GC: n

S: MD – http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/568313_10 (last access: 17 October 2016); GTH – http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/acrophobia (last access: 17 October 2016).

N: 1. From Greek akros (at the top) and phobia (fear).
Coined by an Italian physician, Dr. Andrea Verga, in a paper describing the condition, from which Verga himself suffered.

2. The morbid fear of heights.

3. Visual height stimuli that involve a critically large distance between the nearest visible stationary contrasts within the field of vision and the observer’s eyes may cause impaired visual control of postural balance.
Defined as a specific phobia with symptoms of a panic attack leading to avoidance behavior and psychological and/or psychosocial impairment.

4. Cultural interrelation: We can mention the 1958 American psychological thriller film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, Vertigo, in which the main character suffers from acrophobia and vertigo.

S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=acrophobia (last access:17 October 2016). 2. TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=acrophobia&index=alt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 17 April 2024). 3. NCBI – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5037147/ (consulta: 21.10.2016). 4. AHWIKI – http://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Vertigo_(1958) (last access: 17 October 2016).

SYN: hypsiphobia, altophobia.

S: TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=acrophobia&index=alt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 17 April 2024)

CR: agoraphobia, claustrophobia, diziness, phobia, vertigo.