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Monika Black |
Teaching fearful fliers the art of soaring above their phobias
Fears including aerophobia, arachnophobia and fear of rice ‘stem from bad memories’
THE last few seconds onboard the Air France airbus, which nose-dived into the Atlantic ocean in a lightning storm in May, must have been among the most terrifying imaginable.
While the chances of being involved in a tragic plane crash such as this are statistically minute, fear of flying is widespread.
Hampstead hypnotherapist Monika Black believes “aerophobia” is caused when “bad memories” or mental pictures, like scenes from films, become rooted in the mind’s eye leading to a huge build-up of stress at the sight of an airport or even a baggage handler.
With the holiday season upon us, she has noticed a surge in fear of flying concerns and is holding a weekend workshop aimed at helping her patients “erase” bad memories.
She said: “No fear for the sufferer is irrational. I know people who run out of the room if they see a spider.
“Some people have the same feelings about buttons. I know one patient who is scared of rice.
“She cannot walk down certain aisles in the supermarket. At some point, this person has learnt to become frightened of rice.
“The same thing has happened to people who fear flying. At some point, they may have seen an image of a plane falling or wings juddering about in the air and the brain, like a tape recorder, repeats those memories, making them frightened.”
These dread visions can fill even the most grounded person with stress-related symptoms.
Ms Black said: “When someone experiences fear of flying, their digestive system shuts down, they have sweaty palms, a fast-beating heart. They hold their heads and can’t think straight – they are in a state of panic.
“It is to do with the claustrophobia, the feeling of lacking control and essentially being in a tin can. Fearful flyers often experience a heightened sense of hearing and perk up anxiously at every subtle change in engine noise or wing shape, sounds that comfortable travellers may not notice.
“Some fearful flyers begin to believe that their actions affect the outcome of the flight.
“They follow a superstitious set of behaviours before and during the flight, believing that sitting in a window rather than an aisle or getting up to use the bathroom might lead to an accident. What’s more, many fearful flyers self medicate with alcohol or valium in an effort to control their symptoms.”
Ms Black, who is running a course for fearful flyers on Sunday, has developed a coping mechanism for the phobia.
She said: “All fears and phobias are stress-related. The way we respond to stress has not evolved since caveman times – we are still essentially fighting or flighting from the sabre tooth tiger.
“My job is to help someone cope with that stress. What I try to do is collapse the memory of a bad flight.
“I can do this with deep breathing exercises and with explaining about self-hypnosis. You can listen to a CD or on your iPod before the flight to take you into a kind of daydreaming state.”
TOM FOOT
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