How a woman tackles the panic attacks that kept her from flying
By Adrienne Wichard-Edds May 10 at 8:00 AM Last summer, my husband and I and our two teenage boys flew to Iceland, then England, and then home to Virginia. For me, this was not just a vacation; it was a personal triumph. It was the first time I had flown across the Atlantic in almost two decades.
An overactive amygdala “Travel anxiety is very common,” says psychologist Greta Hirsch. Hirsch is the clinical director of the Ross Center for Anxiety in Washington and was the first person who helped treat me after I was diagnosed . “I see people who miss family weddings, parents whose kids ask why they can’t go to Disney World, professionals who pass up promotions because they’re completely avoiding traveling.
It helped me to learn that my panic attacks, which cropped up seemingly out of nowhere after two decades of fearless travel, were probably rooted in a genetic predisposition coupled with a traumatic event that I hadn’t recognized as a trigger. The week before my college graduation, a stranger broke into my house in the middle of the night and attacked my roommate.
It also helped me to recognize how not-alone I was — and the more open I was about my own struggle with anxiety, the less intimidating it became. Therapist Jean Ratner, founder of the Center for Travel Anxiety in Kensington, Md., says that many of the people she works with had their first panic attack while on a plane — or crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge — and so have linked the two experiences.
Therapist Tom Bunn, a retired pilot who, in 1982, founded the video-based program SOAR to help people get over their fear of flying, says that this type of calming presence is exactly what anxious travelers need to help reprogram their negative thinking. Bunn also suggests talking to the flight crew to let them know I’m a nervous traveler. “You can ask to board early and visit the cockpit,” Bunn says. “Giving up control is tricky, but if you can meet the person who’s in control, that can be helpful.”
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