If you feel severe anxiety at the thought of air travel, you might have a phobia or fear of flying. This fear can hit you when you’re on a plane or simply anticipating an upcoming trip. Thriving Center of Psychology in Midtown, New York, NY, SoHo, NY, Los Angeles, CA, and Miami, FL, offers the latest science-based therapy for flying phobia. To combat your fear of flying so that you can travel with calm and enjoyment, call the offices or visit the website today to schedule an evaluation.
Fear of Flying Q & A
What causes fear of flying?
Aviophobia, or the fear of flying, is a type of “specific phobia” that causes feelings of overwhelming panic when flying or just thinking about flying. No one knows exactly what causes this anxiety disorder. While many phobias originate from a traumatic experience, fear of flying usually does not. Some experts claim that aviophobia is a combination of other phobias, like claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces) and acrophobia (fear of heights).
How do I know if I have a flight phobia?
Fear of flying can be debilitating for some people. You may have a clinical fear of flying if you:
- Avoid flying or haven’t flown in over five years
- Only fly when it’s completely unavoidable
- Have intense fear during flight or at the mere thought of flying
Although rare, some sufferers with a severe flying phobia can experience a full-scale panic attack just thinking about flying.
What is the treatment for fear of flying?
A licensed therapist can work with you to manage your flying fear and can recommend one or more therapies:
- Talk therapy (psychotherapy)
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
- Neurofeedback (electroencephalographic or EEG biofeedback)
- Group therapy
- Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET)
One of the caring professionals at Thriving Center of Psychology can work with you to develop your individual treatment plan to address your flying phobia.
What is virtual reality exposure therapy?
Your flying phobia has taught you to associate danger with a relatively safe activity (flying). Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) can help dismantle this association. VRET is an innovative therapy that uses experiential learning to enable you to conquer your fear of flying.
Within a safe, controlled environment under your therapist’s guidance, VRET allows you to reprogram your thinking so that you can have the feeling of flying without feeling scared. Most VRET environments consist of standard computer software. However, your therapist at Thriving Center of Psychology personalizes the VRET platform to fit your unique situation and phobia.
Thriving Center of Psychology uses cutting-edge virtual reality cameras to record real-life scenarios that you interact with during your VRET sessions. This allows you and your therapist to address the unique ways fear of flying affects you.
CLICK HERE to see how Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) can help treat your fear of flying.
You can overcome your flying fear with the latest technology-based treatments at Thriving Center of Psychology. You don’t have to settle with lifelong flying anxiety. Call the offices today or go online to schedule an appointment. You can meet with your therapist in person or through video TeleTherapy.