How is aerophobia managed or treated?

How is aerophobia managed or treated?

Many people can work on overcoming their fear of flying with psychotherapy. Your healthcare provider may recommend:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): CBT focuses on helping you change the way you think about flying. It might include learning about how planes work, or reviewing safety statistics for air travel versus other forms of travel. Your therapist can also teach you techniques to manage certain triggers. For example, deep breathing or meditation during take-off, landing or turbulence can reduce your symptoms of anxiety. You can also learn to “talk back” to negative thoughts about flying when they arise.
• Exposure therapy: This type of therapy gradually exposes you to places, thoughts or situations that relate to air travel. You may visit an airport and watch planes arrive and depart. Virtual reality tools, such as computer simulations of flights, can also help you overcome your fear of flying.

Psychotherapy may be one-on-one with a therapist or in a group setting. Some cities in the U.S. have group therapy programs at airports that include a “graduation flight” at the end of the treatment program.

Medication isn’t very effective for the long-term management of aerophobia or other specific phobic disorders. But if you have to fly and worry about having a panic attack, your healthcare provider may recommend anti-anxiety drugs on an as-needed basis.