Panic Attacks

Create a new post for topic
Join the Conversation on
Panic Attacks
35.3K people
0 stories
8.6K posts
About Panic Attacks Show topic details
Explore Our Newsletters
What's New in Panic Attacks
All
Stories
Posts
Videos
Latest
Trending
Post
See full photo

Can Anticipatory Anxiety In Fear Of Flying Be Resolved?

The short answer is: Yes.

The longer answer is: Yes, however resolving it doesn't generally happen the way people think it should.

Resolving Anticipatory Anxiety Takes a Different Approach

People often seek me out to work on overcoming fear of flying because they've heard from others or read about the way I work. Over many years of practice, I've interestingly had some people relay to me that they were told by other experts that it's not possible to overcome anticipatory anxiety.

It is of great curiosity to me that anyone who offers specialized help in fear of flying would believe that anticipatory anxiety can't be overcome. (Though, I will also say that it does validate the reason I created my approach many years ago. The way professionals, including other therapists, coaches, and even pilots and airlines have approached the issue over time has been largely inadequate.) I have consistently in my practice seen people come through the other end of anticipatory anxiety. I've also seen a large number of people who not only have become settled with flying, but who have actually become excited by flying and now look for opportunities to travel more -- excitedly anticipating their trips as they grow closer rather than fearing or dreading them. Anticipatory anxiety is not a hopeless issue. It just isn't resolved the way people tend to imagine it should be.

What Do Other Approaches Miss?

Exposure Therapy and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

If you've read my articles previously, you've probably read about my approaches with normalization, underlying causes, emotional regulation, and passenger flying education as the big four components that are woven together to help overcome fear of flying. When it comes to anticipatory anxiety, there is a lot happening that greatly differs from one person to the next, based on their own experiences and histories, emotionally, relationally, contextually, and more. While *ideally* simply normalizing flying and doing the related exercises would take care of anticipatory anxiety, when there is more going on in the underlying causes area, normalization can actually become blocked. This means no matter how much you may fly, or how much you work on something like exposure therapy, it can't break through or ease your anxiety. (It's also not easily possible to do exposure therapy with flying because of the limits of access to planes and how this process would need to be handled). This is one of the reasons why cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) isn't as effective as one would hope for fear of flying, and especially not for anticipatory anxiety. Behavioral approaches can be helpful with certain elements of flying at times, but these tend to only goes so far.

Pilots and Airline Programs

Another approach that people often try is seeking out pilots or airline sponsored programs to try to overcome their anticipatory anxiety and dread leading up to flying. Ultimately, these kind of approaches generally aim to teach you about flying, hoping you'll learn why you shouldn't be scared of flying. The idea is that if you know how flying works, then you won't be scared anymore. While the intentions are good, when is the last time you've experienced anxiety or panic and it actually worked when someone responded with all the reasons you shouldn't be scared?

I know pilots are well-meaning and intending to help, but if you're looking for help with fear of flying, my first suggestion wouldn't be to go to a pilot. Pilots are experts in flying the plane and in aviation. They aren't experts mental health, emotional processes, or in the way deeper emotions tend to become activated (or calmed), and how complex it can be to help people find their way through tremendous fear, panic, and anxiety. While pilots have tremendous knowledge and ability in the world of flying planes and in aviation, it is very rare that *knowing* about how flying works calms panic and anxiety more than a little bit.

You may be wondering how I know that the above methods are generally less helpful. The answer is pretty simple: Many people over time come to me after trying all of these different approaches still feeling anxious about flying.

Anticipatory Anxiety Isn't Rationally-Based

Anticipatory anxiety doesn't function in the rational brain. When people are in rational mode, the brain is in a very different state than when in panic, fear, and anxiety mode. More knowledge isn't going to do much to relieve the panic state. Fear of flying tends to push people into an anxiety and panic state that can't be easily reasoned with once it's activated.

When you're scared, rational thought essentially shuts down. You're just looking for safety at this point as if you're in imminent danger. Anticipatory anxiety can feel for many people like something between a low-grade and a full on panic attack for periods of time leading up to a flight, feeling as if you're preparing to walk into danger (both in mind and in body). For many, this starts the moment the ticket is purchased and the commitment is made. Though many others may not start to feel it until a month or less before the flight.

Anticipatory anxiety, believe it or not, can also often be about more than only the flight. The flight can be the catalyst that brings all of the vulnerability forward -- and it can of course be about the flight, as well. However, I have seen a significant number of people who are calm and grounded during flights with little to no anxiety at all, even on turbulent flights, who are still terrified leading up to every flight anyway.

