Local psychiatrist offers tips on how to control nerves when flying

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — After a series of major aviation accidents, a local psychiatrist has weighed in on how to control nerves when flying.

Dr. Judson Brewer, a psychiatrist and professor at Brown University, said a perceived lack of control is usually what causes anxiety over flying.

However, he said flying is statistically safer than driving.

“This idea that somebody gets behind the wheel and they have control of their car but they don’t have control of other drivers, and they’re not the ones flying the airplane so they’re relying on somebody else to keep them safe, so its really the lack of safety or the perceived lack of safety,” Brewer said.

On Jan. 29, a commercial jetliner and an army helicopter collided in Washington, D.C, killing 67 people.

Two days later, a medical transportation plane crash in Philadelphia killed seven people.

There was also a crash in Alaska on Feb. 6 that killed 10, and most recently, a Delta Airlines jet with 80 people on board crashed while landing in Toronto.

“It’s called a recency effect, where more people are more likely to remember things that happened more recently. These just happen to coincide its not some big thing where pilots suddenly forgot how to fly planes, it’s just that this happens to coincide,” Brewer said.

Dr. Brewer said generally when it comes to mental health, people should understand how their brain works so you can learn how to work with it.

“So just knowing, for example, that anxiety can be driven like a habit loop is already helpful for people because then they can learn, ‘oh this is just a habit,” compared to ‘I’m really in danger.'”

He said it’s important to ground yourself before and during your flight.

For this, Brewer recommends an exercise called five-finger breathing.

For information on the five-finger breathing technique, visit Dr. Brewer’s YouTube here.