I am not afraid of falling over the edge, but of throwing myself over
May 27, 2019 11:37 PM Subscribe
Why You Feel the Urge to Jump -- Jessica Seigel looks into the science and philosophy of looking down from a high place for Nautilus, from the way threat modulates perception of looming visual stimuli (PDF, full article, Emory University) to the fact that not everyone can accurately estimate heights, though all individuals studied had roughly accurate horizontal distance estimates (abstract only, Springer). If you've experienced the urge to jump, it doesn't mean you want to die, but may rather imply an urge to live, with a healthy dose of anxiety (full article, Academia.edu).
Oh jeez I get this big time. I can’t get near a high ledge or look down out of an open window without that sensation of building pressure/anxiety of the internal debate “do I want to jump vs. get the hell out of here”. It’s like some weird feeling of not being able to trust myself around precipices, even though I have no avid desire to do self-harm. Just a weirdly unsettling intrusive thought.
posted by darkstar at 12:26 AM on May 28, 2019 [17 favorites]
posted by darkstar at 12:26 AM on May 28, 2019 [17 favorites]
I'm pretty anxious and I also experience this "hmm wonder what it'd be like to just climb over this railing" feeling. I couldn't work out the logic, so here's the part of the paper where they try to explain the connection:
Instead of the high place phenomenon defending the view that everyone has a “death wish” or that “suicide is impulsive,” we propose that at its core, the experience of the high place phenomenon stems from the misinterpretation of a safety or survival signal (e.g.,“back up, you might fall”).posted by batter_my_heart at 12:45 AM on May 28, 2019 [4 favorites]
Ironically, on this view, the phenomenon, far from underscoring death strivings, instead illuminates the nature and strength of humans' survival instinct. In particular, we propose that fear plays a role in the misinterpretation of a safety signal.
It follows that if a misinterpreted safety signal is at the core of the high place phenomenon, individuals who tend to be more sensitive to such safety signals will be more likely to report experiencing the phenomenon, as compared to individuals who are not as sensitive to safety signals.
I have pretty much this exact mortal fear of heights. Not so much that I’d fall, but that I would momentarily lose control and jump. I lived with that fear for most of my life, never telling anyone because I figured they would think I was suicidal. Then, one day, someone else was talking about it, how they felt that way, and for the first time, I was able to talk to another person about it, to find out that I wasn’t actually alone with that. It was a huge weight lifted.
I mean, I’m still terrified of heights because I worry I’ll give into a stupid urge to jump, but holy hell, knowing I’m not alone in that is a tremendous help.
posted by Ghidorah at 2:21 AM on May 28, 2019 [18 favorites]
I mean, I’m still terrified of heights because I worry I’ll give into a stupid urge to jump, but holy hell, knowing I’m not alone in that is a tremendous help.
posted by Ghidorah at 2:21 AM on May 28, 2019 [18 favorites]
Me too. And I never interpreted it as a death wish. I assumed that my greatest fear was not falling but losing control of myself.
posted by double bubble at 2:30 AM on May 28, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by double bubble at 2:30 AM on May 28, 2019 [9 favorites]
I don't know if this makes sense but I am so unafraid of heights that, for that reason, I make the rational decision to stay away from high places where I might fall. The idea is that I would be so careless that I might just fall because I am not taking it seriously enough.
I know this because I have been in places where I am safe and high and it is ok. I have jumped out of airplanes too. I can walk on precipices if I am secured. But the few times I've been in unsecured places, like on a ledge, I try to get off because I don't trust myself to not just, say, run along it as if it was a low bar near the ground.
posted by vacapinta at 2:42 AM on May 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
I know this because I have been in places where I am safe and high and it is ok. I have jumped out of airplanes too. I can walk on precipices if I am secured. But the few times I've been in unsecured places, like on a ledge, I try to get off because I don't trust myself to not just, say, run along it as if it was a low bar near the ground.
posted by vacapinta at 2:42 AM on May 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
vacapinta, I am (used?) to be the same. I'm relatively happy to place my trust in any technology/engineering that stops me falling. I think my brain overrides my instinct with what it assumes is knowledge of what is actually going on. Those see-through glass floors over high views are another example. I just walk across them, and in thinking this is not normal I have gone so far as to fake some uneasiness for the other people on them.
posted by carter at 4:03 AM on May 28, 2019
posted by carter at 4:03 AM on May 28, 2019
That was fascinating.
