Well I watched the Channel Four programme last night on people who suffer ‘Aviophobia’… that’s Fear of Flying to you and me! I found the programme tedious and lacking. Tedious in that it was almost voyeuristic as we watched the spectacle of people who were terrified and panic struck; and lacking in that the ‘Rapid Change Therapist’ the programme had engaged to offer insights really only went as far as explaining the ‘fight or flight’ responses we are primitively programmed to experience wherever a threat is perceived.
I have worked with a good number of people who came to me either unable to fly through fear of doing so, or who were finding each occasion they did so deeply distressing. There ARE some good and quite simple techniques that can allow you firstly understand the processes at work, and to then interrupt and modify responses to the whole flying experience. Therapy that migrates a whole range of situations is often indicated. For example, if you help someone to manage the symptoms of panic in one situation then the same techniques can be used in others. This is because the fear is more often of fear itself and of the unpleasant experience of terror. Once controlled in one instance the power of fear is mitigated. I think the programme could have done more in this regard and would have been more helpful.
Contact me today if you have a fear of flying…
Russell.