PSYCHOLOGY WIZARD
  • Home
  • Unit 1 FOUNDATIONS
    • Biological >
      • Adoption & Twin Studies AO1 AO2 AO3 >
        • Gottesman & Shields AO1 AO3
        • Kety AO1 AO3
      • Aggression AO1 AO2 AO3 >
        • Evolutionary Psychology AO1 AO2 AO3
      • The Brain AO1 AO2 >
        • Drugs & the Brain AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Brendgen AO1 AO3
      • Development (Maturation) AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Freud's Psychodynamic Theory AO1 AO3 >
        • Aggression & Freud AO1 AO2 AO3
        • Development & Freud AO1 AO2 AO3
        • Individual Differences & Freud AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Raine AO1 AO3
      • Biological Key Question AO1 AO2
    • Cognitive >
      • Baddeley AO1 AO3
      • Multi Store Model AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Reconstructive Memory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Schmolck AO1 AO3
      • Tulving's Long Term Memory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Working Memory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Cognitive Key Question AO1 AO2
    • Learning >
      • Bandura AO1 >
        • Bandura AO3
      • Becker AO1 AO3
      • Classical Conditioning AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Operant Conditioning AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Pavlov AO1 AO3
      • Social Learning AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Therapies for Phobias >
        • Flooding
        • Systematic Desensitisation
      • Watson & Rayner AO1 AO3
      • Learning Key Question AO1 AO2
    • Social >
      • Agency Theory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Burger AO1 AO3
      • Situational Factors AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Milgram AO1 >
        • Milgram AO3
      • Realistic Conflict Theory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Sherif AO1 >
        • Sherif AO3
      • Social Impact Theory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Social Identity Theory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Social Key Question AO1 AO2
  • Unit 2 APPLICATIONS
    • Clinical >
      • Depression AO1 AO2 >
        • Biological Explanation AO1 AO2
        • Non-Biological Explanation AO1 AO2
        • Biological Treatment AO1 AO2
        • Psychological Treatment AO1 AO2
      • Diagnosing Abnormality AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Diagnostic Manuals AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Carlsson AO1 AO3
      • Kroenke AO1 AO3
      • HCPC Guidelines AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Rosenhan AO1 AO3
      • Schizophrenia AO1 AO2 >
        • Biological Explanation AO1 AO2
        • Non-biological Explanation AO1 AO2
        • Biological Treatments AO1 AO2
        • Psychological Treatment AO1 AO2
      • Clinical Key Question AO1 AO2
      • Issues & Debates >
        • Social Control AO2 AO3
  • Evaluation
    • Ethics AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Individual Differences AO1 AO2 AO3 >
      • Brain Differences AO1 AO2 AO3 >
        • Personality AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Mental Health Differences AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Differences in Obedience & Prejudice AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Memory Differences AO1 AO2 AO3 >
        • Loftus study AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Nature vs Nurture AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Scientific Status AO1 AO2
  • Methods
    • Animal Studies AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Case Studies AO1 AO2 AO3 >
      • Bradshaw AO1 AO3
      • Scoville & Milner AO1 AO3
    • Content Analyses AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Experimental Method AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Experimental Variables AO1 AO2
    • Hypotheses AO1 AO2
    • Inferential Statistics AO1 AO2 >
      • Chi-Squared Test AO1 AO2
      • Mann-Whitney U Test AO1 AO2
      • Spearman's Rho AO1 AO2
      • Wilcoxon Test AO1 AO2
    • Longitudinal Design AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Quantitative Data & Analysis AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Research Design AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Sampling AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Self Report Method AO1 AO2 AO3 >
      • Brown et al. AO1 AO3
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Resources

Fear of Flying

25/4/2016

5 Comments

 
I've been away from the blog and the site for a month now, but at last I'm back and I'm looking through the Survey, which I'll bring to a close next week then publish the results. One submission came from Imogen Morton, who asked if the site could carry some stuff on another Key Question for the Learning Approach: should airlines offer treatment for passengers with a fear of flying?

I don't have time to put up a proper page on this (but I may do so next year), but I can fit in a Blog article on it.

What we're talking about, is this:
As a student, you need to know a couple of facts about the fear of flying (aerophobia or aviophobia) and what can be done about it. You have to be able to explain the psychology behind these fears and behind the treatments for them. Finally, you must be able to offer a view on whether the airlines should help treat this.
Recent terror attacks on airlines (such as the 2015 downing of the Russian Metrojet leaving Egypt by Isis-linked terrorists) and air disasters (such as the 2014 disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight for Beijing) have increased the fear of flying in the public.

Most airlines offer “fear of flying” courses. Several of them are introduced here:
Airlines offering treatment for Fear of Flying
And the idea is discussed in a bit more detail here:
News article on Airlines confronting Fear of Flying
For airlines, there’s a commercial reason for this. The courses aren’t free: you pay for them. Also, every person who overcomes a fear of flying is a potential new customer of the airline.

