Understanding Fear of Heights

Like many phobias, fear of heights can affect pretty much anyone. It is a very rare person who isn’t at least a little bit afraid of heights, butfor some people the fear is strong enough to afect their lives and what they can do.
Fear of heights will affect each person differently. Some people are fine as long as their feet are on a solid surface, even hundreds of feet up, but get scared of heights when their footing feels unsteady, like walking across a log a few feet above the ground. Some people are fine as long as there is a window or wall between them and the drop off, some can ride an airplane where they can’t see the ground, but have trouble looking out the window of a tall building.
For fear of heights to reach the level of a phobia, it has to be extreme enough to interfere with everyday life. People with a phobia of heights (technically acrophobia) may have trouble climbing stairs, going up a ladder or standing on a chair.
Sometimes fear of heights is connected to problems with balance. Someone who doesn’t trust their balance when they stand on a chair and fears they will fall doesn’t have a phobia of heights, they have a fear that is based on a real possibility – that they may lose their balance and fall.
Occasionally people will use the term ‘vertigo’ to refer to fear of heights. Vertigo actually refers to the feeling of dizziness that people can get when they look down from a height, or any other time a person feels dizzy when they aren’t actually moving.
A strong fear of heights may be helped by acclimatization, gradually introducing a person to small heights, letting them get comfortable, and then introducing them to a different height.