Feeling your heart pounding when you look down from a skyscraper is not unusual.
Fear of heights is one of the most common phobias in the UK, affecting one in 20 people.
Tonight a group of brave celebs including Paddy McGuinnes, Beverley Callard and Kimberly Wyatt face their fears by completing a dizzying high wire walk for Don’t Look Down from Channel 4’s Stand Up To Cancer.
But can you actually defeat a phobia by fighting it head on?
Here, a psychiatrist reveals what it takes to overcome fear of heights.
Thrills: Paddy McGuinness and many other stars will put their nerves to the test by taking part in a terrifying high wire challenge for Channel 4’s Stand Up To Cancer
Many people feel a certain discomfort when looking down from the top floor of a skyscraper.
But being afraid of heights means that even crossing a bridge or climbing an escalator can lead you astray.
“A phobia is more than just a fear.” Everyone has an innate fear of heights or falling, because this is a natural human survival mechanism. “If it starts to interfere with your life, we would call it a phobia,” says York-based psychiatrist Dr. Paul Blenkiron from the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
People with height phobia may not even go to the top of a building or mall where there is an escalator, he explains.
Crawling away from the edge of a precipice, climbing down from a height on all fours, and having a panic attack are some of the reactions that can occur in people who are afraid of heights.
Because a phobia can force the body into an emergency “fight or flight” response, even if there is no real danger.
This can cause heart palpitations, muscle tension and breathing changes, which can lead to dizziness.
Dr. Blenkiron says: “About one in ten of us are afraid of things like snakes, spiders or heights, and that’s because there is real danger there.”
However, not everyone knows what caused their fear of heights.
For some, a traumatic event may be the trigger, such as falling from a tree or falling off an edge and sustaining an injury.
“People learn to associate the trauma or pain with body size,” says Dr. Blenkiron. “But for most people, it’s just an innate evolutionary thing that’s passed down in families.”
Once a fear of heights develops, avoiding situations where you encounter the phobia continues.
“The most important thing is that people avoid situations that they think are dangerous, because you never prove to yourself that the fear of standing on the top floor of a mall or on an escalator isn’t that dangerous after all,” says Dr. Blenkiron.
Although skydiving or tightrope walking can be a bit extreme for someone with a fear of heights, exposing yourself to the fear gradually can help, he says.
Dr. Blenkiron says, “Medications play a very limited role in these conditions unless they also have other problems.”
“It’s about exposing yourself to the situation.”
“Stay in the situation until your fears subside, then practice until your body has rewired itself to learn that it is not dangerous to, for example, stand on the first floor of a staircase.”
Challenge: The 50-year-old TV star will join a host of other celebrities in a special series, airing from Tuesday, October 10, in which they confront their fear of heights
Challenging: Paddy learned how to be a tightrope walker as he shared a video on Instagram during training on Friday – ahead of his new show Don’t Look Down.
Such gradual exposure is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), the general name for talking therapies used to treat many psychological problems.
Therapy can teach people to think differently, explains Dr. Blenkiron.
He says: “If you are afraid of heights, you may close your eyes or have a tendency to hold on to an object or not look over the edge.”
“CBT will teach you not just to stay there, but also to not hold on to an object, to look over the edge in a safe way, and then you learn not to associate those behaviors with danger.”
Mindfulness is another method for managing a phobia.
Because controlled breathing can help you deal with a panic attack and stay in the situation that scares you until you feel calm.
Dr. Blenkiron says, “When you actually panic, you tend to breathe too much and that changes your body’s chemistry, you get tingling in your fingers and you feel like you’re going to pass out.” But slow breathing slows things down Your breathing so you don’t get those horrible symptoms.”
If you’re struggling with a phobia, Dr. Blenkiron to ask your GP for help and get a referral to the NHS talking therapy service.