by Cathy Rogers
Moving through the sky, at great speed, and under control of an unknown, albeit trained person is for many, scary.
Its not natural for humans to fly. This fear is a normal fear because it comes from an instinct to live and avoid being in a dangerous place. This instinct is seen in small babies or animals who will not crawl over a glass table because they know they can fall and be hurt. Being cautious and thoughtful is what we all need, to live safely.
Flying in an airplane evokes for some, primitive fears to do with death and trust. Flying may remind someone that they are vulnerable to dying, something they hadn’t thought deeply about before. Worries about how a person dies can also be triggered when flying. Some worry about dying frightened, falling, unable to breathe or just in pain. Independent people who avoid vulnerable situations don’t care about the moment of death, but whether they are able to trust another person like the pilot, to keep them safe.
There are other levels of meaning to this difficulty because it triggers other underlying issues and earlier experiences. Trusting another person with your life is a huge feat and relates to reliability of parents and caregivers. The fear of falling can mean being dropped emotionally or physically. Feeling very small in relation to the earth below and stars above may be hard for some to bear.
Flying in an airplane can be for some so overwhelming that it makes travel impossible. They lose out on having lovely experiences. It isn’t always possible to just be brave and courageous. People use all kinds of methods to manage their fear of flying such as meditation, self talk and self medicating with alcohol or using prescribed sleeping pills. Another method is to be slowly introduced to the fearful situations like flying. Unfortunately, these methods don’t always work. Often a deeper process is needed in conjunction with these methods. For these people psycho-analytic psychotherapy is very effective. This helps people to understand and work through the ideas and feelings underneath the fear so that the real upset, not a worry about flying, gets to be soothed and healed.
Written by Cathy Rogers (clinical social worker and SAPC member). Visit www.cathyrogers.co.za
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