I’m acrophobic, and I’d never experienced the idea that I might jump off. I’m afraid my body will give out on me, since I easily lose my balance, or that the structure under me will suddenly stop supporting me. Plus, right now, it really just makes me nauseous, like the feeling you get when you get car sick. Again, a balance thing.
Great thread because I have been mentioning this to people for the past two years after I first experienced the sensation of “fearing to jump” at Niagra Falls. That morphed into a fear of heights but only heights that I know will kill me and only where I can actually engage in an impulse to jump. I think someone mentioned above that they have no fear of flying except if near an emergency door. That is my feeling exactly. I was just in San Francisco and at the Coit Tower I have no fear as the windows are covered and I can stare down to the ground. But put me on an overpass where i could leap into traffic and I need to distract myself with conversation or stare at the ground. I named myself the perverse imp, because I think it is something along those lines although there is more to it. We have a psychologist at work that I am friendly with and I was discussing it in the hallway with him – i discuss it openly, why not – and another worker came over and was so happy as he thought he was the only one. Not a fear of falling but a fear of heights. The doctor said he thought it was part of getting older – I’m now 45. That older animals have shown the same inclinations. It’s a recognition of ones mortality and the recognition that certain circumstances can be dangerous. I’m not so sure, I think there is more to it. Nonetheless, it is reassuring to see that it is somewhat common. One final point, I’ve recently developed an urge to scream at operas. not in movies where one can get up and walk out or even whisper to one’s neighbor, but at operas where you can’t get up to leave or speak at all. Can you imagine me ending up with mezzanine seats at an opera, what a mess that would be.
I think it may also be a side effect of vertigo. I started getting vertigo in the past 5 years, and when I’m looking at a drop, I get dizzy and have a falling sensation. It’s not like I want to jump, it’s just that I feel like I’m already falling.
I have the same problem, mainly because my most frequent dreams are flying dreams, so I have this fear that I will jump off, figuring I will just start flying. This gives me an intense fear of any form of height, I can’t even use stepstools or ladders.
[Now that I am a gimp, the issue of climbing stuff doesn’t usually come up any longer, nor does escalators or stairs.]
In retrospect, one of my fears, escalators actually came from falling down the Tampa airport escalator at the age of 5 …
For most of my life I thought I had acrophobia (fear of heights). Whenever I’d be, say, in a high place near the edge, I’d feel somewhat light-headed and afraid of losing my balance and falling into the oblivion. But after many years I realized that I also felt this when standing on a chair to change a light bulb. Plus, I really love to be on tall buildings or the Grand Canyon . . . assuming there’s a strong railing or barrier. As long as I can hold on to something I’m ok. It’s not a fear that I’ll jump, but that I’ll somehow trip or lose my balance . . . and fall.
So it’s not actually a fear of height, but vertigo. The fact that I get it while standing on a chair to change a light bulb proves that it has nothing to do with heights. And if I can put my hand on the wall or ceiling, the vertigo stops.
Having had these experiences for many years - albeit only very rarely - I finally discovered I was not alone earlier this year when I read an article entitled ‘The Imp of Perversity’ (the title obviously based on the EAP story although I don’t believe the phenomenon is exactly the same as the one described in that story).
My personal analysis, which applies to all cases I’ve experienced is that it is a feeling you may get when you could at that very instant do something that would irrevocably lead to some seriously unwanted consequence.
So you may experience the feeling whilst standing at the edge of something very high, but not whilst climbing internal stairs to get there. Or as a train approaches and you are standing at the platform edge (But not when the train is still ten seconds away). Or in the middle of a large group of people who are all silent (thought of making a loud inappropriate noise).
It appears to happen in circumstances where there is absolutely no likelihood of actually doing whatever it is you are thinking of. It’s akin to someone mentioning something you find extremely distasteful and desperately trying to avoid a picture of the event forming in your mind.
This sounds like what a friend described to me years ago. Sometimes when driving down a two-lane highway, he has a fleeting impulse to plow head-on into an oncoming semi.
Haven’t ridden with him since.
mmm
Pretty sure it is called The Call of Void or Imp of the Perverse depending on how specific you want to be. I heard this happens because your brain wants to do something with the most impact in any given situation.
Are “acrophilia” and “claustrophilia” words? I love heights and confined spaces. I think I would love turning something like a grain silo into a living space with a series of platforms instead of rooms. I like getting MRIs. I means, really, really like, as in, I’m disappointed when they’re over. When I was in the Army in basic, I was the only person who volunteered for a top bunk, but I was really happy sleeping up there.
Whatever it is, I have this feeling at sporting events or concerts at high levels and on chairlifts.
Now I know why I think about dropping my keys down a sidewalk grate when I pass one.
It happens for me at rail road crossings . When those gates are coming down and all that clanging and the flashing lights . That huge mass of iron coming on . I get a mental picture of just jumping my pick up right out in front of that train . It only lasts for about a half a second and I’ve never had to ‘fight’ an urge to really do that .
I mentioned one of my impish perversions upthread five years ago. This is another one I suffer from.
oops - sorry, misread the post.