Acrophobia

: for the online game, see Acrophobia (game)

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Acrophobia or altophobia is a fear of heights.

Related Topics:
Fear - Height

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People who suffer from acrophobia can often become habituated to particular high places, i.e. they lose their fear of them, but the fear returns when they go somewhere new. A surprising number of rock-climbers suffer intermittent acrophobia.

Related Topics:
Habituated - Rock-climbers

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Acrophobia can be dangerous, because sufferers can experience a panic attack in a high place and be unable to get themselves out of it. Some acrophobics also suffer from urges to throw themselves off high places, despite not being suicidal.

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Curiously, there is no correlation between fear of flying and acrophobia. The difference seems to be that when flying, there is no visual connection between the aircraft and the ground beneath: fearless and successful pilots who are acrophobic have reported that their fear suddenly emerges if such a connection is made, e.g. by flying near a cliff or a tall building.

Related Topics:
Fear of flying - Connection - Aircraft - Pilots - Cliff - Building

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Acrophobia is a specific-object phobia and like most such phobias is relatively easily addressed by behaviour therapies such as systematic desensitization or flooding. It is probable that acrophobic rock-climbers have in effect undergone a successful self-administered course of such behaviour therapy.

Related Topics:
Specific-object phobia - Phobia - Behaviour therapies - Systematic desensitization - Flooding

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See also:

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• List of phobias