Email to a Friend ►

Applying EFT in Clinical Practice

Home ► Articles ► EFT in Clinical Practice ► Hidden Aspects of the Fear of Flying  ► Page 2

Hidden Aspects of the Fear of Flying Page 2

By Patricia Carrington

"Even though I'm afraid I might pee in my pants on the plane, I choose to see it as no big deal if it does happen, the way I felt about my children when they were babies and had accidents."

These phrases did it! She finished tapping by saying that she suddenly had a "mature" attitude about the whole thing -- -- that "what happens, happens." The plane problem had disappeared.

The point is that we can never be too diligent in our attempts to unearth the real driving force behind a phobia.

Recently, in working with a client who was about to take a cross continental flight and was apprehensive (as usual) about flying, I discovered upon inquiry, that the most distressing thing she imagined when she thought of actually boarding the plane, was the fact that she would always start saying to herself, as she became seated in the cabin:

"What if I never come back to my kids?"

This is what is referred to as an obsessive thought — she simply couldn't get it out of her mind, and our initial tapping on it didn't do much good. Then I asked her what would happen if she were to put the phrase, "What if I never come back to my kids?" to MUSIC in her mind, singing it to herself much like the libretto of an opera.

I modeled this singing for her with a little tune that came to my mind, and she quickly changed the melody to that of "She'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes", and was easily able to think her little obsessive "song" while tapping on each acupoint.

She not only liked doing this, but ended up laughing and feeling at ease.  She then made the following Choice,

"Even though I may think this unpleasant thought on the plane, I choose to put it to music each time." The phrase then faded in her mind.  Its intensity level had come down to a 0.

Another client described her main fear of flying as happening when, after take-off, the plane started to bank, tilting far to the side. She considered this to be dangerous, so I talked with her a bit about the fact that banking is a natural part of the climbing process when in flight and that without it one would not have a very successful takeoff. In other words, I reframed it as a positive occurrence which shows that the plane is being buoyed up by the air.

We then formulated the following set-up phrase for her to use and it proved to be remarkably successful:

"Even though up until now, I felt uneasy when the plane tilted at takeoff, I choose to feel exhilarated at takeoff and when it starts banking."

This brought her Intensity Level down considerably, but there was still a little concern left.  Then she spontaneously suggested a Choice to take care of it:

"Even though I don't like the takeoff and the way the plane tilts, I choose to trust the skill of the pilot."

This worked for her. After only one round she was at a “zero” on the whole issue and she commented that she now felt that she was "an adult" who could make the reasonable judgment that she was going to trust the pilot.  "After all," she said, "If you're on the plane you might as well leave the flying part up to him!"

This same woman did, however, have another "hidden aspect" of her fear of flying.  It was a fear of delays on the runway. She overcame this problem by using the set-up phrase:

"Even though there may be delays in the flight, I choose to know that they (the crew) are all working to make it safe." This reduced her "delay anxiety" to zero.

Another unexpected aspect of fear of flying came to light when a recent client of mine confided in me that in the past she has always needed to order two bottles of rum with Coca Cola when on a plane in order to get through the flight without extremely anxiety. She does not ordinarily drink very much and this was definitely a form of self-medicating — she wanted to knock herself out on the trip. However she was very ashamed of doing this and would suffer severe hangovers afterwards and she didn't want to do this again.

So we tapped with this phrase, which she herself came up with:

"Even though I've needed two bottles of rum in the past, I choose to feel just as relaxed when totally sober."

This rapidly brought her Intensity Level to a zero. She felt much better and said that her usual feeling of having a blanket pulled out from under her when she went up in a plane was simply not bothering her. Her subsequent plane trip was uneventful. And she didn't have to have any rum.

My point in relating these incidents is that we cannot be too careful about searching for hidden aspects of any situation, particularly when dealing with flying fears. Spending a little more time investigating the INDIVIDUAL aspects that may contribute to plane anxiety can be incredibly productive.

EFT Master, Dr. Patricia Carrington
(Previously published in the EFT 1-Minute News June 16, 2003)

Back to ► Page ► 1 ► 2