Worried something is going to happen to me, going on plane alone and so scared!

[scaredpt]

I have a flight later and am terrified of planes. I have terrible fears of things happening. And I’m going alone but I usually fly with friends. I’m not sure how I can handle it. Any tips?

[iveyn]

I also have this type of fear. I was terrified the first time I had a flight alone, my advice is to just listen to some music before you take off, it really helps! And when some bad thoughts start crossing your mind, just try to not worry too much and concentrate on the music. : )

[ServerError]

Fear of flying is very common and also very treatable. If you need to fly regularly or just want to be to fly without fear, look into a course or treatment plan to help you overcome it.

In the meantime, all you can really do is try to counter your fearful thoughts with rational ones. Recognise the sheer amount of people who are in the air at any one time. Recognise that, even in countries that don't properly regulate aviation safety, crashes are still pretty uncommon. In a country like the US, air travel is remarkably safe.

[tn13]

I used to be very scared of flying. Any turbulence would convince me we were going down.

What helped was actually having a bad flight back home from New York in 2013. The flight was delayed for hours because there was a storm in Toronto and then by the time it had cleared there, the storm had moved on to New York. So we ended up taking off in the middle of a lightning storm. The flight was rough, but only an hour. And we made it with no harm done.

When I came home I started reading about aviation and found out about how rare accidents are, especially today in first-world countries. And even when things go wrong with planes mid-flight, most of the time passengers never even find out because they're built to stand up to bad conditions.

Ever since then I've haven't been afraid to fly, and I've done 4 trans-atlantic flights since! So it's definitely possible to overcome the fear.

In the meantime, doctors commonly give people even without anxiety disorders who are just afraid to fly Ativan or something similar to take before the flight to calm down, so you could always see about that?