However, there’s also an ethical reason. In today’s global society, air travel is an important part of business, education and leisure. People who can’t use it due to irrational fears are held back from participating in 21st century life.

Fear of flying includes people with a phobia (aviophobia or aeophobia) who go into panic attacks at the prospect of boarding a plane, but also people who suffer anxiety at the thought of flying because they exaggerate the risks.

Treating the fear of flying therefore involves a mixture of psychotherapy and education. Education can be like this:
But maybe you prefer to be educated like this:
The two main therapies to treat fear of flying are SYSTEMATIC DESENSITISATION and COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY.

Both of these are based on the idea of an Initial Sensitising Event (ISE), some sort of distressing or traumatic moment that triggered the fear in the first place.

For example, flying on aeroplanes is a neutral stimulus for most people but some people might come to associate it with an unconditioned stimulus that produces fear (perhaps they watched news footage of a crash at a young age and got frightened). This is Classical Conditioning.

Alternatively, they might have been influenced by news stories and movies about aeroplane crashes and ended up with false beliefs about the danger of flying. They then cause themselves to have a stress response by imagining frightening outcomes. This is Cognitive Psychology.
Actress and comedian Whoopi Goldberg talks to Piers Morgan about the ISE behind her fear of flying
Marge Simpson tells her therapist about a very different ISE for her fear of flying... then recalls some more
Systematic Desensitisation is a therapy for phobias created by Joseph Wolpe, based on Classical Conditioning. It involves replicating the sights, sounds and sensations of flight in increasing stages. At the same time, relaxation techniques are used to counteract the anxiety. Virtual Reality technology has been used to help with this.
This Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) is being used to treat a fear of the subway but it discusses fear of flying and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy at the end
Some clients remain aware (on a cognitive level) that they are not really flying, so this technique has disappointing results. Maltby et al. (2002) found VRET to be no more effective than exposing clients to sitting in a parked aeroplane.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) was created by Aaron Beck, as an alternative to Freud's psychoanalysis. It tackles the client’s beliefs and how they act on them. A lot of phobias are examples of faulty beliefs (treating something as much more dangerous than it really is). During therapy, the client discusses their beliefs and reactions, identifies faulty beliefs and inappropriate reactions, and practises ways of reacting differently, which are then reinforced with praise or rewards.

This approach has been rather more successful because, as the name suggests, it tackles both faulty cognitions AND inappropriate behaviour. However, the two approaches can be combined together to get "the best of both worlds".
Prof. Paul Salkovskis is using a mixture of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and elements of Systematic Desensitisation (bringing the feather closer in stages)
There's evidence that some people are helped by this sort of therapy - especially when you combine elements of Systematic Desensitisation and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. However, not everyone does, which is why therapists offering hypnosis are also popular.

You might argue that the airlines are exploiting people with fears by charging them for therapies that might not even work. Alternatively, maybe the airlines are helping people be free of a psychological problem that holds them back from advancing in their career or staying in touch with loved ones or just experiencing other countries and cultures.
5 Comments
Capt Tom Bunn LCSW link
25/4/2016 03:46:44 pm

Several things:

1. Systematic Desensitization cannot be applied because exposure must be adjusteed, first low enough to cause no amygdala response, and thereafter increases so slight the amygdala does not react. Not possible with an airliner. Even if acheived, the amygdala would "forget" it was desensitized in a few weeks.

2. CBT is inadequate. It cannot stop the two main problems, panic and automatic release of stress hormones when the plane drops.

3. Breathing Exercises (as taught by the Plane Whisperer, and in the B.A. Course and the KLM Course. Total crap. They do not work. One research study after another shows breathing does nothing. See https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/conquer-fear-flying/201412/breathing-exercises-counterproductive-flight-anxiety

I spent 35 years on this problem. It can be fixed, but not by CBT, the current airliner courses, or systematic desensitization.

See this sample of my book http://a.co/0n0P5v2 Email questions tom@fearofflying.com

Reply
Jonathan link
25/4/2016 04:28:36 pm

Really interesting criticisms. I hope students can incorporate some of these and I'd love to include a quote from you and your book when I get round to putting up a full page on this Key Question.

Generally, students at this level are not required to get into any in-depth discussion of competing theories about fear of flying (although that will inform the responses of students aiming for the top grades). The Edexcel Exam Board only seems to require a fairly brief trip round the mainstream theories and something in favour of and against them. Later on students will get to revisit some of these issues in Clinical Psychology and Issues and debates.