Overcoming Anticipatory Anxiety and Fear of Flying

Anticipatory anxiety brings added layers that are different for each person (which is why the way I work with this issue is so personalized in bringing the components together). If you're trying to overcome anticipatory anxiety by focusing solely on the flight itself, it's likely not going to help you feel much better if what's causing the anticipatory anxiety is stemming from deeper anxieties and vulnerabilities that are tapped into by the flight. Anticipatory anxiety lives and breathes in the stored emotions that builds from experiences over time. When faced with an environment like flying, where it can tap into people's greatest vulnerabilities, this is when anticipatory anxiety wakes up the sleeping demons.

If you are struggling with anticipatory anxiety, fear of flying, or anxiety in general, it is not hopeless.

#fearofflying #Anxiety #PanicAttacks #Phobia #phobias #Anticipatoryanxiety

1 comment
Post

The police should put both of my parents in jail for all they put me through

I called dcf on my parents because my mom told me to kill myself and my dad told me he doesn’t want to keep me. Domestic violence happened in the family. My dad told me the mental hospital is my home and my sister told my mom to lock up in the mental hospital and to feed me pills. They all should be in jail for abuse. My dad cursed me out so nasty in the past
#CheckInWithMe #CheerMeOn #MentalHealth #ADHD #Psychosis #SchizoaffectiveDisorder #Schizophrenia #Bipolar2 #BipolarDepression #BipolarDisorder #Anxiety #Autism #AutismSpectrumDisorder #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #GeneralizedAnxietyDisorder #ObsessiveCompulsiveDisorder #Manic #PanicAttacks #PanicDisorder #PanicAttack

Most common user reactions 5 reactions 1 comment
Post

The police should put both of my parents in jail for all they put me through

I called dcf on my parents because my mom told me to kill myself and my dad told me he doesn’t want to keep me. Domestic violence happened in the family. My dad told me the mental hospital is my home and my sister told my mom to lock up in the mental hospital and to feed me pills. They all should be in jail for abuse. My dad cursed me out so nasty in the past
#CheckInWithMe #CheerMeOn #MentalHealth #ADHD #Psychosis #SchizoaffectiveDisorder #Schizophrenia #Bipolar2 #BipolarDepression #BipolarDisorder #Anxiety #Autism #AutismSpectrumDisorder #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #GeneralizedAnxietyDisorder #ObsessiveCompulsiveDisorder #Manic #PanicAttacks #PanicDisorder #PanicAttack

Most common user reactions 5 reactions 1 comment
Post
See full photo

The Day I Stopped Surviving and Started Writing

For years, I was stuck inside a body that flinched at the world.

I carried trauma like a second skin — invisible to most, suffocating to me.

I had served in one of Israel’s elite combat units, and I came home with wounds no X-ray could show.

The symptoms were relentless.

Panic attacks that came without warning.

A heart that raced even in silence.

A mind that replayed things I couldn’t talk about — and a body that refused to rest.

I’d lie in bed and stare at the ceiling for hours, wired and exhausted at the same time.

No peace. No quiet. Just static.

At first, I tried to outrun it.

Then I tried to numb it.

And then I broke.

But one day — I picked up a pen.

Not because I thought it would heal me.

Because nothing else worked.

Because I had nothing left to lose.

And something happened.

The page didn’t judge.

It didn’t flinch.

It listened.

The writing didn’t “cure” me.

But it gave the pain a voice.

It let me shape the chaos.

It taught me that stories can hold what bodies cannot.

That was the beginning.

Of healing.

Of reclaiming.

Of finally understanding that I didn’t need to be who I was before the trauma — I just needed to become someone honest about what I carried.

Today, my novel Dog — the book born from that pain — is being published in the United States.

It still stuns me.

I didn’t write it to impress anyone.

I wrote it because silence was killing me.

If you’re out there, stuck between symptoms and shame — I see you.

And I promise: the page is waiting.

📺 YouTube: www.youtube.com/@yishayishiron

📷 Instagram: www.instagram.com/yishayishiron

📘 Facebook: www.facebook.com/yishay.ron.1

🐦 Twitter (X): x.com/IshiRon1

#Veteran , #MentalHealth #Writing

yishay ishi ron

Welcome to the official YouTube channel of Yishay Ishi Ron — Israeli author, combat veteran, and survivor of PTSD. Here, I share short, raw, and honest video reflections on trauma, healing, writing, and the strange beauty of being human. Through personal stories, literary insights, and creative fragments from my novels, I invite you to join a conversation about pain, resilience, and the power of storytelling. New Reels weekly. Real life. No filters. Just words that try to tell the truth.
Most common user reactionsMost common user reactions 9 reactions 3 comments
Post

Weight loss tips? Need to lose 80 pounds for health benefits.

