Tara Eastcott, a clinical psychologist in private practice, first learned she had acrophobia, an extreme fear of heights, while 50 feet above the ground on a hot air balloon flight over the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
She writes, “I spent the entire two-hour journey in a sweaty, rigid freeze response, with my back pressed against the railing and intermittently shrieking.”
She recalled feeling dizzy and off-balance on steep hikes in the past, as well as experiencing a panic attack on a high ropes course in high school.
It is normal to feel a little anxious or wobbly when looking down from extremely high places. However, acrophobia, which affects approximately 5% of the population, can cause you to perspire, tremble, and feel generally horrified at the mere notion of being in a high place.
To snap this selfie, Tara Eastcott climbed to the top of Angels Landing.
Rebecca Eastcott
These symptoms can also manifest in ordinary circumstances, such as:
Looking out the window from the 12th-floor flat of a friend
Climbing a ladder
To cross a bridge
Parking a vehicle on the highest level of a parking garage
Located close to a balcony
Using strategies she learnt throughout her study and work as a psychologist, Eastcott was able to overcome her acrophobia.
Conquering acrophobia
In order to avoid relapsing from her treatment to overcome her phobia of heights, Tara Eastcott is compelled to peer over the brink of a precipitous drop.
Rebecca Eastcott
Certain acrophobia triggers can differ from individual to individual. For example, Eastcott experienced the most anxiety while exposed to the open air, such as on the edge of a cliff or in a hot air balloon. In 2010, when she became interested in indoor rock climbing, she had a predicament.
“I started out in a gym with 45-foot-tall walls,” she explains. “I immediately realized that if I glanced down at the improper angle, particularly if I was moving laterally on the wall, my acrophobia would intensify.”
Multiple times, after climbing halfway up the wall, Eastcott experienced panic attacks, which left her in the fetal position and crying. She then resolved to concentrate on conquering her concerns so she could continue to pursue her interest.
By practicing rock climbing at her local gym, Tara Eastcott learned herself to overcome her phobia of heights.
Rebecca Eastcott
Eastcott received specialized treatment for addressing anxiety issues and found that exposure therapy is one of the most successful choices while completing her Psychology degree at the University of Denver.
This method to treatment helps you gradually expose yourself to your fears so that you can learn to manage and cope with your anxiety. As your brain and body realize that you are safe in certain settings, your phobia begins to diminish.
When Eastcott works with a client who has a specific phobia, such as acrophobia, she instructs them to establish a “exposure hierarchy,” or a list of ways they might confront their fear in order of increasing difficulty. After establishing her own hierarchy, Eastcott returned to the gym and began scaling extremely low ledges.
She writes, “I would take the time to stare at the ground and the entire gym, recognizing that certain angles made my feet tingle, my heart race, and my throat constrict.” “When I discovered one of these angles, I continued to focus on the terror sensations in my body until they began to subside,” she explains.
Tara Eastcott can now stand on a ledge with a precipitous plunge below without suffering paralyzing dread.
Rebecca Eastcott
Since Eastcott’s phobia symptoms were most pronounced when she looked down while traveling laterally over a wall, she consciously sought out those routes and repeatedly paused to look down until she began to feel gradually more at ease.
Several years later, Eastcott felt confident enough to try climbing bigger heights outdoors, but she had to restart her exposure therapy for two reasons.
The scenery was vastly different from what she was accustomed to.
A fall indoors occurs in a controlled setting, whereas outside rock climbing is intrinsically more dangerous.
So, if a specific visual provoked her anxiety response, she would pause, concentrate on taking in the scene, and wait for her body to deescalate.
Tara Eastcott scales an extremely tall wall in Colorado’s Secret Gardens.
Rebecca Eastcott
Eastcott finally reached the pinnacle of her exposure therapy hierarchy in 2013: going to the summit of El Capitan and gazing down over a 2,000-foot drop after overcoming the sensations of panic that arose.
She says, “I located a position where I could hang onto a tree and scooted on my bottom closer and closer to the edge of the gigantic cliff.” “My vision became hazy, I was on the verge of puking, and I was trembling all over. My body desired to flee. However, I knew the drill. ‘Look. Keep looking. Look around farther. At this point, with lots of practice, my anxiety decreased by at least half very quickly “Eastcott argues.
Frequent triggers of acrophobia
In Thailand, Tara Eastcott overcomes her fear of heights by dangling from a wire above a steep drop.
