There are generally two kinds of fear of heights. Fear of heights (such as climbing mountains and on the edge of cliffs) is a physiological fear of heights; Being afraid of people or things in high places (such as pursuing higher and better things) and meeting people or things stronger than yourself with inferiority is a psychological fear of heights.
therapeutic method
Acrophobia is a simple phobia among phobias. If it has little effect on your work and life, you can leave it untreated. If you want to treat it, there are four treatments that have better effects.
Systematic desensitization therapy
Let patients learn self-treatment through systematic desensitization. The purpose is to eliminate the conditional connection between terrorist stimulus and terrorist response and combat avoidance response. System desensitization can be achieved by meditation (imagination) desensitization or situational desensitization. Meditation desensitization is to imagine things or situations that cause terror in your mind, rather than presenting or showing the actual things or situations that cause terror. The process is as follows: a, classify the things or situations that cause terror according to the intensity of stimulation from low to high, that is, classify them according to the severity of terror; B. Sit comfortably on the sofa or lie on the bed, close your eyes slightly, imagine the weakest stimulus that causes weaker terror, and relax your whole body muscles until the sense of terror is close to disappearing; C, imagine from low to high to cause stronger, more horrible, more serious and more serious stimulation step by step, and at the same time cooperate with muscle relaxation to gradually enhance the tolerance to terrorist stimulation until the terrorist reaction completely disappears. For example, when treating unclean phobia (cleanliness addiction), patients can first imagine that they are likely to come into contact with unclean and horrible electrical appliances at home, such as toilets and places where dust is easy to accumulate on tables, so as to relax their muscles when they have a terrorist reaction and try to arouse their cordial feelings about these appliances; Then imagine yourself touching the counter when shopping in the store and touching the handrail when taking the bus. When these stimuli cause terror, I will constantly relax my muscles and gradually produce the normal emotional response that others will inevitably have under this common situation. Finally, imagine that your hands and clothes are stained with dirt, and constantly relax your muscles and tell yourself not to be nervous. No big deal. Anyone's hands and clothes will get dirty. At most, they just wash their hands and change clothes. In this way, the unclean terror can be controlled step by step. Situation desensitization is to replace the imagination of these stimuli with the actual stimuli that cause terrorist reactions, that is, to actually touch the things or situations that cause terror, accompanied by muscle relaxation and pleasant emotional reactions, in order to overcome the terrorist emotions. The process of situational desensitization is the same as meditation desensitization. The only difference is that the horror caused by the actual stimulus is more real and intense, so it is more unbearable and more difficult to overcome. But once the terror is eliminated, its curative effect is more ideal.
Exposure therapy
Also known as submergence therapy. It is a kind of rapid behavioral therapy, which encourages the seeker to directly contact the situation that causes terror and anxiety until the tension disappears. Max, a famous behavioral therapy expert, pointed out when talking about the basic principle of submergence therapy: "The more sudden and lasting the influence on patients, the stronger the emotional response of patients, so it can be called full irrigation. Different forms of total irrigation technology have the same feature, which is to quickly present the patient with the stimulus that scares him and stick to it until he gets used to it. " In the early stage of treatment, the patient should be put into the situation that scares him the most. Generally, the patient is encouraged to imagine the most frightening scene through imagination, or the psychologist repeatedly tells the details of the most frightening scene, or shows the most frightening scene with videos and slides, thus deepening the patient's anxiety. At the same time, patients are not allowed to take evasive actions such as closing their eyes, crying and blocking their ears. Stimulated by repeated fears, even if the patient has autonomic nervous system reactions such as rapid heartbeat, dyspnea, pallor and chills in limbs due to anxiety, the terrible disaster that the patient is most worried about has not happened, so the anxiety reaction has subsided accordingly. Or directly bring the seeker into his most fearful situation, and after the actual experience, let him feel that it has not caused any big consequences, and the fear symptoms will naturally be gradually eliminated. "Xi Neng Zhen Jing" is the key to flood therapy. It has been reported abroad that even phobia with a course of more than 20 years can be cured after 3- 15 times of full irrigation treatment.
Exercise can relieve symptoms.
