaviour Therapy or CBT: As we discussed the causes, we know that the person experiencing fear of heights has a misconnection between heights and falling. Here is when this congenital behaviour therapy comes into action. In this therapy, the psychologists try to change how they connect heights with falls. Moreover, they try to replace it with some real and accurate situations. The treatment will require multiple sessions with your psychologist to completely eradicate this misconnection.

• Medications: There are no certain medications that can treat altophobia at once. However, some drugs, such as Beta-blockers and DCS (D-cycloserine), can help relieve anxiety and panic attacks caused due to this phobia. 

Conclusion

Phobias are the irrational and persistent fear of any object or situation leading to severe stress and anxiety. Altophobia or acrophobia is a form of specific phobia in which the person has an extreme fear of heights. The cause of this fear can be a traumatic experience from the childhood of falling from a higher place or seeing someone fall. There are no specific medications or drugs available to cure the disease at once. However, many therapies, such as exposure therapy and congenital behavioural therapy, can help eradicate this fear from its roots. The fear of height limits one’s opportunities, and the person always tries to avoid situations where they have to face heights.