Can you see yourself riding to the top of a skyscraper in a glass elevator?
Would you be crouching against the floor? Clinging to the inside wall?
Would your heart start beating faster? Would your knees shake? Would you be sweating? Shaking?
Commonly, people who suffer from this phobia are terrified of tall buildings and balconies.
It doesn’t matter how high something is. There can be crippling fear even at very low heights. There is no minimum standard of height. You may intensely dread climbing a small ladder or step stool. Your fear may even include a steep staircase.
If you have the fear of heights, you may get the feeling of dizziness which may include a sensation of spinning.
The dizzying sensation of vertigo when looking down from a balcony or out a window creates the urge to back away.
Though vertigo is not the same as acrophobia, it can be a symptom.
The intense fear of heights often includes terrifying thoughts of falling or being pushed. It can even include a feeling of being compelled to jump. This can be almost paralyzing.
What does your fear of heights keep you from doing?
Do you find yourself avoiding any situation which might involve tall buildings, elevators or balconies?
It seems that it’s usually not the height itself. The fear is actually a fear of a terrible outcome.
Like other fears, acrophobia usually has a root cause. It is typically caused by an actual event or perhaps a memory of an event.
For example, a child may be climbing a tree with friends and suddenly fall to the ground causing a moment of panic. This fall combined with a nervous reaction by a parent can be a trigger for acrophobia. The unconscious mind associates the event with the mild panic attack and creates a fear.
Self hypnosis is a powerful tool that can be used in overcoming fear of heights.
The reason self hypnosis is so successful for overcoming fear is because it retrains the unconscious mind. Instead of your present focus on images and thoughts of fears, you will learn to place your focus away from that. You will develop more resourceful ways to frame the perceived threatening situation and change your learned responses and conditioned behaviors.
Imagine how it would feel to be calm, even confident in a situation that involves heights.