Never having felt the urge to jump, I was most interested in the first half of the article. They present physiological explanations for why we might feel fear standing at the edge of, say, a balcony despite rationally knowing there is no danger.
(Summary: A lack of normal perspective, combined with
a. the degree of reliance on visual cues to navigate and
b. the degree of postural control,
both of which vary among individuals.)
Now I wonder why my fear of heights has varied over time.
posted by evilmomlady at 4:09 AM on May 28, 2019
Never having felt the urge to jump, I was most interested in the first half of the article. They present physiological explanations for why we might feel fear standing at the edge of, say, a balcony despite rationally knowing there is no danger.
(Summary: A lack of normal perspective, combined with
a. the degree of reliance on visual cues to navigate and
b. the degree of postural control,
both of which vary among individuals.)
Now I wonder why my fear of heights has varied over time.
posted by evilmomlady at 4:09 AM on May 28, 2019
I've always referred to this feeling as "The Imp of the Perverse." I think it's from a Poe short story. I equate it to other feelings of wanting to do something crazy, dangerous, and permanent. Just yesterday, I was standing next to a locked, secured shred bin at work and a little subset of my brain was like "Just throw your keys in there!"
I never act on it, but I'm aware of it relatively frequently. It's a similar thing to driving across a bridge and realizing I could just jerk my arms to the right and create a terrible cascade of repercussions. It feels like a thought experiment my brain enjoys, and since it's always surmountable and never really threatening, I find it really interesting how capable I am of thinking of terrible things that I can make manifest. Har har, ugh.
posted by kinsey at 4:57 AM on May 28, 2019 [25 favorites]
I never act on it, but I'm aware of it relatively frequently. It's a similar thing to driving across a bridge and realizing I could just jerk my arms to the right and create a terrible cascade of repercussions. It feels like a thought experiment my brain enjoys, and since it's always surmountable and never really threatening, I find it really interesting how capable I am of thinking of terrible things that I can make manifest. Har har, ugh.
posted by kinsey at 4:57 AM on May 28, 2019 [25 favorites]
I've never had the urge to jump. But maybe that's because I'm always so distracted by the fear my glasses will slide off my face and fall. I do the Poindexter thing (finger to glasses' bridge) whenever I'm looking over heights.
posted by jb at 4:58 AM on May 28, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by jb at 4:58 AM on May 28, 2019 [4 favorites]
I used to work with a couple of guys who had worked on utility poles previously, and one of them told me when he was up on a pole and looking up at the 30,000V line and thinking, "I could just reach up there."
It's obviously not just the height thing. I like kinsey's 'thought experiment' phrase.
posted by MtDewd at 5:19 AM on May 28, 2019 [4 favorites]
It's obviously not just the height thing. I like kinsey's 'thought experiment' phrase.
posted by MtDewd at 5:19 AM on May 28, 2019 [4 favorites]
My urge isn't to jump, it's to fly.
posted by ClingClang at 5:26 AM on May 28, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by ClingClang at 5:26 AM on May 28, 2019 [6 favorites]
The first time I used a 10m aerial work platform, I was terrified by its small oscillations and could barely bring myself to stand up in it. Six hours later, I was standing on the edge of the bucket and reaching out across a gap to get a hand-hold on some slippery metal surface without hesitation. At least for me, the transition was astonishingly rapid. (Please don't tell the safety rep.)
