Achieving Comfortable Flight: Taking the Anxiety Out of Airline Travel
- 2 booklets,
- 7 audio-tape programs
- and a set of 14 quick reference cards
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"Have a nice flight!"
To the millions of travelers plagued with the crippling fear of flying, these words bring little or no comfort. Each year a growing number of business flyers inefficiently juggle schedules to include alternate means of travel. And the vacationer is limited in choosing destinations by the time restraints of ground transportation. Acknowledging the intensity of this phenomenon, Dr. Reid Wilson and Captain T. W. Cummings collaborated to produce a thorough approach to achieving this much sought comfort level for commercial air travel. The Achieving Comfortable Flight series is not a miracle cure but rather a realistic method, systematically designed to solve a growing problem. The team formed by Dr. Wilson and Captain Cummings matches a clinical knowledge of the fear with a practical understanding of the cause. From these combined efforts the ACF series is now available in booklet/tape format for use in the privacy of home or office. No longer does the busy executive have to wait for a seminar that fits his schedule. No embarrassment for that traveler who feels compelled to hide his fear. No longer do you have to suffer. The ACF series provides you with the luxury of learning in your own chosen environment.
The ACF series is presented in two booklets, four accompanying tapes, and a set of quick reference cards. Noting that there are differing levels of fearful flyers, the series is designed so that you select an area of concentration or pursue the entire study. The booklets present alternatives to assist you in conquering your fears, as well as a detail of the "nuts and bolts" of an airline craft in easy, non-technical language. The tapes range from breathing exercises and skills review to an in-depth guide through a flight. They are also designed for when you desire more practice or information. In addition, a set of quick reference cards is included for later review.
The combination of the booklets and tapes will help you develop the skills to overcome your own personal fears. Millions of Americans enjoy flying as a fast, safe and comfortable means of transportation. Let up help you be one of them.
About the Authors
Captain T.W. Cummings has 36 years of flying experience, including WWII bomber missions and a distinguished 31 year Pan Am career. The Captain established the "Freedom from Fear of Flying" program in 1975, and has conducted over 200 seminars throughout the US and overseas. In addition, his expertise has been requested in books such as Handbook of Phobia Therapy (Jason Aronson, Inc.) and eventually his own Freedom from the Fear of Flying (Pocket Books).
R. Reid Wilson, Ph.D. directs the Anxiety Disorders Treatment
Program in Chapel Hill and Durham, North Carolina. He is also Clinical
Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina
School of Medicine. Dr. Wilson specializes in the treatment of anxiety
disorders. He designed and served as lead psychologist for
American Airlines' first national program for the fearful flier. Dr.
Wilson is on the Board of Directors of the Anxiety Disorders
Association of America. He served as Program Chair of the National
Conferences on Anxiety Disorders from 1988-1991.
Table of Contents
The ACF Series
contains…
- 2 booklets,
- 7 audio-tape programs
- and a set of 14 quick reference cards
Booklet A:
Personal Strategies,
by R. Reid Wilson, Ph.D.
Booklet B:
The Flight Experience,
by Captain T. W. Cummings, with R. Reid Wilson, Ph.D.
Tape 1:
Introduction to the Series; Practicing Your Breathing Skills
Tape 2:
The Captain’s Guide through Your Flight
Tape 3:
Associating with the Positive; Creating Comfort from Distress
Tape 4:
Rehearsing Your Coping Skills; Generalized Relaxation and Imagery
Booklet A:
PERSONAL STRATEGIES
by R. Reid Wilson, Ph.D. (65 pages)
These simple, common sense techniques
have helped thousands of people to reduce their worries and tensions.
