Fear of Flying ... Hypno or Course?

[pasty]

Not quite on the same level, but I have recently been through a course of cognitive behaviour therapy to help with my fear of dentists. I've been to the dentist four times now in the last three months, so in my experience, courses to allay fears work

 

[little al]

I'll never go in a plane again, don't care neither. Environmentally wrong and I shit myself from start to end.

Sod the enviroment, I lke my holidays too much.

 

[Fef]

I don't hate flying, I hate turberlance - it's irrational I know, its far bumpier driving to the airport in the car than it usually is in a plane - I think its the fact that I have no control over.

How do you get on with the London Underground? Small metal tube, lots of bumping around, no control etc. Just asking like.

 

[Chicken Run]

Having done both, def. course

 

[Codner pharmaceuticals]

I am a qualified medical hypnotherapist amongst other things and have successfully got people flying.

Bear in mind a phobia is when a rational fear becomes irrational. So realize that you are normal and don't get too concerned by it.

It is important to understand that after therapy you may never love flying but won't be Phobic.

 

[Albumen]

Sod the enviroment, I lke my holidays too much.

Sadly too many think this way.

 

[Albion Rob]

I definitely fall into the scared category. I can put it down to two things - when I was 7 we hit severe turbulence on the way to Majorca and it scared the life out of me. I cried all the way on the return flight, surely to the annoyance of other passengers. On rationalising (or irrationalising) it, I understand and agree with all the stats about being far more likely to be in a car accident but I think a car accident could be minor, could be nasty or could be fatal. however, I think that if a plane travelling at 36,000 feet is in a crash then it's only going to be fatal really.

I do, though, try to think rational thoughts in between times. How many lfights are there every day? And how many crash? When I'm flying I consider the route and consider when the last time was that I heard of a crash on that route. The answer is invariably never. I also consider all the places I've been - including Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Croatia, New York, LA etc etc - and think that my life would have been a lot poorer had I not been to these places.

So do I just man up and do it? Not exactly. I take Lorazepam (like Valium, I think) to fly. I used to take too many and they monged me out for hours after the flight but now I just take the correct dose and I'm fine for the flight and they wear off pretty soon after.

I sometimes get a bit of courage up and fly without them, especially if I'm going business class, but after a horrific flight back from New York without them, I've suspended the weaning process for the time being.

Maybe one day I'll be able to fly without them, even if it's just short haul, but at the end of the day they do a job and get me over that threshold onto the plane. and once we're in the air, if we come down badly there's not much I could do anyway.

(As an aside, I'm sure i read somewhere that the passengers on the flight from Brazil to Paris that crashed in the Atlantic had no idea they were crashing because the descent was so gradual. Surely can't be true?)

 

[fork me]

Sadly too many think this way.

Sadly because we don't all agree with you? There's a whole world out there, and I want to see it...

...and I will, with or without your approval.

 

[Gazwag]

How do you get on with the London Underground? Small metal tube, lots of bumping around, no control etc. Just asking like.

I suppose in the tube you are attached to the ground and you don't tend to get the stomach churning up and down movement.

 

[Tux the albion Penguin]

 

[rool]

I cured my fear of flying by obsessively watching air crash investigation

There was also a book I read that explained what all the noise changes and little things that go on before and during a flight that would alarm me.

 

[Was not Was]

Sadly because we don't all agree with you? There's a whole world out there, and I want to see it...

...and I will, with or without your approval.

Me, me, me, me, me.

And, by the way, me.

 

[Fef]

I suppose in the tube you are attached to the ground and you don't tend to get the stomach churning up and down movement.

It's interesting in what you say about being attached to the ground. I dislike being up in tall buildings etc - I feel all queasy; but I'm fine being up in an aircraft. I'm sure it's this 'being attached to the ground' thing. (Although different in your case.)

 

[fork me]

Me, me, me, me, me.

And, by the way, me.

Don't be so bloody daft. At the moment petroleum fueled planes are the only practical way of getting around the world, all the time that remains they'll be in the air whether I fly or not. To not travel would be just cutting off my nose to spite my face.

How do you heat your hot water by the way? I use a solar panel, reduces my carbon footprint loads.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

40mg of Valium and a few vodka's helped me as I'm not that keen on flying.

And this is not a bad option if you're going clubbing.

 

[Durlston]

And this is not a bad option if you're going clubbing.

It used to be for the comedown off crystal meth and E's when I got home.