I always feel the urge to jump. And the urge to turn the wheel to the left and drive off a cliff into the sea. And the urge to leap onto the subway tracks just ahead of the train. And the urge to reach out and grab the 10 kilovolt rails. I'm never going to do it. I not only don't want to, but would fight desperately to avoid it. But, the possibility is fascinating. I'm not convinced that sensation has much to do with people who actually carry out the act.
posted by eotvos at 6:12 AM on May 28, 2019 [5 favorites]
I always feel the urge to jump. And the urge to turn the wheel to the left and drive off a cliff into the sea. And the urge to leap onto the subway tracks just ahead of the train. And the urge to reach out and grab the 10 kilovolt rails. I'm never going to do it. I not only don't want to, but would fight desperately to avoid it. But, the possibility is fascinating. I'm not convinced that sensation has much to do with people who actually carry out the act.
posted by eotvos at 6:12 AM on May 28, 2019 [5 favorites]
kinsey: I've always referred to this feeling as "The Imp of the Perverse." I think it's from a Poe short story.
Yes, and here it is from PoeStories.com, and here's the Wikipedia page, with a bit more information and extended context.
This also makes me think of Björk's Hyperballad:
I feel this desire to jump, and I recall first feeling it as a teenager in a national park, where there were a lot of people at the top of a precipice. Some people sat on the edge, with their feet dangling over, but I was up there, with my back pressed against a rock wall because I was worried that I'd just jump over. Not suicidal, just the desire to feel that freefall.
posted by filthy light thief at 6:16 AM on May 28, 2019 [5 favorites]
Yes, and here it is from PoeStories.com, and here's the Wikipedia page, with a bit more information and extended context.
This also makes me think of Björk's Hyperballad:
We live on a mountainWhich is different from the imp of the perverse, or what the French call L’Appel du Vide, or call of the void.
Right at the top
There's a beautiful view
From the top of the mountain
Every morning I walk towards the edge
And throw little things off
Like:
Car parts, bottles and cutlery
Or whatever I find lying around
It's become a habit
A way
To start the day
I go through all this
Before you wake up
So I can feel happier
To be safe up here with you
I feel this desire to jump, and I recall first feeling it as a teenager in a national park, where there were a lot of people at the top of a precipice. Some people sat on the edge, with their feet dangling over, but I was up there, with my back pressed against a rock wall because I was worried that I'd just jump over. Not suicidal, just the desire to feel that freefall.
posted by filthy light thief at 6:16 AM on May 28, 2019 [5 favorites]
I'm most likely to feel this urge/fear of an urge when I'm using a chainsaw. I picture myself doing something like reaching out to grab the log I'm cutting, putting my hand right in the way of the cutting chain. It can feel like an impulse, but if I reflect on it, it seems less like actually having an impulse and more like imagining having one. The way I explain it to myself is that some part of your brain is always scanning your environment, looking for things that could happen. If a particularly horrifying possibility is identified, it jumps into consciousness. You think, I could for some reason decide to jump off this cliff and I would DIE! Your brain helpfully gives you a little preview of what could happen and it's terrifying so then you're on guard against that impulse. It's actually a way of preventing impulsive or thoughtless behavior. This all happens really fast and it's not all conscious, so you may think, I'm fighting the urge to jump when it's really I recognized how disastrous it would be if I got the urge to jump and acted on it so I'm reminding myself not to act on that impulse if it comes up.
posted by Redstart at 6:28 AM on May 28, 2019 [24 favorites]
posted by Redstart at 6:28 AM on May 28, 2019 [24 favorites]
I feel it on the subway platform, which is why I not only always stand back, but like to stand behind posts or in the little inset areas around the stairs/escalators/elevators.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:03 AM on May 28, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:03 AM on May 28, 2019 [4 favorites]
I was never afraid of heights, in fact I was often stupid about it - standing in rivers on the edge of 100+ foot waterfall while drunk and such, but I always experienced the Imp of the Perverse.
