Question: What causes some people to be afraid of getting on a plane?

Answer: Some people become afraid after a traumatic experience on a plane (or a related freightening experience such as a recent death) which repesents a threat or potential danger. Others may have a parent, grandparent, or sibling with a high level of anxiety/panic/fear, which is passed on to them. In 80% of my cases there is at least one major worrier in the family of the fearful person.

Question: Do a majority of your clients experience the anxiety and fear prior to the plane taking off?

Answer: Yes, we call that "anticipatory anxiety." In many cases, it's as harmful as the panic and fear because it consumes thoughts, feelings, and energy for days, weeks, and sometimes months before the actual flight.

One bride-to-be was unable to continue planning her wedding after her fiance suggested they fly to Hawaii for their honeymoon. Just the thought of flying caused her enormous anxiety and racing thoughts, which consumed her attention and energy.

Question: What are racing thoughts?

Answer: Your mind processes about 1,000 words a minute. However, as the anxiety kicks in, the thoughts and words run even faster -- often repeating themselves over and over without end, overlapping and swirling together, each one demanding your attention and using up your energy. Continually thinking about what if, what if, what if, worry-worry-worry. You can't control your thoughts -- they control you. Actually, although you THINK you can't control your thoughts, you just don't know how. The good news is you can learn how.

Question: How do racing thoughts lead to fear of flying?

Answer: Racing thoughts are part of fear of flying. As racing thoughts repeat, they branch out — making more irrational thoughts — based on the original irrationality. Fear of flying, a phobia, is a resulting irrational set of thoughts, feelings, and beliefs associated with a certain idea or object.

For example, a person with a fear of flying in large planes can believe the plane is too heavy. That leads to: it will fall out of the sky, it will crash, I'm scared about the time between the crash and actually dying, the noises will be deafening and terrible, and on, and on, and on. Your mind can become quite creative, developing a phobic swirl — a plunging downward spiral of swirling negative thoughts.

Question: What do you mean by "irrational" versus "rational" thinking?

Answer: Most people with fear of flying are very rational people in other parts of their lives. They function just fine, rationally, except for this one glitch of fear/anxiety/panic. When this fear doesn't make sense to them, they try to use rational thought to try to get rid of it. But this only works against them. The irrational side, the "anticipatory anxiety," and the phobia still exists — and the 2 sides argue with each other. It's a losing argument; there is no winner. It seems like a Gordian knot, with no beginning and no end. They need help to undo that process — to delete it.

Question: What are the typical signs that someone really has a fear of flying and not just generalized anxiety?

Answer: The fear of flying is specific to anything that has to do with flying, planes, and airports. Generalized anxiety is where people worry about everyday, routine life circumstances. Their focus may shift from one concern to another; yet they experience being tense and nervous all of the time — affecting their health. A lot of our population experiences this, and they don't even know it because they think it's normal and natural to be on edge, nervous, and worrisome. Generalized anxiety can also be deleted.

Question: Do you deal with treating the cause or just the symptoms?

Answer: Both. I ask people if they think their fear of flying has a cause. They may not know. However, there IS a cause -- because people are not born with this kind of fear. If we just treat the symptoms and not the cause, the symptoms will come back. So, I use a multi-level process to undo the knot of thoughts, feelings and beliefs. This enables the person to understand the scrambled tie between the cause and the symptoms, deal with the symptoms, and delete the cause.

Question: Do some people have a fear of what happens at the destination, and confuse that with the idea that they have a fear of flying?

Answer: Being in a new situation, unfamiliar surroundings, away from home, etc., can be anxiety-producing. This fear is a cousin to the fear of flying. Some people have fear of getting lost, fear of the unknown, fear of being alone, and low self-esteem with thoughts such as "I don't think I can do it," "I'm not good enough," "I won't know where to go." "What if something bad happens while I'm away from home?"

Question: What is your success rate and how long does it take?

Answer: To get rid of fear of flying, it usually takes an average of 2-4 sessions…on the phone or in person…with a 96% success rate.

Question: Does the successful deleting last?

Answer: Yes. People learn about the power of their minds and how to use that power in a positive way. In fact, many people who have experienced the success of DELETE ask for what we call "a 10,000 mile check-up." Because of past programing, they are aware of being susceptible to gathering new worries and anxieties. They want to be sure to delete any unwanted thoughts/feelings/beliefs that they've gathered along the bumpy road of life develops into a new phobia. This is a preventive measure, like going to the dentist to get one's teeth cleaned every 6 months.

Question: What different prevalent therapies are out there for fear of flying?

Answer: There are several, all of which I've used and experienced:

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Definitions

1. An intricate knot tied by King Gordius of Phrygia and cut by Alexander the Great with his sword after hearing an oracle promise that whoever could undo it would be the next ruler of Asia.

2. An exceedingly complicated problem or deadlock.

—American Heritage Dictionary