Therapy for fear of flying

Fear of Flying Characteristics

Fear of flying is quite a limitingcondition which may affect many aspects of a person's life.Basically, once you fear traveling by airborne devices, you are boundto choose alternative means of transportation, thereby beingincapable of reaching certain places easily. For example, peoplesuffering from fear of flying will probably miss a lot of familyreunions, birthdays and similar occasions which require to travel tocertain locations in a shortest timespan possible.

Luckily, there are several differenttreatments for this psychological issue. All of these will bepresented and discussed through the lines below.

Treatment for Fear of Flying

There are two basic choices when itcomes to medications. Firstly, you may opt for SSRIs or other typesof antidepressants. However, you need to use them for a while inorder to experience their positive effect. Usually, when we aresupposed to travel somewhere, time is not a thing we can spare.

Fortunately, there is a quickersolution. These are anti anxiety medications. These have an instanteffect and are recommended to be used only in dire situations since,when used to often, anti-anxiety medications can create addictions inpeople.

Both of these medication types have thesame effect. Basically, these make you more relaxed and capable ofovercoming your fears related to the very act of traveling in anaircraft.

As far as suppressing or getting rid ofphobias is concerned, we have yet another solution from the world ofpharmacology. Beta blockers can be your choice for this type ofphobia, as well as for many other types, since these medicationsprevent rapid heart rate, sweating and numerous other symptoms ofuncontrollable fear and panic. Unfortunately, these, as well as thepreviously mentioned methods, do not cure the fear of flying, butmerely suppress the symptoms.

If we are to make permanent changesinto a person's behavior and help him/her truly overcome the fear offlying, we need methods which are more effective and practical.Cognitive behavioral therapy is, therefore, one of the best possiblechoices for this purpose. Namely, here, a counselor works with thepatient, helping him/her change his/her ways of perceiving flying.

Exposure is another effective solutionfor this problem. Exposure therapy involves helping the patientbattle their fears and alter their perception of them, exposing themto their fears afterwards. Surely, traveling by planes often, fortherapeutic purposes, can be expensive. So, many times, virtualflight simulators are used for overcoming fear of flying throughexposure.

Finally, every person with fear offlying may enter one of many classes which are held in order to help people overcome this issue. There, you will be surrounded by people who feel the sameway you do, working together towards helping yourselves and others.