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Before we start today's topic, let's take a look at a set of pictures:
Image credit: pic.rmb.bdstatic
Image credits hotviewb
Adventure lovers rest in a high-rope hammock, image credit news.66wz
Seeing these photos, have you begun to be dizzy and trembling, and even can't help but complain that you have a fear of heights?
Today, let's talk about how fear of heights is.
Standing on a high place and being afraid is a fear of heights?
In the eyes of most people, people with fear of heights are those who are very scared as soon as they stand on a high place. But in fact, fear of height is almost everyone's reaction, but some people are serious, and some people are relatively gentle. Moreover, this fear has been around since we were very young.
American psychologists Eleanor J Gibson and Richard D Walk once did a "Visual Cliff experiment" for babies.
In the experiment, they used different patterns to create the illusion of a "visual cliff", and then covered it with glass to allow the baby to climb over the side of the false cliff.
The mother is encouraging her child to climb over the "visual cliff," but the child is reluctant to move forward
In the experiment, the baby's mother called out to the child on the other side of the "cliff" and even attracted the baby with a seductive toy, but the baby was not willing to climb over the "cliff".
Among them, some babies patted the glass and knew that their feet were not empty (is it very similar to a glass boardwalk?). ), but still refused to move forward. It can be seen that they have begun to fear heights.
In fact, not only homo sapiens are afraid of height, other animals are not much better. The researchers conducted similar "visual cliff" experiments with rats, chickens, cats, pigs, dogs, sheep, monkeys, and other animals, and most animals avoided the "cliffs."
From this perspective, fear of height is more like a survival mechanism that benefits individuals and helps us (and other animals) avoid risk.
Since fear of heights is normal and may even be beneficial to survival, why is there such a thing as fear of heights? This is because fear of heights ≠ fear of heights.
Fear of height is more of a warning of danger, that heights may not be safe enough (such as on the edge of a cliff), and that if you can confirm that you are safe, you generally don't feel so scared. Fear of heights, on the other hand, is a specific phobia and is a type of anxiety disorder. People with fear of heights will have a strong sense of anxiety in the heights, even if they know that they are actually in a safe environment, they will still involuntarily panic, and lose confidence in their sense of balance, and want to lower the body weight (squatting or even lying down) to seek security. In addition, there may be physiological reactions such as trembling, sweating, palpitations, etc., and in severe cases, it is even impossible to think normally.
How to determine whether you have a fear of heights
Since fear of heights is different from fear of heights, how do we judge whether it is normal for us to be afraid of heights?
In addition to the symptoms of dizziness and panic mentioned above when at a high place, the most important point is that people with heights will have anxiety because of fear of heights, and worry about normal life scenes that may put themselves in a high place.
For example, because a friend's family lives on the top floor, he tries to avoid going to his house to play, and because the company has a climbing project, he tries not to participate in team building.
Moreover, this fear and anxiety of people with fear of heights is often disproportionate to the dangers that may be caused by the actual situation. In other words, if it is caused by panic caused by a really dangerous environment (such as climbing a mountain to a barren mountain without a road), it should not be counted as a fear of heights.
Panlong Cliff Glass Boardwalk in Tianmen Mountain Scenic Area, image source douban
In addition, symptoms of heights in people with fear of heights are persistent, generally lasting at least six months before they are clinically meaningful. That is to say, if you are suddenly afraid to stand on the edge of the cliff because you watched "The Hidden Corner" in which Zhang Dongsheng pushed his father-in-law and mother-in-law down the mountain, it is probably not a fear of heights, after all, it is likely that after a few days you forget the TV drama and you will no longer be afraid.
In fact, the real fear of heights is rare, more for safety reasons. If you have a hard time judging whether you are afraid of heights, there is also an easy way to think about whether the fear of heights has affected your normal life. If not, then don't worry, even if you are afraid of heights is within the normal range; if there is, then whether it is fear of heights or other reasons caused by fear of heights, you should consider seeking the help of a professional doctor.
I am afraid of heights, can I still be saved?
So if you already know that you have a fear of heights, what should you do?
Some people may say that people with fear of heights do not go to high places, do they still need treatment? In the short term, this is indeed a solution, but the fear of heights will limit the range of life and activities of patients and trigger anxiety, which cannot be solved simply by staying away from heights.
Moreover, once a person with fear of heights is in a high place (sometimes unavoidable), it is likely that they will make some unsafe moves because of panic, which will cause real danger to themselves. Therefore, people with fear of heights should not just passively avoid the heights, but should actively seek treatment.
Know that fear of heights is a type of anxiety disorder, a disease that deserves to be professionally treated, not because you are not bold or brave enough to have a sense of shame.
Image source 361yangsheng
So how to treat fear of heights?
Current treatments include cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure therapy, and drug therapy.
Among them, cognitive behavioral therapy can be used to treat almost all specific phobias, and it is the basic principle of allowing patients to learn and master the techniques of regaining control of emotions after exposure to fearful environments (such as high places), ending panic reactions, and gradually getting rid of fear of specific things.
Exposure therapy, as the name suggests, is to make people with fear of heights constantly challenge and adapt to heights, of course, the process is gradual;
As for drug therapy, it is the use of sedatives or certain receptor blockers to alleviate the patient's fear and anxiety in a short period of time in specific cases, and is mostly used for short-term adjuvant therapy.
As for the specific method of treatment, it is necessary for the doctor to decide according to the individual situation of the patient.
Now, judging by your own situation, are you afraid of heights or simply afraid of heights? Audit expert: Li Xianhong, a national second-level psychological counselor at the Psychological Counseling Center of the 371 Central Hospital of the People's Liberation Army
Source: Tadpole staves
Editor-in-charge/Konishi said