What is fear of flying?
Why do so many people have anxiety for something that is statistically safer than any other form of transportation?
Let's start at the beginning. Cognitive psychologists such as Beck believe that as humans we are not born with a fear of flying. We are born with just two fears seems to be the general agreement - fear of loud noises and fear of falling.
Babies will wince and contort their faces when they hear loud noises. They also will reach out if they feel they are falling. There is a third belief that we have something built in called a visual cliff reflex. In other words, if we are near an edge of a large drop we can sense it and will recoil automatically.
Why this background info? If these are the fears we are born with or the wiring our brains are pre-programmed with, then everything after that must be learned. This is good news because if we have learned it then we can learn to think about it differently.
What is it like to have a fear of flying?
Fear of flying works quite similarly to other fears except for a few different outcomes. Fear is a natural defense all animals have in order to keep themselves safe. It produces natural chemicals to get us out of danger quickly. This is all quite normal except when we produce these fear chemicals when there is no danger.
The fear of flying occurs when we experience an overwhelming anxiety we have unknowingly linked to aspects of flying. We will start to create strategies that help us to control the anxiety. Sometimes rituals, but whatever they are these things help to lessen the fear:
- Drinking alcohol or taking pills.
- Bringing "lucky" items with us on the flights.
- Watching the cabin crew at every turn and studying their faces.
The above strategies mean that you are still flying. If one is not careful to address these early on, they can turn into avoidance strategies such as:
- Only booking flights at certain times of the day or not flying.
- Finding alternative ways to travel abroad and then selling the idea to the non-nervous in a way that disguises our true intentions.
- Getting to a point of inebriation so that we are the walking unconscious - we fly but feel terrible for two days after we land.
The learning brain
Tony Buzan, Richard Bandler, and many others talk about how the brain learns in a parallel processor kind of way. All the brain cells are linked to other cells and they communicate all the time. When we learn something new, we are desperate to make sense of it so our brains (the processor part) start to search around for something similar.
Imagine you go to a restaurant in a foreign country where you can't speak a word of the language. You are approached by the waiter who speaks in their native tongue. You are desperate to know what is going on and what to say.
The brain processor scrambles around and then draws on all it knows about going to restaurants. Your database has lots of memories and experiences of going to places to eat. It provides you with a level of comfort and expectation about what to do.
So, even without knowing the language, you find a seat, know that there will be some sort of menu, and that you will be expected to pay (do I pay at the table or do I find a cashier?). Your brain will automatically provide the answers as you search the environment filling in the gaps of what you need to know in this uncomfortable situation. The processor runs down these pathways and finds what it needs to help you.
As you relax in the new situation of the foreign restaurant, everything that happens is learned and added to the database for next time. Literally, new links are made in the brain from the old links about restaurants. It is a never-ending organic process.
All of these small and large learning pathways happen consistantly, and immediately. Every time you learn things, your brain scans for what it knows already and adds it in. If it is new or unfamiliar, it looks for something it can hang it onto. It gives us the feeling of control so that in some way we know what is going on.
How does this link to fear of flying?
When you know something really well, it is easy to recall it, add to it, and to get better at it. If you play piano very well and have been playing for years there are tons of links in your head about this already. You have super fast highways that your brain electricity can pass down to access information about playing the piano. You can literally just add information to the established links accessed by the super fast thought highways.
Then you decide to learn martial arts and have no experience whatsoever. You go to your first lesson and you start to learn. You aren't very good for a long time. You are learning and making new links in your brain.
If you have spent years practicing being scared, then you have a super fast highway to feel anxiety.
If you always watch documentaries about air crashes, pore over every single article the print media about aviation, can imagine your own death in glorious aviation detail and then listen to the so called 'aviation experts' you meet in the bar who know ?everything? about flying disasters; then, you have learned it really well!
If you get anxious seeing an aircraft on the television, you have a fear highway. If you get nervous when an aircraft flies overhead, you have a fear highway. If you experience an anxious feeling in your stomach when someone mentions booking a holiday for you, you have a fear highway.
Every single time you allow yourself to have a death thought about flying or watch those programs, you are feeding the fear and making your fear highway even better connected ? which causes it to evolve into other fears.
Overcome fear of flying
Confronting your fear takes guts. It is brave to face a fear that has built itself into a superfast highway and is now acting against you.
One part of you wants to go on holiday, wants to take that job with travel, wants to travel far away on vacation, and doesn't want to pass the fear onto our children. Another part of you wants to avoid flying because you believe aircrafts "are not safe".
At some point, when you decide you want to start flying again, you need some help to make some new pathways. It takes effort and determination. Accepting help is not a bad thing.
Advice for fear of flying
It's really an individual matter: Deep diaphragmatic breathing, hypnotherapy, neuro-linguistic programming, cognitive behavior therapy, thought field therapy, and desensitization training. There are many options available to you. The most important thing is to get started.
Some people really want to understand the origin of the fear, which can seem like a never-ending search. In many cases, the cause can be completely unrelated to flying such as having children, parents getting older, or even stress at work or in a relationship. This is not always known to the fearful as it could have come on slowly or been triggered by a bad flight experience. It is possible to overcome the fear of flying whether you learn how it started or not.
Facts
- According to a Boeing Company published report, one of every three adult Americans is either anxious or afraid to fly.
- According to a poll conducted by Newsweek Magazine in 1999, 50% of the adults surveyed who flew on commercial airlines were frightened at least sometimes.
- There are over 12 million people in the UK that suffer from fear of flying.
- The majority of fearful fliers avoid flying in order to escape the emotions experienced when they fly.
- Of those afraid of flying, 73% were frightened of in-flight mechanical difficulties, 62% of bad weather flights, 36% by on-ground mechanical difficulties, 33% of overwater flights, and 36% by flying at night.
- To counter fear of flying, the World Health Organization recommends techniques based on self-control, relaxation, and challenging negative thoughts.
- World Health Organization research underscores the importance of finding a way to manage flight anxiety which does not involve any form of sedation (Xanax, Klonopin, Valium, Ativan, or sleeping pills).
