How to Cope with a Fear Of Heights

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We're all born with a little acrophobia, or fear of heights. But when a healthy fear turns into crippling anxiety, it's time to get help.

Step 1: Learn breathing exercises
Learn to calm yourself through deep breathing. Being able to control your breathing when you’re in the anxiety-provoking moment, like on a ladder, will help fend off the physical aspects of fear, like nausea and heart palpitations.

Step 2: Distract yourself
Find ways to distract yourself when you are doing something frightening. Try a mental exercise, like adding large numbers in your head, or bring along your favorite music.

Step 3: Get virtual therapy
If your phobia is more serious--and you can afford the treatment--find a therapist who offers virtual reality exposure therapy. A computer will put you in a simulated scary situation, like standing on the edge of a cliff. This is considered the gold standard of phobia treatment.

Step 4: Try graded exposure therapy
If virtual reality treatment isn’t available, go for graded exposure. A therapist helps you tackle small challenges (like standing on a platform) as you gradually work up to your biggest fear (say, going to the top of a skyscraper). Eight to 15 sessions are generally needed.

Tip
Experts say continued exposure to the fear is the key to overcoming it, so keep forcing yourself into high places after therapy officially ends.

Step 5: Consider flooding
If you want a quick cure, consider flooding. That’s when a therapist makes you confront your greatest fear in one brutal, on-site session.

Warning
Flooding can be an intense experience--be sure to do it under the guidance of a trained professional.

Step 6: Ask about medication
Ask your doctor about prescribing a medication you can take when you’re forced to be in a terrifying situation.

Tip
The drug D-cycloserine has been proven effective in treating fear of heights when combined with therapy.

Step 7: Try talk therapy
Try talk therapy. Though behavioral therapy works best for phobias, traditional talk-it-out counseling can be helpful for people who developed their phobia as the result of a specific incident, like a childhood fall.

Did You Know?
Some of the more obscure phobias include ereuthophobia (the fear of blushing), scopophobia (the fear of being stared at), and gymnophobia (the fear of seeing a naked person).