I would feel so much better about myself if I lost all this weight and kept it off forever. Nobody wants to be overweight or fat. I just really hope I lose all this weight naturally and safely. My dad put me on a weight loss pill years ago prescribed by a dietitian and the pill caused me to breakout on my face with really deep acne scarring. I hope that never happens ever again. Please give me your best advice on how to lose all this weight and not gain it back. It would mean the world to me if I lost all this weight and kept it off forever.
#Obesity #CheerMeOn #CheckInWithMe #MentalHealth #Disability #ADHD #Bipolar2 #BipolarDepression #BipolarDisorder #Psychosis #SchizoaffectiveDisorder #Schizophrenia #Anxiety #GeneralizedAnxietyDisorder #Autism #AutismSpectrumDisorder #PTSD #ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder #Trauma #Selfharm #SuicidalIdeation #SuicidalThoughts #SuicideAttemptSurvivors #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #ObsessiveCompulsiveDisorder #SocialAnxiety #Manic #PanicDisorder #PanicAttacks #Mania #PanicAttack

Most common user reactions 2 reactions
Post

Weight loss tips? Need to lose 80 pounds for health benefits.

I would feel so much better about myself if I lost all this weight and kept it off forever. Nobody wants to be overweight or fat. I just really hope I lose all this weight naturally and safely. My dad put me on a weight loss pill years ago prescribed by a dietitian and the pill caused me to breakout on my face with really deep acne scarring. I hope that never happens ever again. Please give me your best advice on how to lose all this weight and not gain it back. It would mean the world to me if I lost all this weight and kept it off forever.
#Obesity #CheerMeOn #CheckInWithMe #MentalHealth #Disability #ADHD #Bipolar2 #BipolarDepression #BipolarDisorder #Psychosis #SchizoaffectiveDisorder #Schizophrenia #Anxiety #GeneralizedAnxietyDisorder #Autism #AutismSpectrumDisorder #PTSD #ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder #Trauma #Selfharm #SuicidalIdeation #SuicidalThoughts #SuicideAttemptSurvivors #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #ObsessiveCompulsiveDisorder #SocialAnxiety #Manic #PanicDisorder #PanicAttacks #Mania #PanicAttack

Most common user reactions 2 reactions
Post

I'm new here!

Hi, my name is Myhereandnow. I'm here because for the past several months I have been remembering repressed trauma. I now remember being brutally sexually assaulted and raped several times as a 4 and 7 year old. These memories have thrown my reality for a loop. I feel like my feet have been kicked out from under me and I have struggled to cope and do daily responsibilities. I have very little capacity for my kids. I have constant panic attacks and horifying nightmares. The memories feel fragmented and foggy. I am having a hard time trusting they are real since it’s so far the childhood I thought I had. But the reaction my body is having to remembering them is so strong that it’s hard not to believe they are real. So many other fears and aversions and relationships throughout life make sense now. I have a really good therapist that I have been seeing and doing A.R.T. and EMDR therapy with. That is helping. I mostly want to talk to others that have gone through this. Was it this disorienting for you too? Do you have a hard time believing it is true? I feel crazy and dramatic and scared to tell my parents and sister about this. I remember protecting my little sister from this perpetrator, but knowing her and my parents, I think they will dismiss all of it and call me crazy. My husband is very supportive and I have told a few friends, but all of them say things like, “how sad,” “how horrible,”. Then the conversation moves on. Know one knows just how horrible it really is. It feels so lonely to hold something so heavy by myself. Does anyone have recommendations for good books or resources to learn more about what I am dealing with? I am reading “the body keeps the score” it is triggering but helpful. I would love to learn more.

#MightyTogether #PTSD #Repressed memories#Anxiety

Most common user reactions 3 reactions 3 comments
Post

The Kardashians, why I am against them and the people who follow them

There was this girl in my middle school who was suppose to be my friend and she was always nice to my face and I caught her flirting with the guy I had a crush on. Few years later in the future, she is following Kim Kardashian and she has butt implants/lip injections. What a horrible example these sluts give to humanity. #CheckInWithMe #CheerMeOn #Disability #MentalHealth #BipolarDepression #Bipolar2 #Bipolar1 #BipolarDisorder #Psychosis #ADHD #SchizoaffectiveDisorder #Schizophrenia #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder #PostTraumaticStressDisorder #PTSD #Suicide #Selfharm #TraumaticBrainInjury #Trauma #Anxiety #Manic #PanicAttacks #PanicDisorder #PanicAttack

Most common user reactions 2 reactions