Up until one one particular moment when I was walking up Sulfur Mountain in Banff which is a super easy but long switch backed gravel trail. I was well up the mountain when I decided to step slightly off the trail and take a photo down a rocky gully. Looking through my camera's LCD I moved a little and got hit with a bit of vertigo.
From that moment on it was terror on the mountain for me.
I stayed on the inside edge of the path regardless of which direction of the switchback I was on. I made everyone else go around me. I made pregnant women carrying other children take the drop side of the trail because I wasn't moving from my idea of comparative safety. I made it to the top and took the gondola back down. I thought "Well, that was a weird experience" and that it was a one time thing.
Then my vacation continued with a drive through the Rockies in an old van with completely spent suspension. White knuckles for 8 solid hours. Then there was a mountain top wedding that involved a t-bar ride up. I did it solo completely terrified because my wife had gone up earlier to help with wedding prep.
I have gradually gotten over the sudden onset fear of heights over the subsequent score of years but that Imp? Well and truly dead. I now know that I 100% don't ever want to go over the edge. There is zero doubt in my mind.
Brains are weird things.
posted by srboisvert at 7:11 AM on May 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
Up until one one particular moment when I was walking up Sulfur Mountain in Banff which is a super easy but long switch backed gravel trail. I was well up the mountain when I decided to step slightly off the trail and take a photo down a rocky gully. Looking through my camera's LCD I moved a little and got hit with a bit of vertigo.
From that moment on it was terror on the mountain for me.
I stayed on the inside edge of the path regardless of which direction of the switchback I was on. I made everyone else go around me. I made pregnant women carrying other children take the drop side of the trail because I wasn't moving from my idea of comparative safety. I made it to the top and took the gondola back down. I thought "Well, that was a weird experience" and that it was a one time thing.
Then my vacation continued with a drive through the Rockies in an old van with completely spent suspension. White knuckles for 8 solid hours. Then there was a mountain top wedding that involved a t-bar ride up. I did it solo completely terrified because my wife had gone up earlier to help with wedding prep.
I have gradually gotten over the sudden onset fear of heights over the subsequent score of years but that Imp? Well and truly dead. I now know that I 100% don't ever want to go over the edge. There is zero doubt in my mind.
Brains are weird things.
posted by srboisvert at 7:11 AM on May 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
this is why I skateboard. I can jump off shit and scratch that itch without dying. I mean, I hurt the hell outta myself sometimes not gonna lie lol.
posted by nikaspark at 7:39 AM on May 28, 2019
posted by nikaspark at 7:39 AM on May 28, 2019
I have tried to explain to others that it isn't so much a fear of heights as a fear of that urge to jump; I can visualize going out into that space so clearly that it feels inevitable. And if I can control that, I am then beset by the sense that something I am carrying and/or wearing will fall (be thrown).
The worst part is that sometimes I don't even have to be all that high off the ground.
posted by nubs at 7:48 AM on May 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
The worst part is that sometimes I don't even have to be all that high off the ground.
posted by nubs at 7:48 AM on May 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
As someone with primarily obsessional OCD, I have had the old imp with me from childhood. I could write a book about how the imp feeds an obsessive fear of severe mental illness, but I will spare you.
Since I don't have too many literal heights to look off of, I more often experience the social appel du vide: the sudden idea to kiss someone I have no interest in whatsoever, just because they are standing close, or to shoplift something I don't even want simply because I'm not being watched. Worse yet is the idea of hurting someone, especially someone vulnerable. It tastes like madness.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:51 AM on May 28, 2019 [5 favorites]
Since I don't have too many literal heights to look off of, I more often experience the social appel du vide: the sudden idea to kiss someone I have no interest in whatsoever, just because they are standing close, or to shoplift something I don't even want simply because I'm not being watched. Worse yet is the idea of hurting someone, especially someone vulnerable. It tastes like madness.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:51 AM on May 28, 2019 [5 favorites]
My fear of heights varies. Driving in the mountains is sheer hell because I'm going too fast and don't feel like I have enough control. One patch of ice, one crazy driver going the other way, I'm toast.
Walking in the mountains, I'm fine. I don't get close to the edge because I am fairly clumsy and don't want to die in a spectacularly dumb way.
But I'm not freaked out by, like, those clear bridgeways or floating pools on skyscrapers. I mean I haven't tried them but I don't have the visceral shudder of the folks who post about them on my FB page.
I have felt the "just jump" feeling but it's pretty weak, like part of my brain is thinking about it but the rest of my brain is all "haha no chance, now grab this railing even more tightly."
posted by emjaybee at 7:53 AM on May 28, 2019
Walking in the mountains, I'm fine. I don't get close to the edge because I am fairly clumsy and don't want to die in a spectacularly dumb way.
But I'm not freaked out by, like, those clear bridgeways or floating pools on skyscrapers. I mean I haven't tried them but I don't have the visceral shudder of the folks who post about them on my FB page.
I have felt the "just jump" feeling but it's pretty weak, like part of my brain is thinking about it but the rest of my brain is all "haha no chance, now grab this railing even more tightly."
posted by emjaybee at 7:53 AM on May 28, 2019
I feel this the most strongly when a train comes rushing past the platform. I find myself taking a few steps back so that I'll have time to override any impulses, should I feel compelled to jump onto the tracks.
posted by Ned G at 8:25 AM on May 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Ned G at 8:25 AM on May 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
Oh yeah, the Imp of the Perverse is alive in me. The thought will periodically occur to me that there's nothing stopping me from doing some Horrible and Dangerous Thing, and as soon as I realize that not doing it is a choice that I'm making (and that everyone else is apparently making, too), I start wondering, "what if I made a different choice?" There's that little bit of the Joker that lives in all of us, yearning for chaos, I guess.
The way I explain it to myself is that some part of your brain is always scanning your environment, looking for things that could happen. If a particularly horrifying possibility is identified, it jumps into consciousness. You think, I could for some reason decide to jump off this cliff and I would DIE! Your brain helpfully gives you a little preview of what could happen and it's terrifying so then you're on guard against that impulse. It's actually a way of preventing impulsive or thoughtless behavior.
Yes, I think that's right. But there's another element to it, too, especially with something like jumping into a void: temptation.
There's this odd temptation to do it, and of course it's completely stupid but it's still there. I think it's the fear of falling getting all mixed up with the imagined ecstasy of flying, like others have said above. I imagine myself going over the edge of my balcony and I am terrified of hitting the bottom -- but I'm also kind of thrilled by the idea of taking flight. The impulse is so frightening because it's so primal and irrational! It's nothing that my rational brain would come up with but there it is, bubbling up into my consciousness anyway, like a dream.
The first article was very interesting in how it brought up that how people feel in their bodies and the amount of control they have over their bodies affects how they process the anxiety of being in a physically dangerous situation, in addition to the usual roots of fears. But I think that another aspect that has an affect is imagination. How imaginative are you? I'm very imaginative and all kinds of wild scenarios occur to me, and I get curious thinking about them, and imagine them vividly in my mind's eye, and sometimes they scare me. Some of my friends are more literal and it's different things that tend to scare them. I get scared over more abstract or existential ideas and tend to be too reckless about the concrete world, take stupid risks or just not bother to worry about many things (which makes me mistrust my judgement in the concrete world a bit!), and my more literal friends are usually the opposite (that's a reason why I like being friends with them! because they often perceive things so differently from how I do).
posted by rue72 at 8:33 AM on May 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
The way I explain it to myself is that some part of your brain is always scanning your environment, looking for things that could happen. If a particularly horrifying possibility is identified, it jumps into consciousness. You think, I could for some reason decide to jump off this cliff and I would DIE! Your brain helpfully gives you a little preview of what could happen and it's terrifying so then you're on guard against that impulse. It's actually a way of preventing impulsive or thoughtless behavior.
