Fear of Flying
Aside from my various areas of mental health specialty, I am the creator of an internationally recognized approach to helping people overcome fear of flying. This is based on addressing the most relevant psychological and emotional factors that tend to reinforce fear of flying for people. As fear of flying has different origins for everyone, the way we work is personalized to your own needs and experience, and is designed for you whether you are unable to fly at all, or if you still do fly, but with significant anxiety.
You’ve likely read and heard about how safe flying is supposed to be, yet this rational reassurance doesn’t do much, if anything at all, to help your anxiety. You may know flying is safe, but still feel emotionally that air travel is fundamentally unsafe and that you are in sincere, tremendous danger any time you have to fly.
There are a number of reasons that your body and emotions may run away with you, leaving you feeling scared and in danger, even when your mind has a lot of information. Fear of flying and flying anxiety comes from the back of the brain — the underlying emotions. While the front of the brain rational side can sometimes be helpful, it’s very hard for them to align when the emotions that feed flying phobia aren’t addressed.
Our Work Together
In our work together, we will help you to feel safe in spite of certain unknowns and vulnerabilities, similarly to how you experience normalized unknowns and risks in your daily life (such as driving, for example). We focus on helping the mind and body normalize the flying experience as a whole so you can travel more comfortably, emotionally trusting that you are safe.
Another reason people tend to prefer this approach is because the way we work on this issue tends to have a positive impact on dealing with other daily life issues outside of flying as well. While what we’re doing is geared towards fear of flying, we approach this issue emotionally, which often helps with anxiety and other emotions that may show up in life for you as a whole. In addition to fear of flying, I have specialties in various other life areas (such as general anxieties, relationships, depression, trauma, migraines, and more). Therefore, when emotional and life struggles come up that could use our attention as well, there is room for these conversations to become integrated into our work here.
I have seen many people over time who once felt tortured and limited by flying anxiety — similarly to how you may feel now. It is possible to find relief and to travel with a newfound sense of empowerment, liberation, and freedom.
More about Fear of Flying…
Fear of Flying: Plane Crashes and Reverse Normalization
The recent Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max accident has created a stir for people who already experience flying anxiety. For people who aren't afraid of flying, an incident like this tends to be just that -- [read more]
The Difficulty of Overcoming Fear of Flying
Fear of flying (or flying anxiety, flying phobia) is a difficult fear for many to kick. It has a way of paralyzing people into long-term avoidance of flying or into crippling levels of anxiety, ranging [read more]
Fear of Flying: Solving YOUR Puzzle
In my practice, I have been helping people overcome fear of flying for many years. While the approach I created to help people resolve flying phobia saw positive results early on, it has really seemed [read more]