ENDING fEAR OF FLYING

There are three types of Fear of Flying. The most common type is where the person has flown before, sometimes many times, and then with each succeeding flight they get more and more nervous until they are no longer able to fly at all, or have to go through agonies on each flight.

Another type applies to people who have never flown and are terrified at the very idea of it. These people often have vertigo, a fear of heights, or some other phobia. A third type is where the traveller is OK all the way up to the point where they shut the doors ready for takeoff. This fear is actually claustrophobia, a fear of being trapped in a confined space, not the actual flying. These types are fixed by treating the underlying phobia.

True fear of flying is an anxiety disorder caused by the person's mind going over and over all the ways things can go wrong. It generally needs only one session to be corrected.

 

RATIONALE

Fear of Flying is the result of the traveller's own mind dwelling on every possible way that things can go wrong. By constantly imagining doom and disaster they create the very fear that they are trying to avoid. The more they think about it, the worse it gets.

Fear of flying is not actually a phobia. A phobia is an immediate fear reaction triggered by the presence of the cause of the phobia: very few people faint or have to run and hide when they see an aircraft.

 

TREATMENT

Fear of flying is caused when the person goes over and over in their mind every possible way that the flight can go wrong and creates a mental model of disaster. It is the mental model that they are afraid of, not the flying.

Treating Fear of Flying consists of replacing the mental model of disaster with a mental model of enjoyment.

Fear of Flying is caused by the mistaken use of positive ability. The immediate cause is visualisation of something going disastrously and even fatally wrong. Our imaginations need to be kept under control sometimes, so the treatment uses the person's vivid imagination to create the solution. Instead of imagining disaster at every step, the client is taught to imagine success and pleasure at every step.

Air travel consists of a predictable set of events which make up the flying experience. It starts with booking the ticket, then getting ready on the day, then going to the airport, then boarding, take off and finally landing. The nervous flier has created disaster scenarios for most of these stages, so the treatment consists of replacing the disaster movie with a comedy movie. Or at least with a movie that is bright, positive and rewarding.

This is done with Cognitive Modelling. The client is taught how to manipulate their own mental images to produce positive outcomes. These positive outcomes lead to positive feelings. Associating positive feelings with mental images of each step of the journey destroys the fears.

The client is hypnotised and taken through each stage of the journey. In each stage they are talked through a typical experience, and given the opportunity to rehearse an enjoyable outcome for themself. The positive aspects of flying are described and the client is encouraged to visualise their own successful outcomes for each stage. As this is done the client will experience greater and greater confidence and will completely change their mental image of flying, eventually feeling enthused and excited by the idea of getting on a plane.

 

The therapy consists of reframing the journey from something to be feared to something to be enjoyed, something to look forward to.

 

By the end of the session you will be eager to get to the airport and get on that plane.

There is generally no need for a follow up. Once the pattern of behaviour has been altered, it is altered forever and the cognitive modelling exercises will make sure that negative thoughts cannot take over again. .

 

• Fear of Flying Hypnosis Script
• Fear of Traveling Script

 

 

• Appointments