worsening fear of heights

Bookworm85

Hi all,

just wanted to get some of your thoughts on my fear of heights.

This fear has only come on recently, say within the last 5 years.

I never used to have a fear as heights. I was always climbing trees as a kid, or climbing up onto the extension roof. I was always the one who got things out of the attic for my mam! As a teenager I was always on the scary high rides at the merries and Funderland. But now I cant even stand on the kitchen chair to change a light bulb withour having a mini panic attack. Even seeing heights on the telly is enough to make me dizzy and start my heart racing.

Weirdly enough I am fine indoors, I could go to the second highest floor on the empire state building and stand on the windowsill to admire the view! But if you put me on the roof I would probably die

Would anybody have any idea why I have developed this phobia. I never had a fall or anything that would have triggered it.

Does anybody have any thoughts?

regedit

Bookworm85 wrote: »

Hi all,

just wanted to get some of your thoughts on my fear of heights.

This fear has only come on recently, say within the last 5 years.

I never used to have a fear as heights. I was always climbing trees as a kid, or climbing up onto the extension roof. I was always the one who got things out of the attic for my mam! As a teenager I was always on the scary high rides at the merries and Funderland. But now I cant even stand on the kitchen chair to change a light bulb withour having a mini panic attack. Even seeing heights on the telly is enough to make me dizzy and start my heart racing.

Weirdly enough I am fine indoors, I could go to the second highest floor on the empire state building and stand on the windowsill to admire the view! But if you put me on the roof I would probably die

Would anybody have any idea why I have developed this phobia. I never had a fall or anything that would have triggered it.

Does anybody have any thoughts?

About the same here but I would not stand oin windowsills etc. Driving in "high" altitued situations is difficult for me. Last week-end the bay of Kilary in Connemara/Mayo was a difficult experience.
Went for NLP-nothing (150 Euro).
Went for hypnotherapy (250 Euro)-nothing
Stared CBT last week and will have to have some 6-8 sessions (80 Euro per session) so will wait to see what happens.
I would say that something happened to you to trigger the fear to emerge. This could have been anything-from a bad dream, scary movie or even something you saw, read etc. Fear of heights is a primordial fear but why it emerges in some and not the others, that I do not know.

JaneHudson

I think phobias are worse in times of stress. I developed a really bad fear of heights a few years back but it went away after a while when I was a bit more relaxed in myself. I didn't force myself to go up high or anything like that.

AnnaVanilla

I realize this thread's a bit old but just came across it and I've the exact same thing - never used to be afraid of heights but it started about maybe 5-6 years ago and gets a little bit worse every year. Walking up a flight of stairs can make me dizzy and I have to walk as close to the wall as possible. I don't like balconies, even on the first floor. I've also started having this dream in the last year or so where I fall of a roof top and I wake up just after going over the edge. It's very strange but fortunately nothing that affects me too much so far. I really wonder what triggers it but it seems to be a common enough thing.