How to cure a fear of flying: virtual reality headsets offer alternative to hypnotherapy, breathing exercises and tapes
Flying is a way of life for many people in Hong Kong, but fears and phobias of ‘the safest way to travel’ are all too common. Don’t worry – some hi-tech help could soon be at hand, with VR being used on sufferers in US already
Hongkongers are addicted to travelling. The government reported at June’s International Travel Expo that total resident departures in 2016 was more than 91 million, which is an average of 12.5 journeys per person out of Hong Kong.
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About 12 per cent of those journeys were made by air. Hong Kong International Airport said in the month of July, the number of passengers it served increased by three per cent to 6.5 million compared to the previous year. This comes as a third runway is being built to cope with future air traffic demand.
Flying is considered one of the safest forms of travel, yet, why are so many of us are still scared of it?
There are more receptors in the brain for things that threaten survival than there are for pleasure, so even one experience of intense fear can wipe out the effect of 20 years of safe flying
Getting reliable figures on the number of aviophobics is difficult. What we do know is that it’s common. FlyFright, a website dedicated to helping people overcome fear of flying, reports that 12.6 per cent of Americans are afflicted.
“Many people self-medicate with alcohol and drugs rather than coming in for treatment,” says Dr Melanie Bryan, a clinical psychologist and hypnotherapist at MindMatters in Hong Kong. “But a lot of people come to me with this fear only when it starts to affect their professional life, when they’re losing opportunities because of it.”
Hypnotherapy is used to induce an altered state of consciousness to break long-term habits. Some people fly comfortably for years, but they begin to feel vulnerable as they grow older or after having a child, says Bryan. Developing a fear of flying can also happen after just one bad experience on a flight.
“You can hit really bad turbulence and from that point on be terrified of flying,” she says. “The reason is that there are more receptors in the brain for things that threaten survival than there are for pleasure, so even one experience of intense fear can wipe out 20 years of safe flying.”
