Search

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.