siniang
MyPTSD Pro
So, this isn't necessarily a PTSD question as I don't have PTSD surrounding this - so @mods if you think it belongs into the "other disorders" subforum, please move. But I wasn't completely sure where to put it and thought maybe some of you might have some experience with this regardless (just with PTSD triggers/stressors, or generally PTSD-unrelated as well).
I have pretty severe flight anxiety. I don't have aviophobia; I can (could?) board a plane and endure a flight - in what state is a different matter, but I don't get actual panic attacks (yet). I can think about flying just fine without getting distressed. But the flight anxiety has been persistent and it's been persistently bad and I do have persistent actual nightmares surrounding the topic, had for 10+ years.
My go-to "treatment" - and what probably most therapists would recommend - had been exposure therapy. With all my anxiety surrounding flying, I still "just did" it. The reason for flying was more important for me than to give in to the fear, so I just pushed myself to endure it no matter what. It helped somewhat. For over a decade, I was flying at least 2-3 times a year, during some times even significantly more frequently. But even then, the anxiety remained stable, didn't become less, even when I was on a plane for various short- and long-distance trips pretty much every month for stretches of times.
COVID has grounded me for well over a year, now, and will continue to keep me grounded for who knows how long. And I'm really worried that this lack of exposure with an accompanied general increase in hypervigilance (thanks, pandemic), will push my anxiety into a proper phobia.
Any helpful tips on how to prevent this from happening in lieu of actually being able to board a plane?
Statistics and "logic" don't help me with this. Anxiety doesn't care. It doesn't matter how often it didn't happen. All it needs for it to happen is once. Also didn't exactly help that we had two engine failures of major planes and an actual crash of a smaller plane into the ocean here in Hawaii literally within 7 days of each other.
Edit: I guess it is PTSD-related insofar that, while the flight anxiety itself is my GAD talking, my PTSD-brain "knows" I will meet an early demise and the two marry into "it'll happen during a plane crash if you fly". Kind of like statistically it remains always the same probablity of being struck by lightning, but your PTSD-brain doesn't care because it's convinced *you* specifically are more likely to hit than others. And if lightning keeps hitting around you and really close to you, while not actually hitting you just yet, you're obviously in a thunderstorm, which significantly increases the chance of being struck.
PTSD cognitive distortion/core belief stuff. I guess also avoidance territory (don't wanna get struck by lightning? Reduce the probability somewhat by moving out of the storm)
I have pretty severe flight anxiety. I don't have aviophobia; I can (could?) board a plane and endure a flight - in what state is a different matter, but I don't get actual panic attacks (yet). I can think about flying just fine without getting distressed. But the flight anxiety has been persistent and it's been persistently bad and I do have persistent actual nightmares surrounding the topic, had for 10+ years.
My go-to "treatment" - and what probably most therapists would recommend - had been exposure therapy. With all my anxiety surrounding flying, I still "just did" it. The reason for flying was more important for me than to give in to the fear, so I just pushed myself to endure it no matter what. It helped somewhat. For over a decade, I was flying at least 2-3 times a year, during some times even significantly more frequently. But even then, the anxiety remained stable, didn't become less, even when I was on a plane for various short- and long-distance trips pretty much every month for stretches of times.
COVID has grounded me for well over a year, now, and will continue to keep me grounded for who knows how long. And I'm really worried that this lack of exposure with an accompanied general increase in hypervigilance (thanks, pandemic), will push my anxiety into a proper phobia.
Any helpful tips on how to prevent this from happening in lieu of actually being able to board a plane?
Statistics and "logic" don't help me with this. Anxiety doesn't care. It doesn't matter how often it didn't happen. All it needs for it to happen is once. Also didn't exactly help that we had two engine failures of major planes and an actual crash of a smaller plane into the ocean here in Hawaii literally within 7 days of each other.
Edit: I guess it is PTSD-related insofar that, while the flight anxiety itself is my GAD talking, my PTSD-brain "knows" I will meet an early demise and the two marry into "it'll happen during a plane crash if you fly". Kind of like statistically it remains always the same probablity of being struck by lightning, but your PTSD-brain doesn't care because it's convinced *you* specifically are more likely to hit than others. And if lightning keeps hitting around you and really close to you, while not actually hitting you just yet, you're obviously in a thunderstorm, which significantly increases the chance of being struck.
PTSD cognitive distortion/core belief stuff. I guess also avoidance territory (don't wanna get struck by lightning? Reduce the probability somewhat by moving out of the storm)
Last edited: