Afraid of flying? Don't panic. This is not strange or abnormal — between a third and half of Americans have the same fear, ranging from mild apprehension to “I’m never setting foot on an airplane.”
And even with the miraculous happy ending of US Airways Flight 1549, in which a skilled and savvy pilot made an emergency landing in New York City’s Hudson River and saved all 155 people aboard, the near-miss is bound to accentuate existing fears of taking to the air.
Different reactions
According to psychiatrist and show contributor Gail Saltz, who appeared on TODAY Friday, the Jan. 15 airline incident is bound to not only spur latent trauma in many of the passengers who were onboard, but also to play into existing fears of the people who watched the hours of dramatic rescue footage on television.
The survivors, who all probably saw their lives flash before their eyes, are likely to divide into two camps — the exhilarated and the traumatized, Saltz told TODAY’s Ann Curry.
“Some people will come out of this actually feeling terrific, in fact better than before,” Saltz told Curry. “They’re going to have a different appreciation for life and humanity coming together, and having gratitude for every day.”
But not all the survivors will be so lucky. “Probably the people who were most hysterical, that were crying, that felt numb or dazed, who had a lot of thoughts of ‘I’m going to die,’ that’s the traumatic event for them,” she said, adding that some survivors may also struggle with guilt if they behaved less than heroically on the flight.
Those passengers may initially suffer from acute stress reaction, which if left untreated could become the more familiar — and more problematic — post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Saltz said.
Acute stress reaction can cause symptoms “where they feel anxious and maybe have difficulty sleeping, and they have recurrent thoughts of the event,” Saltz said. If those passengers later develop PTSD, it would include “recurrent nightmares, flashbacks of the incident, definitely avoiding planes or anything to do with the event, and general feelings of sadness or irritability,” she added.
Even those who only watched the harrowing ordeal on television could be subject to heightened fears, and the knowledge that the US Airways flight was likely grounded by the random act of a flock of geese flying into harm’s way may only make it worse, Saltz said.
“This is exactly the kind of thing that is going to disturb a lot of viewers,” she told Curry.
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Surviving a water landing
Jan. 16: We all listen to flight attendants warn us what to do in case of an emergency, but would you know how to escape a water landing? TODAY’s Natalie Morales reports on why paying attention can mean the difference between life and death.
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A common fear
Those who already have a fear of flying may be surprised at how common it is — Saltz cites it as one of the most common anxiety disorders. It can be linked to the fears that are a basic part of human nature, from fear of heights to fear of the dark (when flying at night) to fear of being over water.
But the safety statistics that airlines pull out do little to comfort those with a fear of flying, Saltz said. “It’s interesting, because people are more likely to die in a car crash than a plane crash, and most people know that. So it’s an irrational fear,” Saltz said.
“Even if the chance of something bad happening is a million to one, the people concerned about risk are focused on whether their flight is going to be the one that doesn’t end well.”
There's good news for anyone suffering from a fear of flying, though. Because it's so common, it’s also a disorder that is “incredibly treatable,” according to Saltz.
Medication can be helpful in dealing with the symptoms associated with depression, anxiety and sleeplessness. Cognitive therapy is often used to desensitize people to their fear and change their thoughts of dread toward flying.
Saltz told Curry that a newer form of treatment, called virtual reality treatment, is even more promising.
“You wear a headset and you have a simulated flight and you’re getting therapy at the same time,” she explained. “Eight to 10 sessions can treat this.”
The bottom line is that those with this kind of fear should seek treatment. “Don’t let it stop you, don’t wait until your symptoms are overwhelming,” Saltz advises. “Don’t drink alcohol to try to deal with it to be on the plane. Deal with it.”