Acrophobia (Fear of Heights)

Background

Acrophobia is a condition in which individuals suffer from an irrational fear of heights, resulting in avoidance in an attempt to reduce anxiety1. Acrophobia can cause extreme distress in those who have it and has a lifetime prevalence of about 1.9%2. Acrophobia can be challenging to perform in vivo; thus, our simulation targets everyday situations and offers customizable settings to help those suffering from the condition gain a plethora of new, non-threatening information about heights.

Skyscraper Simulation

The skyscraper simulation allows participants to explore a city-like enviornment where they slowly make their way up a flight of stairs to the second story of a building, go up an elevator to any floor of their choice, and make it to the roof of the skyscraper where they can walk towards the edge and climb up a crane.

Mountain Simulation

The mountain simulation has participants to explore a mountainous region where they walk along a steep cliff, rock climb up to a firewatch tower, make their way up the firewatch tower, and get picked up by a helicopter to finish the level.

Design

Level

The acrophobia simulations were designed to put participants in various situations to maximize the newly learned non-threatening information about heights. Participants are also subjected to different types of control, such as climbing, walking, and flying.

Settings

The application allows various customizable settings, including complete weather control, additional camera shake, and wind noises. Situational controls include complete elevator control, adding flying birds, and enabling crumbling rocks in the mountain simulation. These controls are meant to be used by the therapist to increase the participant’s anxiety and help them combat their fear-based cognitions.

Citations
  1. Huppert, D., Wuehr, M., & Brandt, T. (2020). Acrophobia and visual height intolerance: Advances in epidemiology and Mechanisms. Journal of Neurology, 267(S1), 231–240. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-020-09805-4 ↩︎
  2. Becker, E. S., Rinck, M., Türke, V., Kause, P., Goodwin, R., Neumer, S., & Margraf, J. (2007). Epidemiology of specific phobia subtypes: Findings from the Dresden Mental Health Study. European Psychiatry, 22(2), 69–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2006.09.006 ↩︎