Image: Diy13 - Getty Images
Airplane overhead blurred
Are you afraid of flying? If so, you’re not alone. Surveys indicate over 25 million Americans suffer from aviophobia, which means they avoid it altogether or, when they do fly, endure breathless anxiety. In order to board a plane, some of these folks need to be tranquilized, either with prescribed medication or booze. Speaking of, a bar in an airport is one busy place. Why? Well, while not phobic, up to 40% of us feel apprehension about leaving terra firma in one of these contraptions.
Many phobic flyers don’t know the origin of their fear, having never suffered a bad experience in the air. Others who were previously fine with flying, acquired their phobia due to a frightening flight incident, including yours truly. I didn’t come into the world an anxious flier, as some do. I even took flying lessons while in college, and soloed, but had to discontinue for lack of funds. So, my fear is learned, not innate.
I’ve flown enough that I’ve had some heart-pounding experiences in the so-called friendly skies, but the one that branded this particular fear on my brain was outright terrifying. On that stormy day in our small commuter jet, our pilots attempted to thread the needle between two towering thunderstorm supercells, but they closed around us. We bounced like a lottery ping pong ball, bins opening, lights flashing, articles suspended in the air, people screaming and some hurling. All of us seemed convinced death was imminent, and the pilot in transit across the aisle from me was visibly unnerved, as well. Pilots don’t usually react that way unless it’s a serious threat.
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Hyper-Vigilant
So, after that, I found myself palpably anxious prior to any air travel. I became hyper-vigilant, studying the weather for days in advance and obsessing over details, like seating. I even had flashbacks of my traumatic flying episode. And when the time came to fly again, I couldn’t board the plane. It’s called post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Curiously, in the privacy of my thoughts, I began shaming myself for being so afflicted. After all, I reasoned, I’m a psychotherapist, so I should be able to heal myself. Often a foolish premise. However, after a period of self-reproach, it occurred to me there’s nothing shameful about having PTSD. It’s a malady that gets seared on your brain during a traumatic event. It’s not a choice. How to deal with it is.
So, I followed my own advice and underwent a kind of therapy called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), an increasingly recognized treatment for PTSD. And it worked. Thanks to EMDR and a competent therapist, I now fly easier, but I don’t fly blissfully. I still realize that last year, American airports clocked over 1630 runway incursions, meaning episodes where a plane, vehicle or person errantly enters a runway where an aircraft is either landing or taking off. Then there are bird strikes, engine fires or failures, clear air turbulence and, rarely but notably, human error. More recently, of course, the increase in unruly passengers has skyrocketed, sometimes causing serious injuries to crew or customers. Booze is usually involved.
Some will rightfully argue that statistics speak for themselves, and that air travel, particularly of recent, is extremely safe. No debate there, although I am reminded of a phrase attributed to Mark Twain—“statistics and other damn lies.” Flying is the safest way to travel, until it isn’t. As Jay Leno once quipped, “When the engine conks out in your car, you don’t drop 35,000 feet.” True, but our odds of dying in a car crash far exceed those of auguring in on a jet.
So, as much as reason should supersede emotion here, there’s just something about being helpless and trapped in a stuffy fuselage six miles above the planet crammed with unpredictable humans, many under the influence, that erodes my sense of well-being. Safety statistics, rational thought, EMDR — these all help. But there remains a part of me that says, “You were made to be on the ground.”
And PTSD aside, I think it knows what it’s talking about.
For more, visit philipchard.com.