Nonetheless, it's good to make students aware that the "CBT model" is not supported by everybody and the airlines' approaches have a dubious success rate

Jonathan

Reply
Maria Betts-Davies
27/4/2016 01:14:22 pm

Firstly Thanks Jonathan for providing a wealth of visual and well written material on your website; I am new to teaching Edexcel and the support you have given to other teachers and students is really amazing.I hope the exam board recognise you as their support has been woeful. Secondly in reply to Tom - thank you for your views and the evidence you quote to back it up on fear of flying ; Would VRET virtual reality exposure therapy be a way to gradually expose some one to a range of situations without activating the amygdala? This technology uses the principles of systematic desensitisation but using a head mounted set.

Reply
shine jakob link
9/5/2016 09:48:39 am

Excellent stuff..! I know everyone got their own opinion, but really? your blog is neat. I like the energy you put into the post. specially these videos.

Reply
International Massachusetts link
3/3/2021 11:16:02 pm

Awesomee blog you have here

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    The Psychology Wizard is Jonathan Rowe. I'm a teacher and writer, living in the Fens of Lincolnshire. It sure is flat here. I'm writing a Roman Horror Novel at the moment. Check out Tinderspark and The Thief Of Faces if you fancy a good read.

    Archives

    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Home
Blog
Contact

PSYCHOLOGYWIZARD.NET
  • Home
  • Unit 1 FOUNDATIONS
    • Biological >
      • Adoption & Twin Studies AO1 AO2 AO3 >
        • Gottesman & Shields AO1 AO3
        • Kety AO1 AO3
      • Aggression AO1 AO2 AO3 >
        • Evolutionary Psychology AO1 AO2 AO3
      • The Brain AO1 AO2 >
        • Drugs & the Brain AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Brendgen AO1 AO3
      • Development (Maturation) AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Freud's Psychodynamic Theory AO1 AO3 >
        • Aggression & Freud AO1 AO2 AO3
        • Development & Freud AO1 AO2 AO3
        • Individual Differences & Freud AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Raine AO1 AO3
      • Biological Key Question AO1 AO2
    • Cognitive >
      • Baddeley AO1 AO3
      • Multi Store Model AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Reconstructive Memory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Schmolck AO1 AO3
      • Tulving's Long Term Memory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Working Memory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Cognitive Key Question AO1 AO2
    • Learning >
      • Bandura AO1 >
        • Bandura AO3
      • Becker AO1 AO3
      • Classical Conditioning AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Operant Conditioning AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Pavlov AO1 AO3
      • Social Learning AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Therapies for Phobias >
        • Flooding
        • Systematic Desensitisation
      • Watson & Rayner AO1 AO3
      • Learning Key Question AO1 AO2
    • Social >
      • Agency Theory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Burger AO1 AO3
      • Situational Factors AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Milgram AO1 >
        • Milgram AO3
      • Realistic Conflict Theory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Sherif AO1 >
        • Sherif AO3
      • Social Impact Theory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Social Identity Theory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Social Key Question AO1 AO2
  • Unit 2 APPLICATIONS
    • Clinical >
      • Depression AO1 AO2 >
        • Biological Explanation AO1 AO2
        • Non-Biological Explanation AO1 AO2
        • Biological Treatment AO1 AO2
        • Psychological Treatment AO1 AO2
      • Diagnosing Abnormality AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Diagnostic Manuals AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Carlsson AO1 AO3
      • Kroenke AO1 AO3
      • HCPC Guidelines AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Rosenhan AO1 AO3
      • Schizophrenia AO1 AO2 >
        • Biological Explanation AO1 AO2
        • Non-biological Explanation AO1 AO2
        • Biological Treatments AO1 AO2
        • Psychological Treatment AO1 AO2
      • Clinical Key Question AO1 AO2
      • Issues & Debates >
        • Social Control AO2 AO3
  • Evaluation
    • Ethics AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Individual Differences AO1 AO2 AO3 >
      • Brain Differences AO1 AO2 AO3 >
        • Personality AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Mental Health Differences AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Differences in Obedience & Prejudice AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Memory Differences AO1 AO2 AO3 >
        • Loftus study AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Nature vs Nurture AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Scientific Status AO1 AO2
  • Methods
    • Animal Studies AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Case Studies AO1 AO2 AO3 >
      • Bradshaw AO1 AO3
      • Scoville & Milner AO1 AO3
    • Content Analyses AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Experimental Method AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Experimental Variables AO1 AO2
    • Hypotheses AO1 AO2
    • Inferential Statistics AO1 AO2 >
      • Chi-Squared Test AO1 AO2
      • Mann-Whitney U Test AO1 AO2
      • Spearman's Rho AO1 AO2
      • Wilcoxon Test AO1 AO2
    • Longitudinal Design AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Quantitative Data & Analysis AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Research Design AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Sampling AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Self Report Method AO1 AO2 AO3 >
      • Brown et al. AO1 AO3
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Resources