My fear of flying is just plane stupid!

RedWolfCQB

Firstly sorry for the cheesy title . I have what I think is a fear of flying. It only happens on commercial airlines (I've been in helicopters for work reasons a few times and enjoyed it) and I think it comes from a unjustified distrust of other passengers and an irrational fear of the lack of skill or competence of the pilots, crew etc. I don't think its a fear of heights or anything like that because I've abseiled from decent heights with no problems and I'd love to skydive in the future. I been slowly getting worse on the last few holidays abroad I've had and lately when my wife mentions going somewhere this year my stomach turns and my chest gets tight. I'm such a sceptic that I really don't think hypnotherapy would work on me but I heard a woman on the Antoine Savage show on Today FM (I think) talking about a method to stop any kind of fear with some sort of hand movements that trigger things in the brain. It was a while ago and I didn't hear the full interview but it sounded interesting. Does anyone have any information about what I'm talking about or even know this woman?

Roselm

RedWolfCQB wrote: »

Firstly sorry for the cheesy title . I have what I think is a fear of flying. It only happens on commercial airlines (I've been in helicopters for work reasons a few times and enjoyed it) and I think it comes from a unjustified distrust of other passengers and an irrational fear of the lack of skill or competence of the pilots, crew etc. I don't think its a fear of heights or anything like that because I've abseiled from decent heights with no problems and I'd love to skydive in the future. I been slowly getting worse on the last few holidays abroad I've had and lately when my wife mentions going somewhere this year my stomach turns and my chest gets tight. I'm such a sceptic that I really don't think hypnotherapy would work on me but I heard a woman on the Antoine Savage show on Today FM (I think) talking about a method to stop any kind of fear with some sort of hand movements that trigger things in the brain. It was a while ago and I didn't hear the full interview but it sounded interesting. Does anyone have any information about what I'm talking about or even know this woman?

I'd say it was cognitive behavioural therapy. As far as I know you
learn to associate a hamd movement (eg pressing finger and thumb together) with a feeling of calm and then when anxious you can use this movement to calm yourself

Fathom

Aerophobia? Had similar. Acrophobia. No longer. CBT worked. Took months. Didn't work for all. Some friends still have it after CBT. Everyone different.

MindWorker

CBT is good; however, for phobias, hypnotherapy tends to be very effective.