title: Visual height intolerance and acrophobia: distressing partners for life.
abstract: The course of illness, the degree of social impairment, and the rate of help-seeking behavior was evaluated in a sample of individuals with visual height intolerance (vHI) and acrophobia. On the basis of a previously described epidemiological sample representative of the German general population, 574 individuals with vHI were identified, 128 fulfilled the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria of acrophobia. The illness of the majority of all susceptible individuals with vHI ran a year-long chronic course. Two thirds were in the category "persistent/worse", whereas only one third was in the category "improved/remitted". Subjects with acrophobia showed significantly more traumatic triggers of onset, more signs of generalization to other height stimuli, higher rates of increasing intensity of symptom load, higher grades of social impairment, and greater overall negative impact on the quality of life than those with pure vHI. An unfavorable course of illness in pure vHI was predicted by major depression, agoraphobia, social phobia, posttraumatic stress, initial traumatic trigger, and female sex; an unfavorable course in acrophobia was predicted by major depression, chronic fatigue, panic attacks, initial traumatic trigger, social phobia, other specific phobic fears, and female sex. Help-seeking behavior was astonishingly low in the overall sample of individuals with vHI. The consequences of therapeutic interventions if complied with at all were quite modest. In adults pure vHI and even more so acrophobia are by no means only transitionally distressing states. In contrast to their occurrence in children they are more often persisting and disabling conditions. Both the utilization of and adequacy of treatment of these illnesses pose major challenges within primary and secondary neurological and psychiatric medical care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapeutic Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 31, 8036, Graz, Austria. hans-peter.kapfhammer@klinikum-graz.at.
authors.forename: Hans-Peter
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0808-462X
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Kapfhammer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapeutic Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 31, 8036, Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fitz
authors.affiliation: Institute for Clinical Neurosciences and German Dizziness Center, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Doreen
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huppert
authors.affiliation: Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometrics and Epidemiology (IBE), German Dizziness Center, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Grill
authors.affiliation: Institute for Clinical Neurosciences and German Dizziness Center, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Brandt
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D018672:Community Health Planning; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D000066505:Help-Seeking Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Acrophobia; Course; Help-seeking behavior; Social impairment; Visual height intolerance