Yes, I think that's right. But there's another element to it, too, especially with something like jumping into a void: temptation.
There's this odd temptation to do it, and of course it's completely stupid but it's still there. I think it's the fear of falling getting all mixed up with the imagined ecstasy of flying, like others have said above. I imagine myself going over the edge of my balcony and I am terrified of hitting the bottom -- but I'm also kind of thrilled by the idea of taking flight. The impulse is so frightening because it's so primal and irrational! It's nothing that my rational brain would come up with but there it is, bubbling up into my consciousness anyway, like a dream.
The first article was very interesting in how it brought up that how people feel in their bodies and the amount of control they have over their bodies affects how they process the anxiety of being in a physically dangerous situation, in addition to the usual roots of fears. But I think that another aspect that has an affect is imagination. How imaginative are you? I'm very imaginative and all kinds of wild scenarios occur to me, and I get curious thinking about them, and imagine them vividly in my mind's eye, and sometimes they scare me. Some of my friends are more literal and it's different things that tend to scare them. I get scared over more abstract or existential ideas and tend to be too reckless about the concrete world, take stupid risks or just not bother to worry about many things (which makes me mistrust my judgement in the concrete world a bit!), and my more literal friends are usually the opposite (that's a reason why I like being friends with them! because they often perceive things so differently from how I do).
posted by rue72 at 8:33 AM on May 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
we propose that at its core, the experience of the high place phenomenon stems from the misinterpretation of a safety or survival signal (e.g.,“back up, you might fall”).
*sidles up to ledge*
*glares down*
"I came here to fight or flight, and it looks like I'm all out of fight."
posted by solotoro at 8:58 AM on May 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
*sidles up to ledge*
*glares down*
"I came here to fight or flight, and it looks like I'm all out of fight."
posted by solotoro at 8:58 AM on May 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
I have pretty much this exact mortal fear of heights. Not so much that I’d fall, but that I would momentarily lose control and jump. I lived with that fear for most of my life, never telling anyone because I figured they would think I was suicidal. Then, one day, someone else was talking about it, how they felt that way, and for the first time, I was able to talk to another person about it, to find out that I wasn’t actually alone with that. It was a huge weight lifted.
I first ran across another person talking about this feeling in the novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and I had the same feeling of relief:
"What is vertigo? Fear of falling? No, Vertigo is something other than fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves."
That last bit - "against which, terrified, we defend ourselves" - is very much in line with the thesis of this article, that it's an overactive anxiety response, which is certainly true in my case.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:02 AM on May 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
I first ran across another person talking about this feeling in the novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and I had the same feeling of relief:
"What is vertigo? Fear of falling? No, Vertigo is something other than fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves."
That last bit - "against which, terrified, we defend ourselves" - is very much in line with the thesis of this article, that it's an overactive anxiety response, which is certainly true in my case.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:02 AM on May 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
As I’ve gotten older my fear of heights has gotten worse. I use to just be afraid of ladders, but now I can’t walk across Portland’s bridges without feeling terrified of jumping off of them, or being on top of tall buildings. I definitely think this is a suicidal ideation fear for myself.
posted by gucci mane at 9:46 AM on May 28, 2019
posted by gucci mane at 9:46 AM on May 28, 2019
I am also an Imp of the Perverse–aholic. I always think about jumping off buildings, putting my hands in large machines, touching molten items. But I'm not scared of heights because I know the landing would suck, so I won't do it. But it's nice to imagine it for a moment.
I am, however, claustrophobic. Because then you have no control!
posted by dame at 10:15 AM on May 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
I am, however, claustrophobic. Because then you have no control!
posted by dame at 10:15 AM on May 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
Wow, it's nice to hear that other people have this as well. I've always been worried that I'll have some sort of leg spasm that will fling me off of that bridge/walkway/observation deck.
