fear-of-flying

Fear of Flying

Airports

of today are no longer custom friendly and when faced with the array of security measures and gun totting policeman it is little wonder than more and more people are afraid of flying.

What causes the fear

Fear of flying is a complex psychological issue and one that has been compounded by the security concerns of the last few years and affects many people from those who are slightly apprehensive to those who have a severe panic attack at just the thought of flying.Fear of flying is more common in females and begins most often in childhood or in the mid-20s. and needs to be addressed as soon as possible.

These fears manifest themselves in many forms and are caused by one or a combination of the following factors.

a fear of being in a closed space
a fear of heights
a feeling of not being in control.
fear of having a panic attack and causing a scene and embarassing friends and family
a fear of turbelence
fear of flying over water
flying at night or in fog
fear of crashing resulting in injury or death
fear of bad weather making taking off and landing more difficult
noise of the engines
mechanical failure

Terrorist issues

After 9/11 passengers who were already scared of flying only had their fears heightenned and indeed now had an excuse not to fly.

fear of terrorists blowing the plane up
fear for their children from a hijacking

Overcoming your fears

Fear of flying can seriously restrict people’s working and social lives not only for themselves but family and friends.

Passengers often self-medicate with sedatives and alcohol, but these only provide short term relief . Their are a plethora of courses and videos which are both educational in the form of stastics showing you are far safer travelling by aeroplane than you are driving your car and by psychologists and hypnotists.

These courses look to reduce the severity of the fear whereby the passenger understands the factors and hopefully by using certain techniques look to control their fears. Apprehension may still remain but under control.