How to Recognize Aviophobia
The deep and irrational fear of something is known in psychological terms as a phobia. Some phobias are so serious that they cause a person to cease functioning normally in society. Phobias are a common form of anxiety disorder, and they are extremely common in every race, gender and culture around the world. One of the more common phobias is aviophobia, or the irrational fear of flying. Learn to recognize symptoms of aviophobia so you can get professional help.
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Instructions
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Learn the definition. Aviophobia is the fear of flying in an airplane, and is an anxiety disorder that has only been around for the last hundred years or so. Aviophobia is often closely related to other types of phobias, such as claustrophobia (fear of confining spaces) and acrophobia (fear of high places).
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Analyze your anxiety level. If you avoid flying, for business or pleasure, and feel anxious at the thought of riding in a plane, you may have aviophobia. Many people with this disorder find that the fear of flying significantly impacts their life--they cannot fly for work-related trips and cannot partake in family reunions or vacations that require flying.
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Determine how serious your anxiety is. Some people affected with aviophobia are so anxious that even the sight or thought of planes, air travel or airports makes them nauseated or causes them to vomit. It's not uncommon for those with aviophobia to have panic attacks when they must fly on an airplane.
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Recall if you've had a traumatic experience linked to flying. Perhaps you experienced a turbulant flight as a child or flew on an airplane to a family funeral and associate the sadness with the trip. Many people suffering from aviophobia have internalized some of the media reports of plane crashes and have experienced chronic exposure to news reports and investigations into plane crashes.
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Determine if education helps. If you are considerably less anxious about airplane travel after learning a little about how an airplane works or reading the statistics of airplanes that crash versus the millions that don't, you are in luck. Typical treatment for aviophobia is education and familiarity with the functions and methods of flying.
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Tips & Warnings
Many famous people have aviophobia, including John Madden (NFL commentator), Whoopie Goldberg (actress), Woody Allen (actor, filmmaker), Aretha Franklin (singer) and Ken Jennings ("Jeopardy" champion).