It's gotten better as I've gotten older, along with my acrophobia. I can actually cross pedestrian overpasses now.
posted by Sphinx at 10:28 AM on May 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
It's gotten better as I've gotten older, along with my acrophobia. I can actually cross pedestrian overpasses now.
posted by Sphinx at 10:28 AM on May 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
Out of curiosity does anyone else feel an intense tingling in their legs when they even think of high places?
I recently went to the theatre - the seats were towards the back of the Royal Circle, which is quite precipitous, so while waiting for the play to begin I began to panic. I found that the fear and the tingling and so on were much greater when I was looking at the relatively close ceiling of the theatre than when I looked down at the distant stage.
(And when the play began most of the fear dissipated.)
posted by Grangousier at 12:24 PM on May 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
I recently went to the theatre - the seats were towards the back of the Royal Circle, which is quite precipitous, so while waiting for the play to begin I began to panic. I found that the fear and the tingling and so on were much greater when I was looking at the relatively close ceiling of the theatre than when I looked down at the distant stage.
(And when the play began most of the fear dissipated.)
posted by Grangousier at 12:24 PM on May 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
Out of curiosity does anyone else feel an intense tingling in their legs when they even think of high places?
I don't get the tingling thing, but I can confirm that when I watched Man On Wire it felt more like a horror movie than a heartwarming documentary to me!
posted by showbiz_liz at 12:50 PM on May 28, 2019
I don't get the tingling thing, but I can confirm that when I watched Man On Wire it felt more like a horror movie than a heartwarming documentary to me!
posted by showbiz_liz at 12:50 PM on May 28, 2019
Tandem skydiving requires one to exit the plane and briefly perch (with difficulty due to wind speed) on a small, smooth platform beneath which only the faraway earth is visible.
As a person who has struggled with that “urge to jump” sensation on many occasions, I was surprised that this time, every screaming instinct warned me NOT TO JUMP in ways I’d never experienced before.
posted by kinnakeet at 3:53 PM on May 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
As a person who has struggled with that “urge to jump” sensation on many occasions, I was surprised that this time, every screaming instinct warned me NOT TO JUMP in ways I’d never experienced before.
posted by kinnakeet at 3:53 PM on May 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
I've had the "urge to jump" as long as I can remember. Now that it's put in that context, skydiving sounds like an incredible idea. I bet I'd feel the same anti-urge if I was in that situation with a genuine intention to jump, but I'd love to find out one way or the other.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 4:41 PM on May 28, 2019
posted by vibratory manner of working at 4:41 PM on May 28, 2019
Aspen Highlands has steeps but the backside is a seemingly vertical drop, remember inching very very carefully up to the edge and looking down to the highway with ant sized cars. Later a townie mentioned that on good snow years they'd ski that side and hitchhike back to the lifts. It's all relative but don't jump without a parachute.
posted by sammyo at 4:50 PM on May 28, 2019
posted by sammyo at 4:50 PM on May 28, 2019
This also reminded me a lot of intrusive thoughts in OCD and it was cool to see that other people here made the same connection. And the connection to caring about safety makes perfect sense -- in OCD, people don't get repetitive intrusive images of say, violently assaulting loved ones because they're likely to actually do that, but actually because they care about keeping their loved ones safe and their brains have latched onto that thought as evidence that they might not be able to.
