Fear Of Flying (Aviophobia)
Psychiatry identifies three different categories of phobia:
Agoraphobia is a fear of open spaces. It is also a fear of
having a panic attack in a public place, of losing control in an
area from which escape may prove difficult or embarrassing.
Social Phobia is an irrational anxiety brought forth by exposure
to certain social situations, leading to avoidance behaviour.
Specific Phobia is a persistent and irrational fear in response
to some specific stimulus, which commonly results in avoidance
of/withdrawal from that stimulus. It could be triggered by an
insect or animal (zoophobia), by a situation like being trapped
in an enclosed space (claustrophobia) or it could be a fear of
disease (pathophobia).
The fear of flying is believed to be widespread, possibly
affecting as many as 1 in 5 people to some extent. Many
sufferers have never flown before. Others used to fly
confidently until they unwittingly developed fear. It can even
happen to professionally trained pilots.
Fear of flying is a learned response. The only fear a baby is
born with is a fear of loud noises. At some point you developed
the fear, perhaps after seeing footage of an air disaster on the
television. Maybe you experienced turbulence during a flight, or
your plane was in a holding position, circling an airport for an
interminably long time, waiting for permission to land and you
began to wonder how much fuel was left.
There are many who do fly in spite of their fears. They imagine
feeling scared ahead of time. They may have sleepless nights
thinking about an impending flight sometimes months away. In the
air, symptoms of high anxiety may be experienced such as
palpitations, dizziness, nausea, sweating, tightness of chest or
hyperventilation. Fear of the fear is common being scared
because you are imagining being scared. In the hopes of
controlling their fears some will use alcohol or sedatives. It
is much healthier to eat well before a flight, have some good
reading material or other distractions like music and avoid
alcohol, caffeine and sugar. Breathing exercises might also be
useful.