How to get rid of the fear of heights: 5 tips

This fear is very common, but sometimes it gets out of control and interferes with the quality of life.

Fear of heights is a psychological phenomenon that, in most cases, is useful. Thanks to it, we avoid putting ourselves in dangerous situations that involve being on the edge of a precipice. Thus, without the need to stop and think about whether it is a good idea to stand on a balcony without a railing or next to a very deep ravine, we simply obey the feeling of fear and greatly reduce our chances of dying.

In some cases, however, the fear of heights becomes so intense that it manifests itself strongly in contexts in which there is no real danger of dying or being injured by a fall.. In these cases it becomes a problem, especially if it is so severe that it becomes a phobia. When this happens, it is necessary to intervene.

In this article we will look at several tips on how to get rid of the fear of heightsor at least mitigate its effects so that it ceases to be a problem.

First question: should I go to a psychologist?

To begin with, it is important to consider that, like many other phenomena and psychological traits, fear of heights can present itself in different intensities. When its level is relatively low or moderate, it is possible to make progress on one's own, without the help of others. However, if the fear becomes very extreme and the level of anxiety is so high that control is completely lost, it is necessary to see a mental health professional for psychotherapy.

Fortunately, phobias are disorders which in most cases can subside until their effects are so low that they no longer interfere with the person's quality of life.

Of course, the line that separates the fears of the phobias (pathological fears) is diffuse, and for that reason it is necessary that a professional is the one that makes the diagnosis, and not oneself. that it is a professional who makes the diagnosis, and not oneself..

That said, let's see what are the tips to overcome the fear of heights in the case that the level of anxiety and fear manifested is not very extreme.

How to overcome fear of heights

Follow these steps adapting them to the characteristics of your life and your day to day life.

1. Talk about your problem without complexes

This is a first step to be able to face your fear of heights. Doing this will allows you to get rid of the extra worry of giving a bad image of yourself. if there is someone close to you when you enter a crisis of this type. In addition, it has the obvious utility that other people will be able to help you, for example, so that you can have a support when you feel bad for this reason.

2. Establish a reasonable distance

In this step, you should imagine places where there is a precipice and establish, also in your imagination, what is the threshold that separates the really dangerous area from the one that is not.

Doing this repeatedly will help you to solve the uncertainty that comes from not being clear when fear is justified and when it is not, and you will generalize this spatial criterion to many other real or imagined situations where there is a precipice.

3. Assume that emotions do not obey logic.

If you read and inform yourself about the way in which mental processes are relatively independent of rational ones, you will not feel guilty about feeling anxious when you are near a rich man, a large window, etc. Overcoming the fear of heights is, therefore, a task in which part of one's nervous system has to be tamed, so that it adjusts to the rational one.It is, in a sense, a challenge.

4. Visualize images that transmit security

It is good to begin to get the idea that most of the time when people approach cliffs and the like, nothing bad happens. To do this, resort to visualization and imagine many people calmly approaching a cliff, keeping a safe distance and trusting that nothing bad is happening.Keeping a safe distance and relying on the guardrails (if there are any).

Then, imagine that you are imitating those people. The good thing about these scenes is that they are realistic, because they fit with what we usually see in real life, even though we are usually overcome with anxiety in these contexts.

5. Expose yourself to heights

This is the decisive step to definitively overcome heights, but you must do it with help. In your first attempt, propose to go a little beyond the limit you usually respect so as not to suffer too much from fear, and stay there for a few minutes.

On your second attempt, go a little further. In this way you will progress little by little, taking on an ascending difficulty curve and ending up at a degree of proximity to the cliff that can be considered a reasonable margin from the criterion of safety. On the other hand, if you have access to virtual reality technologies, such as the VR system in video games, you can also use it to expose yourself to cliffs that are not real, although they are very realistic.