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| Photo courtesy of Fotolia f you are afraid of flying, hypnotherapy and therapeutic guided imagery can alleviate your anxiety and make your journey more comfortable. |
If you are afraid of flying, hypnosis
and guided imagery can alleviate this anxiety and help to make your journey more
comfortable. In this blog, I will describe how I use hypnosis and therapeutic
guided-imagery concepts to help desensitize my clients to any negative
associations they may have with and fear of flying.
The
first thing I do is confirm that the client has a fear and not a phobia of the
stimulus (flying). According to Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D.,
a fear is distinguished from a phobia if it has a specific cause or origin. For
example, if the plane you were last on went through a thunderstorm and you experienced
a lot of turbulence and sudden drop in altitude or a loved one dying in a crash,
you might develop a fear of flying. Conversely, a phobia is a generalized
anxiety response that is associated with low blood-sugar levels and no specific
event triggered the reaction.
Once
I make this determination, I will teach the person some basic relaxation
techniques, such as diaphragmatic breathing and special-place imagery. When the
client is in hypnosis and is in a deep state of relaxation, I will help him or
her to create a finger-press anchor to “lock in” that sensation of calm and
comfort, which the person can employ if and when he or she feels anxious or
afraid. I also guide the person through a series of imagery exercises to desensitize
him or her to anticipatory anxiety about flying and to the specific stimulus or
stimuli that trigger the fear or anxiety response (e.g., words such as terminal,
last call and final destination). I also have the person “rehearse” preparing
for and taking the scheduled flight: making travel arrangements, packing for
the flight, waking up the day of the trip, eating a nutritious meal, leaving
for the airport and boarding the plane. During this exercise, the client gets
to visualize, imagine picture or pretend that he or she hears and sees the
doors close on the aircraft and feel the plane take off, fly for the estimated
duration of the journey and land at the destination. I will then guide the
client through a similar exercise to prepare for the trip home.
I
incorporate the client’s words/expressions in the hypnotic script to emphasize and
reinforce his or her reasons/motivations to overcome the fear (or phobia) about
flying. I use guided imagery to help the client replace negative associations between
the sensation of flying, with that of the deep relaxation and sense of calm and
comfort experienced during hypnosis. In this and future hypnotherapy sessions, I
will continue to desensitize the person to triggers of this fear of flying and
reinforce the new association between feeling confident, relaxed and in control
while traveling in an airplane. Once the client has returned to an alert state I
will provide some practical tips to further reduce anxiety while traveling and
provide a recording of the hypnosis/visualization portion of the session to
further reinforce this relaxed state.
Practical tips to make your
flight more comfortable:
·
Drink water and eat a nutritious meal that
contains protein to keep your mood even and anxiety low.
·
Do not drink alcohol or caffeinated beverages
before or during the flight, which can affect suggestibility and may increase your
anxiety.
·
Get plenty of sleep the night before you travel.
·
Listen to the reinforcement track before bed the
night before your flight and on a personal stereo during the flight.
·
Practice diaphragmatic breathing and activate
the finger-press anchor whenever you need to reduce stress or anxiety before or
during the flight.
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in
Southern California. She graduated with honors from the
Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about
Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
© 2014
