Overcome Your Fear of Flying and Eat in Italy
Flight Phobia Spoiling Your Italian Holiday? Try New Self Help Book
Jul 23, 2009
It’s holiday time, when thousands of people jet off for a well earned break. But for the 30% of the population who are scared of flying it can be a stressful, rather than relaxing, experience. Whether it’s a short flight for a chic city break in Milan, or a long haul flight to a luxury resort, fear of flying can easily spoil the trip.
Eat Pizza in Naples
In fact some people are so scared that they avoid plane journeys altogether – meaning they miss out on seeing some of the world’s finest sights: the paintings in the Uffizi in Florence, perhaps or the Vatican museums in Rome. They also miss out on trying local cuisine: there’s nothing like enjoying a fresh pizza in Naples, sampling Chianti in a Tuscan vineyard, or eating fresh fish in Liguria.
Overcome Your Fear of Flying
Now a new book aims to help those who have a flying phobia. Overcome Your Fear of Flying (pub. Sheldon Press £7.99) offers some practical suggestions to help tackle the problem. It has been written by two clinical psychologists, Professor Robert Bor and Dr Carina Eriksen, together with Margaret Oakes, a flying instructor and pilot.
Face Your Fears
The book encourages people to face their fear and reminds them that they aren’t alone. It includes stories of people who have managed to curb or cure their anxieties – offering hope to those who long to enjoy a relaxing holiday without worrying about the flight to get there – and back. There’s a chapter on understanding your fear of flying, followed by another which asks ‘What causes your fear of flying?’ in which the authors suggest that people try and identify individual triggers. For some that might be direct experience of an unpleasant situation, such as turbulence, for others it is indirect – perhaps media reports.
Fear of flying can be a vicious circle, and the more people worry about things the more they reinforce their anxiety. The authors offer some practical suggestions to break this cycle.
Be Positive
Negative thoughts need to be challenged. So if you’re scared of turbulence, think about the facts (it doesn’t damage the aircraft), think realistically about the worst thing that could happen during turbulence, then come up with a way of handling your response – controlled breathing, distracting yourself with a book, talking to other passengers. Do this for each of your anxieties.
Try and replace anxious thoughts with alternative thoughts. So, for example, change ‘I feel tense and nervous – something is wrong’, to ‘Just because I feel tense and nervous does not necessarily mean that something will go wrong…’, and so on.
Focus on the benefit of the flight- that tour of the Italian winery you've always wanted to do; eating a real Italian ice cream by the Trevi fountain in Rome.
Distract Yourself
Instead of focusing on anxieties and fears, the authors suggest you distract yourself. Talk to a fellow passenger, focus on the crew, read a book or perhaps try some concentration exercises, focusing on different aspects of your surroundings.
Learn How to Relax
The authors suggest that relaxation techniques can play an important role in overcoming a fear of flying. Controlled breathing, muscular relaxation and deep relaxation are all described. They also suggest that if you take regular exercise it can help the body to relax.
Start with a Short Flight
Start with a list of targets, ranked in order of difficulty, then try and tackle them one at a time. So if a long haul flight is your greatest fear, start with a short haul flight – and so on.
With these techniques and others described in the book, hopefully you’ll soon be able to hop on a flight to Italy and have a great holiday. That freshly baked pizza is waiting.
