Overcoming Acrophobia

Afraid of heights? Well you’ll be pleased to hear at least, that you are not alone.

A team of European researchers have now found a way to assist people in overcoming their fear without climbing any scary ledges, and without even talking to a therapist.

They took 100 volunteers who were clinically diagnosed with a fear of heights and were not receiving treatment for their research. The volunteers were then split into two separate groups.

One as the control group without treatment, while the others were given a two-week virtual reality treatment program.

They would meet with a virtual coach for 30 minutes at a time. The coach would ask them questions about their fear, and tell them some information about their phobia.

The coach guided them address their fear, and presented them with a variety of virtual scenarios such as tossing a ball over a ledge.

After the two weeks, 34 out of 49 participants that were part of the treatment group reported to feel slightly less afraid of heights than when they began.

Those who were not given treatment reported to have seen no changes.

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