fear of flying

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Classification according to ICD-10
F40.2 Specific (isolated) phobias
ICD-10 online (WHO version 2019)

Aviophobia , aviaphobia or fear of flying describes the fear disorder of flying . The symptoms can appear several days before a flight , but also shortly before the flight, e.g. B. at the gate or on the plane . Symptomatic symptoms are sweaty hands, rapid heartbeat , shallow breathing , stomach and intestinal cramps, dizziness , headache and nausea . Sometimes those affected panic that seems to paralyze the whole body.

causes

According to a survey by the Allensbach Institute for Demoscopy , around 15% of all Germans suffer from fear of flying. Another 20% do not feel particularly comfortable on board. According to DSM IV, the fear of flying is referred to as a specific phobia, situation-related and a non-“classic phobia”, as this is always made up of various related fears. Aviophobia is one of the specific phobias and is related to claustrophobia .

Therapies

Video: Strategies for Relaxed Flying: A Self-Help Program for Overcoming Fear of Flying.

For the treatment of specific phobias , including fear of flying is one, among other suitable confrontation with anxiety-provoking stimuli as part of a behavioral therapy . At the Department of Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at Würzburg University, a new method of exposure therapy is used to treat fear of flying, the Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET). The patients are exposed to their fear-inducing situations in virtual reality.

In addition, there is the opportunity to learn how to break the vicious circle of fear in professional fear of flying seminars. These should contain both a part on the technical background of flying and a psychological part to explain the fear mechanisms and how to counteract them. The latest scientific studies have shown that there is no added value for the seminar participant if the psychologist takes part in the flight. Nevertheless, the largest German airline Lufthansa offers seminars with a psychologically supported final flight . The Stiftung Warentest has tested courses against fear of flying and rated them positively. It awarded the grades "very good", "good" and "satisfactory" to the seminars from three providers. Evaluations from other providers were not possible due to seminar cancellations.

Forecasts

Exposure therapies have a success rate of 70–95%. It could also be shown that the virtual VRET method and conventional confrontation methods, consisting of training and a later flight event, achieved equally good results in comparison with a control group (waiting list group). A clinical study on this showed that 93% of the participants had flown in both procedures at the 6-month follow-up examination. A self-evaluation of participants in a seminar against fear of flying showed that 24% of the people were completely free of fear one year after the seminar.

literature

  • Markus Bassler, Stefan Leidig: Psychotherapy for anxiety disorders. Thieme, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-13-141231-3 .
  • Tobias Conrad: I'll fly then. Practical knowledge and treatment methods for fear of flying . Carl Auer, Heidelberg 2008.
  • Jürgen Heermann: Why they stay up there. A flight attendant for passengers. From takeoff to landing. Insel, Leipzig 2000, ISBN 3-458-34320-2 .
  • Lars-Göran Öst: Specific Phobias. In: Textbook of behavior therapy. Volume 1, Springer, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-540-79540-7 , pp. 31-44.
  • Hans-Ulrich Wittchen , Jürgen Hoyer: Textbook Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg 2011.

Web links

Wiktionary: fear of flying  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wiktionary: Aviophobia  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach, report 2003/16, online at www.ifd-allensbach.de , accessed on October 15, 2014.
  2. ↑ Gaining confidence. test , October 2000, accessed May 13, 2012 .
  3. ↑ Andreas Mühlberger, Harald Krebs, Paul Pauli: Exposure treatment of flight phobia using virtual reality. In: E-Mental Health. 2008; 2, pp. 163-173. Springer, Berlin.
  4. ↑ Fear of flying: Seminars for relaxed flying. on: test.de , May 4, 2012, accessed on February 25, 2015.
  5. ↑ L.-G. Öst, T. Alm, M. Brandberg, E. Breitholtz: One vs. five sessions of exposure and five sessions of cognitive therapy in the treatment of claustrophobia. In: Behavior Research and Therapy. 2000.
  6. ↑ BO Rothenbaum, L. Hodges, A. Smith, JH Lee, L. Price: A controlled study of virtual reality exposure therapy for the fear of flying. In: Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Vol 68 (6), 2000, pp. 1020-1026.