Flying Phobia. The Fear of Flying. Diagnosis and Treatment in Dubai

Flying phobia, also called aerophobia, affects millions of people around the world. This type of phobia is an anxiety-based disorder and shows in an extreme fear. It can also involve having panic attacks. For many individuals with this disorder, very upsetting, anticipatory anxiety already sets in as soon as they know that they will be traveling on a plane. Mental healthcare professionals can treat flying phobia with evidence based treatments. Treatments can include “talk therapy,” medication, and hypnosis.

Avoiding flying

When people suffer from a flying phobia, their tendency is to avoid air travel. For our large expat community in Dubai, business travel and visits to the home country almost make it impossible to avoid air travel. Such avoidance behaviours are maladaptive, because they are disruptive to people’s professional careers, family life, and limit their life experiences.

Reasons for flying phobia

Several underlying factors can cause a flying phobia. The reasons for a flying phobia are as unique as the individuals who have them. There might have been a traumatic flight (e.g. a flight with a lot of turbulence), a parent that modelled fear, or more related fears (heights, small spaces), or on a deeper, unconscious level uncertainty and fears about life and death.

Treatment

At CHMC in Dubai, our experienced psychiatrist and psychologist offer professional treatment for flying phobias. Depending how the person presents, the treating psychologist can apply different psychotherapeutic techniques to address the underlying causes. Evidence based treatment approaches would be Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and psychodynamic approaches. Hypnosis can be applied to address past traumatic experiences and “reprogram” the unconscious mind. The treating psychiatrist can prescribe medication that addresses the intense mental anxiety and the physiological symptoms of panic attacks.

Mild or severe fear of flying

When the flying phobia includes panic attacks and severe anxiety a visit to the psychiatrist is important. If someone has a milder form of flying phobia, seeing the psychologist for psychotherapy can be enough to deal with this phobia. Research findings in the mental health field indicate that patients getting psychiatric treatment (medication) benefit from also getting psychotherapy. This combination of psychiatric and psychological services is called pharmacotherapy. At CHMC in Dubai, the psychiatrist and psychologist do their independent assessments within their professional knowledge and work as a treatment team choosing the best therapy option for the patient.