Acrophobia is the severe and/or senseless fear of heights. It is caused by multiple things and varies for each person, but the fear of falling as a traumatic experience is the most common. For most of us, the mind creates a "safety barrier," protecting us from walking too close to the tip of a mountain ledge or jumping off a high cliff into a natural pool of water below. Yet in reality, this protection mechanism put in place by the brain doesn't protect you at all. It can cause panic attacks, isolation from friends and family, shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat, profuse sweating, and the inability to think correctly. This will cause the person to not be able to get out of the situation that is triggering the acrophobia. .
John Lee Rathpatrick is a 25 year old, 5'11 and 180 pound Caucasian male who came in due to his fear of heights. The patient has had no serious injuries in the past, and consumes two 10mg tablets of Ritalin a day for his ADD. When Mr. Rathpatrick was thirteen years old, he went through a traumatic experience at an amusement park. He says that he was riding the largest roller coaster in the park, and at the peak of the ride they were suspended in the air. Apparently there was a system malfunction as soon as they were turned upside down. Mr. Rathpatrick immediately began to feel an overwhelming amount of fear. He began sweating profusely while he became nauseous and dizzy. Since then he has had a fear of heights. Recently, Mr. Rathpatrick says he was on the fourth floor of a building standing next to a large glass window. When he looked down, those symptoms returned. In my five axis of the DSM, we labeled the following:.
Axis I: Acrophobia.
Axis II: None.
Axis III: Mild attention deficit disorder, takes Ritalin.
Axis IV: Roller coaster incident at thirteen, breakdown on the 4th floor recently, single.
Axis V: GAF-70.
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Post diagnosis of acrophobia, we decided that behavioral therapy was needed to start off.