HEIGHT PHOBIA AND BIASES IN THE INTERPRETATION OF BODILY SENSATIONS -SOME LINKS BETWEEN ACROPHOBIA AND AGORAPHOBIA

The present study was designed to investigate some of the factors that might underlie the commonly found association between agoraphobia and fear of heights (acrophobia). The results showed that measures of acr ophobia are highly associated with the tendency to interpret ambiguous bodily sensations as threatening, and with an increased tendency to r eport bodily sensations of anxiety. These features of acrophobia did n ot appear to be characteristics found in phobic states in general, nor did measures of acrophobia show any significant relationship to the t endency to interpret external and social stimuli as threatening. These findings suggest that the frequently found co-morbidity between agora phobia and acrophobia may be linked to cognitive biases in the discrim ination and interpretation of bodily sensations that agoraphobia and a crophobia share in common. In addition, the present findings also gene rate testable hypotheses about the aetiology of acrophobia. (C) 1997 E lsevier Science Ltd.