Are you scared to death of flying?
Yes?
You’re not alone. The fear of flying (aerophobia) is believed to affect at least one in ten of the population.
For people with aerophobia the thought of flying fills them with dread, increased anxiety and often causes panic attacks. The fear is so intense that they avoid flying or when they do fly, they spend the whole flight stressed out, praying for terra firma.
Aerophobics commonly fall into one of two groups.
Firstly, those who fear an “internal loss of control”. For such individuals, their fear of flying stems from a fear that they will lose control of their emotions during flight and therefore embarrass themselves in front of fellow passengers. For some people in this group being in an enclosed space with no way to escape can also trigger panic.
In the second group are those people whose anxiety begins before the flight. They may, or may not, have been on a plane before. They may catastrophize about things going wrong – like their plane crashing! Some individuals start getting stressed out on the way to the airport. Then at the airport, factors designed to ensure our safety such as airport security procedures focus the aerophobic’s mind on the threat of terrorism. The safety videos prior to departure remind them that crashes do happen. Once in the air the slightest turbulence or bad weather can trigger panic.
The good news is that the fear of flying is treatable.
However, simply being told facts and figures about how low risk air travel actually is, e.g. car travel is about 100 times deadlier than flying; doesn’t really help aerophobics reduce their fear because, facts and figures appeal to our logical, thinking brain and not to our emotional brain where the fear of flying resides.
Experts agree ….
…. that the best way to overcome the fear of flying is controlled gradual exposure. You can do this exposure behaviourally or in your imagination. The behavioural option can take some time to complete and can be expensive.
The imagination option is where hypnosis comes into its own. From the safety and comfort of a chair you can, with the help of a hypnotist, use your imagination to gradually expose yourself to all the frightening elements of flying, in hypnotic time. It’s possible to instantly change the time of day, the weather, your seat on the plane and, even the size of plane your flying on, depending on what worries you most. This means you can imaginatively rehearse lots and lots of future flights in a short period of time.
This approach works because your brain doesn’t differentiate between what’s real and what’s imagined. To your brain it’s all just your present reality. So through repeated exposure you can quickly change your fear response and down regulate your anxiety level.
In addition to facilitating and speeding up the positive effect of exposure, hypnosis can help break the anxiety cycle surrounding flying and also help you cope with any residual feelings of anxiety.
Imagine rather than being afraid of flying you feel excited and relaxed.
Thanks to hypnosis it’s possible to make this your reality quickly, safely and comfortably.
What next?
If you’re an aerophobic, and are flying over the holiday season, the good news is you still have time to gain freedom from your fear of flying before you go, meaning you’ll be able to enjoy your flight(s) feeling relaxed, calm and comfortable.
To secure your Freedom from Fear of Flying session email me today tony@tycoaching.nz or call/text 021 056 8389.
Go well
Tony
REMEMBER – “When you change your mind you change your life.”
Tony helps people of all ages say ‘goodbye’ to anxiety, stress, depression and trauma in the shortest time possible. His practical, evidence based solution focused approach is designed to enable you to thrive and start fully enjoying life again in the shortest time possible.