They have been designed in this step-by-step guide to increase your
comfort, confidence and enjoyment during flights:
* How to handle your worries before and
during flights
* Responding to your uncomfortable
physical symptoms
* Brief muscle relaxation skills for
immediate relief
* Simple breathing skills that reduce
tensions
* Stopping irrational thoughts as they
arise
* Paradoxical actions that bring you
comfort
* Overcoming the fear of heights and
closed in spaces
* Taking care of concerns during takeoff,
turbulence
and weather conditions
Booklet B:
THE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE
by Captain T.W. Cummings, with Reid Wilson, Ph.D. (57 pages)
This booklet discusses in detail all the
facts of commercial flight to boost your confidence and trust in the
airline industry:
* A step-by-step guide through the
flight, describing over 75 sights, sounds and sensations you can
expect on a routine flight
* The encouraging truth about weather:
decisions for takeoff and landing; ice, snow, thunderstorms and
lightning, wind shear
* Turbulence: what causes it, how it
affects the plane and passengers
* The facts about the Air Traffic Control
System and flight safety
* The aircraft: their maintenance and how
they actually fly (the basics of aerodynamics)
* Flight crew selection, health
requirements and on-going training
Tape 1, side 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES
(20 minutes)
This tape provides a summary of what it
takes to fly comfortably. It introduces you to the each of the
booklets and tapes and suggests the most helpful ways for you to use
the series.
Tape 1, side 2: PRACTICING YOUR BREATHING SKILLS
(20 minutes)
Our breathing patterns are medically
proven to influence our physical symptoms. Learn three straightforward
and simple breathing skills to relieve your body's stresses and quiet
your mind. Natural Breathing, the Calming Breath, and Calming Counts
will help you to quickly clear unwanted thoughts and let you enjoy
your flight with a quiet mind and a calm body.
Tape 2: THE CAPTAIN'S GUIDE THROUGH YOUR FLIGHT
(45 minutes)
This tape will give you a chance to
anticipate and understand the reactions of your own senses in an
airplane flight. Follow Captain Cummings voice on an informative
journey through every phase of the flight, from the time you arrive at
the gate until the time you leave the plane at your destination. Find
out what's going on behind the closed door of the cockpit from takeoff
to landing. And learn the reassuring facts about those noises and
bumps that can startle you.
Tape 3, side 1: ASSOCIATING WITH THE POSITIVE
(20 minutes)
If you have had difficulty flying in the
past, your body and mind may be conditioned to react spontaneously
with distress about flying the next time, regardless of how hard you
may try to have a positive outlook. Your body and mind need a chance
to orient to the positive, to orient toward success. This is the first
of three tapes that will use the powerful tool of guided imagery to
help build your confidence. This tape will help you associate positive
feelings with successfully reaching your goal of comfortable flight.
Tape 3, side 2: CREATING COMFORT FROM DISTRESS
(20 minutes)
Most people who become uncomfortable on a
flight believe that they can't control those feelings, that they will
continue to feel bad no matter what they do. You can, in fact, change
how your body feels, by changing your focus of attention. On this tape
you will experience, through imagery, how your body and mind can get
tense and how it can reduce that tension and return to a calm state,
all within minutes.
Tape 4, side 1: REHEARSING YOUR COPING SKILLS
(20 minutes)
On this tape you will have the
opportunity to put all of your new skills together. Through guided
imagery, you will "see" yourself in five different scenes of
an actual flight which tend to cause people stress, such as take-off,
or at cruising altitude in turbulent air. You will get to try out a
variety of skills and determine which will be most helpful to you
during your future flights. Once you get a sense of your best skills,
this tape will also help you condition yourself to respond to your
symptoms before and during your next flights.
Tape 4, side 2: GENERALIZED RELAXATION AND
IMAGERY
(20 minutes)
These suggestions and images are designed
to help you let go of your tensions and enjoy twenty minutes of peace
and quiet. Because this is a generalized relaxation tape, some people
listen to it every day. You can listen to this tape any time you want
to become relaxed, including while on the plane.
QUICK REFERENCE CARDS
A set of 14 cards summarizing the primary
self-help strategies to use prior to and during a flight, including
eight ways to handle your worries, ten methods to increase your
physical comfort. Carry them in your pocket book or briefcase for easy
access to all the suggestions and skills.
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