Fear of flying

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For other uses, see Fear of Flying.

Fear of flying is a fear of air travel. It is also sometimes referred to as aviatophobia, aviophobia, or pteromechanophobia. Commercial flight has become an important, even essential, part of modern life; yet flying continues to cause a significant proportion of the public to feel anxiety. Fear of flying seems to contradict the facts; for example, driving in an automobile is statistically many times more dangerous^[1].

1 Causes
2 Impact
3 Treatment
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Causes

The fear of flying may be created by various factors:

a fear of closed in spaces (claustrophobia), such as that of an aircraft cabin
a fear of heights (acrophobia)
a feeling of not being in control (since a passenger is not piloting the plane and can't get out at will)
previous traumatizing experiences while in flight (or having lost friends, co-workers, etc. to a plane crash)
fear of hijacking or terrorism
fear of turbulence
fear of having a panic attack

Some people blame the media as a major factor behind fear of flying, claiming the media sensationalizes airline crashes (and the high casualty rate per incident), in comparison to the perceived scant attention given the massive number of isolated automobile crashes.

[edit] Impact

Some people who are afraid of flying manage their fears well enough that they are able to fly, but they may still spend considerable time and emotional energy thinking about the dangers that may befall them during flight.

A few people are nearly incapable, however, of getting on a plane, and must use cars, trains, buses and ships – all of which are slower and usually less safe than airplanes – to achieve long distance travel.

Like many phobias, fear of flying may "generalize" to cause fear of flight-related situations or stimuli. Many individuals with a strong fear of flying report anxious symptoms or panic attacks when discussing air travel, when seeing airplanes overhead, when visiting airports (even when not embarking on air travel themselves), or when watching television programs or films that depict air travel.

[edit] Treatment

Some airline and travel companies run courses to help people get over the fear of flying – for example, Virgin Atlantic's "Flying Without Fear".

Fear of flying may also be treated by the use of psychoactive medications. For individuals experiencing anxiety due to a phobia, the standard psychiatric prescription might be any of a number of different psychoactive medications such as benzodiazepines or other relaxant/depressant drugs. Psychiatrists are sometimes reluctant to prescribe any medication for the treatment of fear of flying due to the need for patients to medicate irregularly.

Some individuals with fear of flying may self-medicate with other psychoactive substances—particularly alcohol, which is served in many commercial airline cabins—in order to deal with their anxiety. Most mental health professionals would advise against consuming alcohol as a medication both due to the strong risk of dependency (alcoholism) and due to the particular physiological effects on the body of air travel. In a pressurized cabin, the lower-than-normal oxygen content of the air will cause an alcoholic beverage to have a significantly enhanced effect on the body--resulting in a perhaps surprising level and rapidity of intoxication from only one or two drinks.

On the other hand, some professionals believe that if an individual is capable of controlling his or her drinking—i.e. is not an alcoholic—and consumes only a small amount at a time, that an alcoholic beverage before or during a flight may be beneficial as a short-term treatment of the fear of flying. Most would still advise a more long-term strategy of systematic desensitization therapy.