Air crash victim's daughter learnt to fly again after 10 years: How to manage fear of flying

Experiencing or witnessing an airline disaster can profoundly impact any individual, often causing flight phobia, also known as aviophobia or aerophobia.

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So many among us are already flooding social media with resolutions not to fly in a certain kind of aircraft or to a certain destination. So imagine what it does to crash survivors themselves and their families. I had a woman patient who had lost her father in an air crash in 2010, who developed such anxieties and stopped flying for 10 years! During that period, she had declined work-related travel opportunities, family vacations and events. She reported having panic attacks at the very mention of the word 'flight.' She would tremble, sweat, have nausea and dizziness when confronted with flight-related stimuli (e.g., seeing an airplane, hearing about travel, booking a ticket). It was only when she was unable to attend her beloved niece's wedding in Dubai recently that she met us.