Fear by plane - Aviophobia

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Understanding his fear of the plane

The fear of the plane, also called aerodromophobia, can have many origins. It may be the consequence of a bad flight experience, but it usually appears gradually and for no apparent reason. When a flight goes worse than usual because of badly experienced turbulence, a baggage forgotten in the RER to the airport, a general fatigue or a panic attack (the examples are countless! ), the brain holds the information: it does not like the plane. So you arrive at the next flight with all the anxiety of this previous flight, and the fear grows little by little with the trips. This phenomenon can be more or less rapid, but in the end, the fear of the plane affects more than 20% of the population while the prevalence of other phobias does not exceed 2 to 5%. Several elements called in psychology of "dimensions" can explain this fear.

1. Fear of accident or death

Airplane Fear The fear of flying can rest on the impression that the plane is not a safe place. All the positive information, all the accumulated knowledge and the reassuring statistics will not change anything: your brain is convinced that the plane is a dangerous place. The particular media coverage of aeronautical events, the irrationality of stealing, or the belief that the slightest incident would have a fatal outcome only have one effect: your amygdala, part of the brain that manages the emotion, you sends signals of significant danger and prepares you to avoid the situation.

Solution: two complementary elements make it possible to answer this problem:

• find all the realistic answers on aviation and make sure that they take precedence over automatic negative thoughts related to the situation,
• apply cognitive techniques that can "relight" the cortex and soothe the amygdala (without these cognitive techniques, it will not be the realistic information that will take over once in the plane!).

1. The need for control

to control his fear of the airplane To the question "Do you need to keep control of every situation?" more than 82% of the people who are afraid of the plane answer "Yes", whereas this proportion is much lower in the general population. The plane is by definition the place where one does not control anything and one puts one's life in the hands of an invisible unknown in his cockpit, a situation sometimes very difficult to live.

Solution: Two different techniques are possible:

• The use of a flight simulator allows you to put yourself in a cockpit situation and understand what is happening in front. As a passenger, when you understand why the driver is turning or knowing what he is doing during the turbulence, the situation becomes much easier to accept.
• A psychologist can work on acceptance and letting go, which makes this situation easier to manage emotionally.

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1. Difficulties in managing anxiety

manage anxiety on the plane Since the brain responsible for the emotion is convinced that you are in danger, it only gives you three orders:

• make the dead, like a little lizard who wants to escape his predator: you do not move, you do not want to be spoken to, you shut up on yourself and are unable to listen to any reasoning,
• flee to escape the danger, but this is perfectly impossible in the plane. In this case, the breathing accelerates naturally, some people are very agitated and feel the need to walk and move.
• prepare yourself to fight against this danger. The brain then sends signals that further accelerate your heart rate and increase energy in the upper body, which is why many people crush the armrests.
  In the end, all these elements have only one effect: short breathing, accelerated heart, sweaty hands even panic attacks (also called bouches of anxiety).

Solution: It is essential to learn how to manage your anxiety, with the aim of avoiding all these negative symptoms. The most effective technique for learning anxiety management is cardiac coherence with biofeedback (image opposite). This is a software connected to a heart sensor in real time to see how good breathing can keep control of the situation, and thereby reduce the symptoms of anxiety.

1. Specific phobias unrelated to the plane

Claustrophobia and agoraphobia, emphysophobia (fear of vomiting), altophobia (fear of being high), fear of speed, microbes ... there are more than a dozen phobias that are not directly related to the aircraft but which can prevent from taking it. These phobias are not systematic, but some people suffer from the classic elements of fear of the plane (1 + 2 + 3) and a specific phobia in addition.