ABSTRACT

Howpeoplecopewithandadjusttotheuniquestressesofairtravelisof interesttopeopleintheairlineindustry,psychologists,otherhealthcare practitionersand,ofcourse,airlinepassengersthemselves(Bor,2003).This bookfocusesspecificallyonthetreatmentoffearofflying,whilethischapter describestherelevanceandapplicationofabriefpsychologicaltreatment approachwhichmaybebothapplicableandeffectiveforaproportionofthose whoseekpsychologicaltreatmentforafearofflying.Intheauthor'sclinical experience,approximately50percentofthosewhoseekspecialisthelpdonot requirethefullcomplementofstandardCBT(cognitivebehaviouraltherapy) interventions,includinganactualin-therapyflight,overseveraltherapy sessions.Aproportionappeartobenefitsufficientlyfromcoreinterventions (e.g.,providinginformationaboutflight,cognitiverestructuring,realistic threatappraisalandcopingstrategiesfordealingwithsymptomsofanxiety andpanicdisorder),withinabrieftherapyframework(Boretal.,2003).In aneraofevidence-basedhealthcare(Sackettetal.,1996),coupledwithhigh demandyetfiniteresourcesforpsychologicaltreatment(GossandRose,2002), itisimportantfortherapiststorapidlyassess'howmuch'therapyislikelyto berequiredtotreattheindividual'spresentingproblemratherthanapplythe identicaltreatmentpackagetoallproblems(Seligman,1995).