Unfortunately, this app is based on the level of treatment used back in 1975 in the original fear of flying course offered by Pan Am, education about how
flying works and breathing exercises.
I worked on that program and was appalled at the distress experienced by far too many of the course participants. The methods used worked only for people with mild difficulty.
Recent research shows why the results were poor. Though they work on the ground, breathing exercises - the only psychological aid the course offered - are completely useless for fear of flying. See: http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/42/13/25
Though this app and the course offered by Virgin can, as the Pan Am course did over thirty years ago, help people with mild flying problems, more advanced methods are required for people with a moderate to severe problem with flying.
Advanced methods are based on brain scan research that has shown us much about how the brain regulates emotion, in particular the work of Allan N. Schore, Ph.D., author of Affect Regulation. It is now clear than early relationship with the primary caregiver is key in forming the emotional sequences that we depend on for stability. When good-enough sequences were not established, increased emotional strength is needed in order to fly without distress.
This means the fear of flying client has to be taught how to build inside new sequences of emotion, sequences that start with the initiation of stress but instead of leading to greater stress, lead instead to less stress, and then to calm.
This kind of advanced help is available, but certainly not by an app or a course based on breathing exercises.
That said, consider this. The Virgin app follows exactly the organization of our "Take Me Along" MP3 audio and MP4 video presentations. "Take Me Along" has eight separate (MP3 audio or MP4 video) clips, one for each distinctive part of the flight (takeoff, cruise, turbulence, landing) and for getting ready for the flight and controlling anxiety before the flight. That is what is similar. What is different is, what we offer works.
"Take Me Along" is NOT a substitute for the SOAR Video Course (full length), or for the Rapid Relief or Complete Relief accelerated courses. But if finances stand in the way, "Take Me Along" is a good way to control stress manually until you can afford one of the courses where you learn to control stress automatically.
"Take Me Along" as a MP4 video download (for iPod, iPhone, laptop) is at this link.
and as a MP3 audio download at this link.
Either of these let you take me along - virtually - when you fly!
As you fly, I'll explain everything that is going on, including what those sounds and motions mean.
Know What Is Happening - As It Is Happening - Throughout Your Flight.
There are eight "Take Me Along" audio tracks, one for each strategic moment during your flight.
One more thing - and frankly - this is something that angers me. The Virgin app has a panic button. What they offer a person who is in a state of panic is absurd, like throwing a straw to someone drowning instead of a life preserver. Offering completely useless breathing exercises as a remedy for panic is, as I see it, malpractice at best (those who put the program together didn't know better) and a cruel joke at worst (they knew it wouldn't work and put it in anyway for marketing purposes)!
"Take Me Along" has no panic button, but gives you a manual way to keep from getting into panic in the first place.
I worked on that program and was appalled at the distress experienced by far too many of the course participants. The methods used worked only for people with mild difficulty.
Recent research shows why the results were poor. Though they work on the ground, breathing exercises - the only psychological aid the course offered - are completely useless for fear of flying. See: http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/42/13/25
Though this app and the course offered by Virgin can, as the Pan Am course did over thirty years ago, help people with mild flying problems, more advanced methods are required for people with a moderate to severe problem with flying.
Advanced methods are based on brain scan research that has shown us much about how the brain regulates emotion, in particular the work of Allan N. Schore, Ph.D., author of Affect Regulation. It is now clear than early relationship with the primary caregiver is key in forming the emotional sequences that we depend on for stability. When good-enough sequences were not established, increased emotional strength is needed in order to fly without distress.
This means the fear of flying client has to be taught how to build inside new sequences of emotion, sequences that start with the initiation of stress but instead of leading to greater stress, lead instead to less stress, and then to calm.
This kind of advanced help is available, but certainly not by an app or a course based on breathing exercises.
That said, consider this. The Virgin app follows exactly the organization of our "Take Me Along" MP3 audio and MP4 video presentations. "Take Me Along" has eight separate (MP3 audio or MP4 video) clips, one for each distinctive part of the flight (takeoff, cruise, turbulence, landing) and for getting ready for the flight and controlling anxiety before the flight. That is what is similar. What is different is, what we offer works.
"Take Me Along" is NOT a substitute for the SOAR Video Course (full length), or for the Rapid Relief or Complete Relief accelerated courses. But if finances stand in the way, "Take Me Along" is a good way to control stress manually until you can afford one of the courses where you learn to control stress automatically.
"Take Me Along" as a MP4 video download (for iPod, iPhone, laptop) is at this link.
and as a MP3 audio download at this link.
Either of these let you take me along - virtually - when you fly!
As you fly, I'll explain everything that is going on, including what those sounds and motions mean.
Know What Is Happening - As It Is Happening - Throughout Your Flight.
There are eight "Take Me Along" audio tracks, one for each strategic moment during your flight.
- Flight Preparation - keeping anxiety under control.
- Arriving At The Airport - reviewing your strategy.
- Before Check-In - getting your stress level to zero.
- The Boarding Area - controlling anticipatory anxiety.
- Meeting The Captain - connecting with the person who is in command.
- Seated On The Plane - understanding what you hear and feel during takeoff.
- Cruising And Turbulence - pushing through air as thick as jello.
- Descent and Landing - understanding what you hear and feel during landing.
One more thing - and frankly - this is something that angers me. The Virgin app has a panic button. What they offer a person who is in a state of panic is absurd, like throwing a straw to someone drowning instead of a life preserver. Offering completely useless breathing exercises as a remedy for panic is, as I see it, malpractice at best (those who put the program together didn't know better) and a cruel joke at worst (they knew it wouldn't work and put it in anyway for marketing purposes)!
"Take Me Along" has no panic button, but gives you a manual way to keep from getting into panic in the first place.
