Flying High

FOR MANY OF US, AIR TRAVEL IS TERRIFYING. THANKFULLY, THERE’S A LOT YOU CAN DO TO COMBAT YOUR FEARS

- Angela Tufvesson

Do you grip the armrest, feel queasy and imagine the worst when you’re in a plane? Perhaps you use alcohol or prescription drugs to ‘help’ you through the flight and avoid flying wherever possible. Even though it’s one of the safest ways to travel, as many as 40 percents of us feel anxious about flying, and one in six have a significant fear that prevents them from flying. Luckily, fear of flying is treatable – and there’s no shortage of strategies to help you deal with it.

FEARING THE WORST

Fear of flying is an excessive worry about air travel. It’s a type of anxiety that psychologists call a ‘specific phobia’ – an intense, persistent fear of a situation or object that’s out of proportion to the actual risk. Along with flying, snakes, spiders, medical procedures and heights are some of the most common phobias. Symptoms include an immediate feeling of intense fear, anxiety, and panic when you’re on a plane or just thinking about flying, along with physical reactions like sweating, a rapid heartbeat, chest tightening and difficulty breathing.

Most people know their fear is unreasonable or exaggerated but feel powerless to control it. And they do everything possible to avoid flying or fly under duress, says Les Posen, a clinical psychologist who has been working with fearful flyers for more than 20 years.

“A fear of flying produces the hallmarks of avoidance behavior and the seeking of safety,” he says. “It means people fly less often than they could, under special conditions like the need to medicate, or they don't fly – they drive or take a train. There's a strong sense of restriction and discomfort.”

CAUSE AND EFFECT