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Every time you need to fly somewhere, you panic. Fear of flying, like any phobia, is an obsessive condition that is not associated with real danger. At the same time, he subordinates your whole life to only one rule — to avoid air travel at all costs. So where does aerophobia come from and how to deal with it?
Aerophobia can occur for no reason, or it can be the result of stress, for example, if you witnessed some kind of disaster.
Fear itself is a natural reaction of the body that helps us behave as circumstances require. We get used to the basic fear and almost do not feel it. A whole set of defense mechanisms helps to live with it.
But if the mechanisms fail, anxiety disorders, obsessive thoughts, phobias appear, that is, fear, in which common sense is completely absent.
How to distinguish aerophobia from the usual pre-flight excitement?
If you have panic attacks a few days before the intended trip, and so strong that you cannot even force yourself to go to the airport, if you begin to change plans and your life, if your hands get wet at the thought of airplanes, and during the flight you start to choke, you have a phobia.
All natural fears make us act actively, and phobias are passive: a person is not looking for ways to get rid of his fear, but is simply afraid. At this point, rational fear is out of control, and we cannot control our feelings and emotions.
Causes
This fear has nothing to do with the instinct of self-preservation. Usually, the passenger does not think about what is happening to him now, but builds in his head possible pictures of a plane crash in the future. This is a completely irrational fear, which is based on imaginary threats. To fight aerophobia, you need to convince yourself that nothing bad will happen.
The phobia develops even among those who have never seen a plane crash and never took to the air
It often affects people with cravings for excessive control. It is noteworthy that the fears of men and women are different. Women are sure that it is their plane that will crash and they will not be able to get out from under the wreckage, while men trust technology, but are anxious because they cannot control the situation. Emotions in women are more pronounced: they can cry, scream. Men hide fear in themselves. Elderly people are most susceptible to aerophobia.
Remember that an airplane is a very reliable design, all systems in it duplicate each other. And even if one of them fails, there is always a backup way to fix the problem right during the flight. This explains the generally accepted fact that the number of accidents in air transport is much less than in land transport. And not a single plane has suffered from turbulence yet, let alone crashed.
A phobia is any fear that interferes with life. Fear of flying can lead to serious psychological problems such as panic attacks or panic attacks. Therefore, if your fear makes you change plans, it must be treated.
How to beat aerophobia
1. Drug treatment
To combat aerophobia, doctors prescribe antidepressants and sedatives. If fainting, tantrums appear among the symptoms, more serious drugs (tranquilizers) are prescribed.
2. Neurolinguistics
A branch of psychological science that is borderline for psychology, neurology and linguistics, studying the brain mechanisms of speech activity and those changes in speech processes that occur with local brain lesions.
3. Cognitive-behavioral therapy
The patient, under the supervision of a psychotherapist or psychologist, immerses himself in the atmosphere of a flight over and over again, experiences many takeoffs and landings, and at the same time trains relaxation skills. This must be done until the association of flying in an airplane with a relaxed state, and not with panic, is fixed in the unconscious. For this, virtual reality simulators and other computer technologies are often used.
4. Hypnosis
With the help of hypnosis, you can determine why a fear has arisen, and understand how best to deal with it. During the session, the specialist calms the client, introduces him into a relaxed state and asks the necessary questions.
How to prepare
There are a lot of books and video courses on aerophobia, study them. The more informed you are, the easier it is to deal with panic. Read about airplanes, it will help you calm down.
Get rid of fear will help special video courses and video tutorials. You can also ask your doctor to prescribe you a sedative.
And remember: 90% of aerophobes were able to overcome their fear. So you have every chance.
In airplane
If you are already sitting on a plane, then half the work is done and you can be proud of yourself. But you feel that you are starting to panic. These few steps will help you manage your anxiety.
- Try to relax take a comfortable position, put on a bandage for sleep, turn on calm music. Breathing always helps to calm down: inhale (twice as long as exhalation), you can breathe counting and as slowly as possible. Concentrating on this process, you will not notice how the discomfort leaves you. If the sounds of turbines scare you, use headphones.
- Talk to a fellow traveler or walk around the cabin of an airplane.
- Set yourself up for something pleasantwhat awaits you: imagine how happy you will be when you see your friends or visit new places, try new food, meet your family.
- Use mobile apps for aerophobes, for example Skyguru. It works in airplane mode and tells you in detail what happens in flight. The passenger receives information about when turbulence can be expected and whether shaking on board is to be feared. During the flight, the application “talks” with the user, so you get a feeling of security, constant communication with a psychotherapist, albeit virtual.
- The sooner you realize If you experience panic, the sooner you will be able to cope with it. Ignoring your emotions will only make things worse. Accept your anxiety.