BATOPHOBIA: Another Name for Acrophobia

Batophobia is an abnormal fear of being close to a high object such as sky scrappers or mountains. It is a condition where one finds him or herself having this phobia of going near high objects because they might fall from there or the high building can collapse on them. This is also related to altophobia and acrophobia which both simply mean fear of heights.

Most people experience a degree of natural fear when exposed to heights, known as the fear of falling. On the other hand, those who have little fear of such exposure are said to have a head for heights. A head for heights is advantageous for those hiking or climbing in mountainous terrain and also in certain jobs e.g. steeplejacks or wind turbine mechanics

 Batophobia could be a medical condition inherited through some internal dispositions and gene mutations or from traumatic events in ones life. Traumatic events which occur to an individual in the early stages of life play a major role in the development of batophobia as well as other phobias. For instance, a child who falls from a high ground automatically becomes afraid of high heights, because the brain interprets it as  dangerous;  therefore, the CNS chemistry also plays a major role in batophobia.
Occurrence of batophobia differs in individuals, but majorly, people with batophobia exhibit some certain levels of panic when they are close to high buildings or on top of high buildings. Also nausea, shortness of breath, excessive sweating, vomiting and shaking are part of the signs most people exhibit.
It can occur in both males and females irrespective of age but it is mostly found in women.

 

A possible contributing factor to batophobia is a dysfunction in maintaining balance. The human balance system integrates proprioceptive, vestibular and nearby visual cues to reckon position and motion. As height increases, visual cues recede and balance becomes poorer even in normal people. However, most people respond by shifting to more reliance on the proprioceptive and vestibular branches of the equilibrium system.

Currently, there is no known treatment to batophobia rather researches are on going. However, medications can be applied.

 Vertigo is often used incorrectly to describe a fear of heights, but it is more accurately a spinning sensation that occurs when one is not actually spinning. It can be triggered by looking down from a high place, or by looking straight up at a high place or tall object, but this alone does not describe vertigo. True vertigo can be triggered by almost any type of movement (e.g. standing up, sitting down, walking) or change in visual perspective (e.g. squatting down, walking up or down stairs, looking out of the window of a moving car or train).