Rebecca Eastcott
While experts have yet to pinpoint the specific etiology of acrophobia, Eastcott suggests that a bad or traumatic experience involving heights may raise your likelihood of developing this phobia. For instance, if you were trapped at the top of a Ferris wheel as a child, you may acquire acrophobia as an adult.
In these instances, according to Eastcott, exposure treatment exercises may require additional complexity to address the incident’s particulars.
For example, if your phobia of heights arises from an experience in which you fell out of a tree, physically revisiting the tree or engaging in visual imagery exercises including it may be the most effective means of overcoming your phobia.
Tara Eastcott suffered from acrophobia for many years, but after overcoming it, she is now able to scale extremely tall structures.
Rebecca Eastcott
“Additional therapeutic treatment may be required to treat the element of the fear that is more trauma-driven than phobia-driven,” says Eastcott.
Some specialists believe that specific phobias can be inherited from one’s parents, either through genetics or learned behavior. For instance, if one of your caretakers experienced acrophobia, you may have developed a fear of heights.
Other treatment alternatives
Here, Tara Eastcott begins her day with an early morning climb.
Rebecca Eastcott
The gold standard for treating phobias is exposure therapy, but you don’t have to go rock climbing to overcome your fear.
You can gradually expose yourself to heights in accordance with your lifestyle and objectives. For example, you could:
View footage of individuals traversing bridges and tightropes.
View photographs depicting the view from a lofty building.
Inch closer to a balcony or up a ladder by taking one step at a time.
Each month, you should park one level higher in a garage.
According to Eastcott, there are other various forms of exposure therapy:
In vivo refers to exposure in the real world, as Eastcott did.
Imaginal: This may involve imagining a scenario or talking through a scenario including your phobia.
The use of virtual reality: A virtual reality (VR) headset provides simulations of events involving heights, without the associated dangers, and with the option to end the experience whenever you feel overwhelmed. You can utilize VR with or without the assistance of a therapist.
Emerging research indicates that virtual reality (VR) for exposure therapy may provide an effective, practical, and more accessible alternative to in vivo exposure therapy.
As one of her biggest accomplishments in conquering her acrophobia, Tara Eastcott scaled the peak of El Capitan.
Rebecca Eastcott
A 2018 study discovered that six 30-minute VR sessions over the course of two weeks reduced participants’ acrophobia, with the positive effects lasting into the four-week follow-up period. During the sessions, a virtual coach guided participants across a 10-story office building while they completed increasingly difficult activities, such as playing a xylophone near a balcony and rescuing a cat from a tree.
A further 2021 study indicated that even a single one-hour session using a virtual reality (VR) application can be beneficial for patients with acrophobia.
Not prepared to undergo exposure therapy? Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an alternative treatment method. If irrational ideas and cognitive patterns contribute to or exacerbate your phobia, a therapist can teach you skills to detangle these concepts, reframe them, and ultimately better manage the anxiety you feel in situations involving heights.
Insider’s takeaway
Since learning to climb, Tara Eastcott has faced numerous obstacles, including the Lembert Dome pictured here in Yosemite National Park.
Rebecca Eastcott
Eastcott is living proof that acrophobia can be overcome with effort.
Exposure therapy, one of the most prevalent and well-researched treatment methods, allows you to gradually place yourself in safe circumstances with heights until you are able to control your anxiety. In addition, you can try exposure therapy in real life by using visuals, your imagination, or virtual reality (VR) technology.
CBT is a possibly useful alternative to exposure therapy for modifying the ideas that may contribute to your phobia if exposure therapy fails. Mindfulness practices can also help you become more rooted and present in your body, allowing you to learn to sit with your anxious feelings instead of attempting to push them away.
“Anxiety is not a pleasurable sensation, but avoiding it strengthens your system’s notion that anxiety itself is frightening and harmful, thereby intensifying your phobia. The most effective treatment for a phobia is voluntary exposure, even to a little degree, to the feared stimulus. It signals to your system that it is not hazardous, allowing you to progressively break the relationship with your phobia “Eastcott argues.
Tara Eastcott has gone to various locations in preparation for her next ascent. In this image, she is climbing Silent Swells in Rifle Mountain Park.
Rebecca Eastcott
Rebecca Strong is a freelance writer located in Boston who writes on health and wellness, food and wine, fitness, and travel. She has also written for Insider’s Health Reference and Kitchen verticals, as well as Healthline, Health magazine, Bustle, StyleCaster, PopSugar, AskMen, and Elite Daily. Her work can be followed on Twitter.