Another parallel I thought was interesting is that apparently some people get exactly the same thought about jumping off of a high ledge, but don't find it that distressing, or even find it fun to fantasize about for a second. Which also seems to match with the therapeutic idea that in OCD, the thoughts themselves are not problematic, much as it might seem that way to the person dealing with them. The problem is more that the brain is taking these thoughts deadly seriously and getting stuck on them as if they are real, urgent threats.
posted by en forme de poire at 6:50 PM on May 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
Another parallel I thought was interesting is that apparently some people get exactly the same thought about jumping off of a high ledge, but don't find it that distressing, or even find it fun to fantasize about for a second. Which also seems to match with the therapeutic idea that in OCD, the thoughts themselves are not problematic, much as it might seem that way to the person dealing with them. The problem is more that the brain is taking these thoughts deadly seriously and getting stuck on them as if they are real, urgent threats.
posted by en forme de poire at 6:50 PM on May 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
I get the tingling thing too, but only at the very tips of my toes.
posted by double bubble at 7:06 PM on May 28, 2019
posted by double bubble at 7:06 PM on May 28, 2019
I had suspected I was not the only one with this urge. It just felt so instinctive and basic.
What also happens to me is I start worrying I am going to throw things... over the edge, overboard, away to where I can never have them again.
I batten down my phone and jewelry whenever in such situations....
posted by Tandem Affinity at 7:13 PM on May 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
What also happens to me is I start worrying I am going to throw things... over the edge, overboard, away to where I can never have them again.
I batten down my phone and jewelry whenever in such situations....
posted by Tandem Affinity at 7:13 PM on May 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
> Tandem skydiving requires one to exit the plane and briefly perch (with difficulty due to wind speed) on a small, smooth platform beneath which only the faraway earth is visible.
As a person who has struggled with that “urge to jump” sensation on many occasions, I was surprised that this time, every screaming instinct warned me NOT TO JUMP in ways I’d never experienced before.
I've had the "urge to jump" as long as I can remember. Now that it's put in that context, skydiving sounds like an incredible idea. I bet I'd feel the same anti-urge if I was in that situation with a genuine intention to jump, but I'd love to find out one way or the other.
Yeah, I had that urge to jump from heights until I tried skydiving. Now when I look down from a height I remember how amazing skydiving was, but the urge is subdued and under control. Instead of tandem jumps I did accelerated freefall jumps where you're not attached to anyone and have to land yourself on each jump; you really get the sensation of flying when you're not attached to someone else and you learn to do aerobatics.
posted by homunculus at 7:27 PM on June 9, 2019 [1 favorite]
As a person who has struggled with that “urge to jump” sensation on many occasions, I was surprised that this time, every screaming instinct warned me NOT TO JUMP in ways I’d never experienced before.
I've had the "urge to jump" as long as I can remember. Now that it's put in that context, skydiving sounds like an incredible idea. I bet I'd feel the same anti-urge if I was in that situation with a genuine intention to jump, but I'd love to find out one way or the other.
Yeah, I had that urge to jump from heights until I tried skydiving. Now when I look down from a height I remember how amazing skydiving was, but the urge is subdued and under control. Instead of tandem jumps I did accelerated freefall jumps where you're not attached to anyone and have to land yourself on each jump; you really get the sensation of flying when you're not attached to someone else and you learn to do aerobatics.
posted by homunculus at 7:27 PM on June 9, 2019 [1 favorite]
Instead of tandem jumps I did accelerated freefall jumps where you're not attached to anyone and have to land yourself on each jump. . .I've never heard of this. The principle reason I've never sky-dived is that the physical interaction with an instructor sounds so incredibly unpleasant. I'd much rather leap out of a plane than be strapped to a gym coach. Thanks!
The use of "accelerated" and "free fall" in the same phrase was very confusing at first. But, I think I understand what they mean.posted by eotvos at 1:05 PM on June 10, 2019
You still go out with two instructors who hang onto straps on your jumpsuit to help keep you stable until you're ready to deploy your parachute. During freefall you have to exchange hand signals to show them you're still alert. IIRC, it isn't until the fourth jump that you go out with just one instructor who doesn't hang onto you during freefall but you do basic aerobatics together, like turning and moving backwards and forwards. It's incredibly fun!
posted by homunculus at 2:15 PM on June 10, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by homunculus at 2:15 PM on June 10, 2019 [1 favorite]
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posted by filthy light thief at 11:39 PM on May 27, 2019