“You know that when you stand in a high place you feel that there is a sudden urge to jump … I don’t have it,” Jack Sparrow, always unexpected, says, Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tids (2011).
He is standing on the edge of a rock at that time, and perhaps lying. Because what he is mentioned is universal.
This is called high place phenomen (HPP). In French, it is rather lyrical l’pel du video, or call of the zero. It is a sudden inexplicable urge to close a bridge, bends dangerously from a balcony, or actually jumps from a high place.
So where does it come from, to jump strange internal calls?
One theory is that zero call is a way for the mind to test our fear and its limits. The inconvenience caused by the idea of ​​”Go on, jump” is the spark itself that activates our most fundamental instinct: self-protection.
According to this theory, HPP is a evolutionary feature in the fact that we shot at the top of the food chain so fast that a time came soon when we were “not enough”, at least not as if most wild animals are. We were controlling our surroundings, decoding the weather, building our own houses.
This call was a reminder to jump that we still needed to actively protect ourselves.
Those who experience HPP, often shaken by the idea that they can be suicide, Ruhar University in Germany connects Tobias Tesiman, a psychiatrist at the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry at Bochaum. He began to research HPP, in fact, as part of his research in suicide idea in 2020.
However, all three of his studies indicate that most people who report call-off-the-zero ideas have no desire to die. (The idea of ​​the roof, in fact, often occurs after a deep breath; at least a small step back; and a sense of deep relief.)
“HPP is not a sign of a subconscious desire for self-loss. Instead, it seems to be a universal human experience that cultures are still poorly understood,” says Tamen.
If “go, jump” the mind seems to be a twisted way to remind the mind that the body is delicate and is easily destroyed, then it sits right with that large group of odd, twisted tangents: which is collectively called “ideas of infiltration”.
These are the ideas that go: what if I have just pulled that fire alarm? Or took some chips from that stranger’s packet and taken?
Teismann says that the idea of ​​infiltration is a common phenomenon, known to experience about 90% of the general population. With HPP, they usually run counters to the nature of a specific person. In this way, they are fundamentally different from sudden impulses.
A sudden impulse often reflects a burial or disputed desire that feels free to work in any way. Alcohol is the most common catalyst, which reduces the barriers that keep the impulse in the examination; Some narcotics, a close-death experience, or the loss of a loved one can also provide that final push. In such examples, the person may find a tattoo or extreme haircut, remove all your apps, get married in Vegas, or quit your job.
In other forms of HPP and infiltration, Tamens say, usually there are types of things that will never work on the given person.
So there you have it. Stay calm to stay out of real troubles. And the next time you woo to be lean, jump or let go, just step back and take a breath. We are probably playing this game with ourselves for millions of years.
