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Fear of Heights (Acrophobia): Efficacy and Lessons Learned from Psychophysiological Data

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Advances in Virtual Reality and Anxiety Disorders

Part of the book series: Series in Anxiety and Related Disorders ((SARD))

Abstract

Acrophobia, or the fear of heights, is a phobic anxiety disorder that falls under the category of specific (isolated) phobia in the International Classification of Diseases-10 (ICD-10) and is classified as a specific phobia in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV). It is characterized by an irrational fear of heights, resulting in the avoidance of such situations or enduring the situations with marked distress. Acrophobics avoid a large range of stimuli, from climbing ladders to walking stairwells, getting close to windows in high-rise buildings, crossing bridges, sitting in the balcony section at the theater, etc. Acrophobia is different from physiological height vertigo, with the former being related to excessive fear of falling despite objective risks and avoidance while physiological height vertigo is the whirling sensation and visual destabilization of posture caused when the distance between the observer and the closest stationary visible object becomes critically large.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Virtual Reality Medical Center, San Diego, California, USA

    Brenda K. Wiederhold

  2. Université du Québec en Outaouais, Gatineau, Québec, Canada

    Stéphane Bouchard

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  1. Brenda K. Wiederhold
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Correspondence to Brenda K. Wiederhold .

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Wiederhold, B., Bouchard, S. (2014). Fear of Heights (Acrophobia): Efficacy and Lessons Learned from Psychophysiological Data. In: Advances in Virtual Reality and Anxiety Disorders. Series in Anxiety and Related Disorders. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-8023-6_6

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