Are you afraid of flying ?

Recently, I was asked to speak at a conference in Beirut. This was my third visit to the charming city that wears her wounds with surprising authenticity and grace. Leading up to the trip, all necessary arrangements fell neatly into place, easing any pre-travel stress or anxiety.
Even during the first few hours of the flight, everything seemed normal. People watched movies, worked on lap-tops, took naps or longingly stared out of their windows onto clouds floating like white cotton candy in a brilliant blue sky. One lady sat nervously with her arms crossed, murmuring what seemed like a repetitive prayer. It got me thinking about how hard it must be for people who have aerophobia or a fear of flying - especially nowadays, with increased travel, migration and expatriate assignments that make it pretty difficult to avoid flying.
Then, 30 minutes before we were scheduled to land, the captain informed us that the weather was quite windy and wet in Beirut. Little did we know that half an hour would turn into a three-hour ordeal. The pilot tried descending towards the airport repeatedly; however, due to strong winds, we were tossed about like an autumn leaf in the sky. Passengers around sat trembling or vomiting and babies screamed, as we tried to land repeatedly - and unsuccessfully. I'm not one to be too fussed during turbulence, but this was different. Suddenly, we changed direction and began a seriously stomach-churning ascent once more into the clouds.
The captain assured us that all was well; however, due to weather conditions, we were going to make an emergency landing in Cyprus until Mother Nature felt ready to allow us back into Beirut. Long story short, we eventually did arrive at our destination, albeit much, much later than anticipated. As we taxied down the runway towards the airport, I heard the lady behind me say, "That's it - I'm never flying again!"
Apparently, she's not alone. According to different reports, on average, the fear of flying affects one in five people and this could either be due to a direct fear of airplanes or other psychological issues, such as claustrophobia or panic attacks.
Anxiety UK asks a number of questions to informally ascertain if you suffer from flying phobia.
> Do you have high levels of anticipatory anxiety prior to a flight?
> Do you experience bodily symptoms prior to, and during, flying - such as hyperventilating, sweating, a churning stomach and dizziness?
>Do you avoid flying wherever possible and, if you do, do you only fly under duress?
> Do you picture catastrophic scenes while flying that cause you significant distress?
>Is your fear impacting your relationships or work due to an inability to go on holidays or attend meetings abroad?
>Do you worry that you might lose control mid-flight and spontaneously attempt to open the aeroplane door or draw attention to yourself?
If you answered 'yes' to the majority of questions, you may want to seek assistance from a doctor or psychologist who can offer a number of treatment options, so that flying doesn't have to be so terrifying. Different root causes are associated with this condition; therefore, a medical professional will be able to identify whether your fear is related to flying and crashing, or due to a perceived of loss of control or being in a closed space, more accurately.
There are also varying degrees of this phobia, so if you don't have a serious condition, here are eight steps from Dr Martin N Seif's 'Freedom to Fly Now Workshop' to help overcome your anxieties.
1: Figure out what frightens you and examine how your anxiety reaction is triggered
2: Anxiety thrives on ignorance, and feeds off "what if?" catastrophic thoughts. But once you become knowledgeable, your "what if?" thoughts are limited by the facts.
3:Anticipatory anxiety is what we experience in anticipation of a fear. It is frequently far greater than what you actually experience.
4: It is often difficult to separate anxiety from danger because your body reacts in exactly the same way to both.
5: Be sure to label your fear as anxiety.
Part A: Anxiety tricks common sense. Anxiety will trick you into thinking you are in danger when you are perfectly safe.
Part B: You can outsmart anxiety. As a rule, do the opposite of what anxious feelings are telling you to do. Fight what the anxiety is telling you to do, but embrace the discomfort that anxiety brings.
6: To manage anxiety when turbulence hits, learn about airplanes and how they are designed to handle turbulence.
7: Other fliers need to know what frightens you, along with what helps you most to cope with anxiety during a flight.
8: Exposure is the active ingredient in overcoming your phobia. Every flight provides you with the opportunity to make the next one easier. Your goal is to retrain your brain to become less sensitised to the triggers that set you off. Professor Robert Bor is not only a renowned clinical psychologist but also a qualified pilot, as well as the co-author of Overcome Your Fear of Flying. He says, "In life, there's always some kind of risk but, nowadays, you have a greater chance of being kicked to death by a donkey than anything happening to you in an air crash." The point is: you are largely in control of managing your fears, so you may either use Dr Bor's statement to help calm your nerves - or be searching for the symptoms of equinophobia (fear of hoofed animals) as we speak!