The human body is responsible for controlling the elements of balance-vision, inner ear and muscles, which can function normally through activities. If we sit still all day and only stare at computers and other objects, the balance function of the human body will decline. However, if we repeat the stimulation activities that initially caused dizziness, the brain will begin to adjust and adapt, and the sense of direction will gradually improve, and the brain will automatically find a fixed reference point as the basis for positioning-this is the reason why the skater keeps spinning at a high speed without falling. If you find that you have a slight fear of heights, you might as well challenge yourself more and look down, and the situation will improve. If your symptoms are serious, you should be trained step by step in a safe and high environment under the supervision of a doctor. In addition, the simplest solution is to close one eye, so that the body balance system relies more on muscles than vision to relieve dizziness and fear, but never close your eyes, because it is dark in front of you, and your heart will be more timid and confused. In short, the most fundamental way to overcome acrophobia is to exercise more, maintain a healthy body and make the balance system work normally. Growing children can train their body orientation ability by walking on a wooden bridge, somersaulting, jumping and turning around. Adults should not give up such activities for fear of getting lost.
ballistic method
For the treatment of acrophobia, there is a "shock method", which is more effective. The specific operation method of "impact method" is to inspire the corrected object to imagine that he is at a considerable height, and this height is still rising. The initial imagination caused intense anxiety and fear, but this emotion gradually subsided in the long-term induction process. After the same situation is repeated many times, the effect of inducing various behaviors related to anxiety and fear will become smaller and smaller, and finally disappear completely. Acrophobia is a kind of phobia, which can be cured as long as it persists in treatment. The following four points are the twelve-character principles for treating acrophobia. Long time: let the patient stand at a height that can cause terror for at least 30-45 minutes. Especially in the initial stage of treatment, patients should be allowed to persist for enough time to reduce the degree of terror by 50%. Step by step: don't set high goals for patients at once, start with easy goals and gradually turn to difficult goals. Regularity: One practice is not enough to eliminate fear. So each process needs to be repeated many times until the feeling of fear completely disappears. Complete: When exercising, ask the patient to concentrate and not think about anything else. Because diverting attention can alleviate fear, but it is not conducive to the complete elimination of fear.
Edit this paragraph
Acrophobia group
Modern: office workers and acrophobia
Nowadays, the working environment of office workers is mostly in high-rise buildings, which makes people feel more and more disoriented and dizzy.
From the perspective of psychotherapy, it is suggested that office workers who are afraid of heights choose a suitable method among the above four methods. The first three methods need the guidance of psychologists, and the latter can be implemented by themselves:
1. Systemic desensitization therapy: The purpose is to eliminate the conditional connection between terrorist stimulus and terrorist response and to combat avoidance response. System desensitization can be achieved by meditating on situations that scare you.
Second, exposure therapy: it is a rapid behavioral therapy that encourages patients to directly contact the situation that causes fear and lasts until the tension disappears. Stimulated by repeated fears, even if the seeker has reactions such as rapid heartbeat, difficulty breathing, pallor and chills in limbs due to fear, the terrible consequences that the seeker is most worried about have not happened, so the fear has subsided accordingly. Or bring the seeker directly into his most fearful situation, and after practical experience, convince him that the consequences he imagined really didn't happen, and the fear symptoms will naturally gradually disappear.
Third, the impact method: inspire phobia office workers to imagine themselves at a considerable height, and the height is still rising. The initial imagination caused a strong fear, but in the long-term induction process, this emotion gradually subsided and disappeared.
Fourth, exercise can relieve symptoms: the human body is responsible for controlling the elements of balance-vision, inner ear and muscles, which can function normally through activities. If office workers sit still all day and only stare at computers and other objects, the balance function of the human body will decline. Therefore, it is a good idea to take part in various sports. Nowadays, many office workers choose gymnasiums, sports fields and playgrounds as good places to relieve stress. Office workers who are afraid of heights need to take part in more sports. If you find that you have a slight fear of heights, you might as well challenge yourself more and look down, and the situation will improve. Without healthy body, it is difficult to do anything. To treat acrophobia, you need good health, exercise more, keep a healthy body, and the balance system can work normally. You can train your body orientation ability by walking on the wooden bridge, somersaulting, jumping and turning around. Only in this way can we adapt to the increasingly modern office environment and become healthy office workers.