Fear of Flying

How it shows up

Many people feel a bit uneasy about flying but still get on the plane. A fear of flying becomes a phobia when it starts making real decisions for you: turning down a job promotion because it involves travel, skipping a destination wedding, or white-knuckling every flight you can’t avoid.

Pattie has found that in the vast majority of cases she sees, a fear of flying isn’t really about the plane at all. It’s about being out of control. Sitting in a metal tube thousands of feet in the air, with someone else at the controls and no way to simply step outside, taps directly into a deeper need to control your own safety.

How hypnotherapy helps

Because the plane itself is usually a stand-in for a control issue, effective hypnotherapy doesn’t just calm you down in the moment. It works with your subconscious mind to address that underlying need for control, so the anxious response has less to attach itself to. Using hypnosis alongside CBT and NLP techniques, Pattie helps you build a calmer, steadier internal response to flying, from booking the ticket to landing at your destination.

For many clients, a single focused session using hypnotic suggestion is enough to shift how flying feels; for others, especially where the fear connects to a past frightening experience or a deeper anxiety pattern, a few sessions of deeper work bring more lasting change.

What a session looks like

Sessions start with a free 20-minute consultation, in person at Pattie’s Scottsdale office or by phone or Zoom, so you can talk through what flying feels like for you before committing to anything. From there, sessions are $150 each.

Common questions

Is this really about the plane, or something else? Often something else. In most cases Pattie sees, the underlying issue is a need for control, not the mechanics of flying itself, which is exactly why hypnotherapy works differently than just reading facts about flight safety.

Do I need multiple sessions? It depends on how the fear developed. Some clients see a real shift after one focused session; others benefit from a short series.

Can this help even if I’ve been afraid of flying my whole life? Yes. Long-standing phobias respond well to hypnotherapy because the work addresses the root cause, not just the current symptoms.