CAN A PERSON HAVE HIGH ANXIETY - OR PANIC - AND
HAVE NO CONSCIOUS IMAGES?

In the use of the Strengthening Exercise for flight anxiety, we connect
potentially distressing images to a powerful positive emotional exper-
ience from a treasured memory of being with another person. When
each flying thought is tied strongly to such a feeling of connection with
another person, anxiety cannot develop around that thought. But can
we have anxiety that is not connected with images?

Yes. There are three possibilities. But none are flight anxiety. First is
what Freud called 'signal anxiety'. Think of it this way. Let's assume
something awful happens, something so awful you vow to yourself
you never are going to let yourself feel that way again. What do you
do? You 'repress' that memory. It is as if you have - inside - a box
where you store that memory away out of sight. As time goes on, more
awful things happen, and you put more memories in the box. In time,
it becomes 'Pandora's Box'. The problem with Pandora's Box is, if it
is allowed to open, all the many memories hidden away in there
suddenly are made aware again, causing terrible distress.

So, we need to keep the Box closed. How? Let's imagine that we
assign some part of ourself to hold the lid closed, and to constantly
monitor the situation.

Let's suppose next, that we are in a certain situation, for example, a
place where we are confined and cannot immediately leave. Let's
next suppose that one - or more - of the memories in the Box are
about something awful that happened where we were confined and
could not escape. Notice the association: both the present situation
and the memory of the past event involve being confined and unable
to escape.

Well, the mind works based on association. Thus, the present situation
begins to cause the earlier situation to be recalled. As the earlier
situation starts to be recalled, it begins opening the Box. The part of
our self which we assigned to monitor the Box and keep it closed
becomes alarmed. This is 'signal anxiety', a signal that there is an
emergency in progress; the Box which must be kept closed is starting
to open to let the associated memory out into the open and into
conscious awareness.

The 'signal anxiety' gives you the message that something where
you are is causing the Box to open, so you need to go someplace
else to keep the Box from opening.

Signal anxiety about just one thing in the Box will trigger one shot of
stress hormones and gently urge you to go elsewhere. One shot of
stress hormones takes you, on a scale of zero to ten, to a two or three.
If there are two or three things in the Box, you get two or three shots
of stress hormones, you go from four to six on the scale. But if there
are a half dozen things about to escape from the Box, that takes you
to ten, which is panic.

But let's finish the Greek myth. In the story, Pandora allows the Box
to open and all the terrible things stored in there are loose, and great
distress is caused. But then, Pandora's husband notices there is still
one more thing in the Box, and it has a voice, which is saying, 'Open,
open, and I will heal your wounds! Please let me out!' Pandora is
encouraged to open the Box again, but she is reluctant because of
the terrible results of allowing it to open the first time. But when she
does, healing - in fact - takes place.

That is what therapy is about. I therapy, the client is asked by the
therapist to open the Box. And sure enough, painful things emerge,
and there is a strong desire to re-close the Box and keep it closed.
It is only when the last item is finally let out of the Box that healing
takes place.

I said there were two possibilities. What is the other one? There are
two components of memory: a. the implicit component, and b. the
explicit component. The implicit component is the feelings component.
The explicit component is the informational component, who, what,
when, where, how, etc.

When we things of a memory, what we mean is an explicit memory,
one that has information. But when a memory is painful, the feeling
component can get separated from the information component. If
that happens, we may be able to say what happened, but recall no
feeling about what happened.

If a feeling component, one which has been separated from the
information component, is recalled, we don't think of it as recall of
a memory. Instead, we just notice we are feeling anxious or sad,
but have no idea why.

That is what happens in 'recall' of an implict memory; only the feeling
part comes into play.

When truly horrendous event has taken place, this the feelings and
the information can easily become separated. One event has now
produced to memories: an explicit memory with information but no
feelings, and an implicit memory which is all feeling and no information.

If the implict memory comes into awareness, we may feel anxiety or
sadness for no apparent reason.

But there is more. Most of us don't remember much prior to the age
of five. It is around five that the part of the brain that records explicit
information in memory begins to work reliably. But what about the
implicit component, feelings? The answer is shocking! The part of
the mind that stores feelings in memory is mature at birth!

This means that we potentially can remember the feelings we had
when we were put to bed alone to cry it out. As an adult, we can
have an awful, perhaps overwhelming feeling of helplessness or
hopelessness, and have no idea whatsoever why. Amazingly, it
can be an implicit memory of very early childhood.

When implicit memory is triggered which is not paired with its explicit
component, this is called a 'flashback'. That may be a strange thing
to call it when the person having the feeling has no idea it has any-
thing to do with something 'back' in the past, but it does, and that is
why we use that term.

In Generalized Anxiety Disorder, a person has either constant signal
anxiety that an unconscious memory will become conscious or a
constant or persistent flashback. The treatment for this is still under
development. If the difficulty is due to a trauma which occurred after the
age of five where there is both an explicit and an implicit component,
but they have been separated, EMDR is frequently helpful in re-estab-
lishing a connection. If the difficulty is due to an implicit component
prior to the age of five and no explicit component exists, relief may be
obtained by experiencing the implicit component and connecting it to
data in the present, who you are with as you feel this, where you are
as you feel this, and what the date and time is. By connecting the
implicit component with ANY data, at least a kind of 'handle' is put
on it which helps in the future. If the same 'flashback' occurs yet again,
one can say, 'Oh yes, this is the flashback I had when I was with my
therapist two years ago.'

This eliminates the craziness of thinking you are going crazy because
you are feeling things that make no sense. The sense of it is, all the
feelings we had in the first five years of life are recorded inside us,
and can be triggered without any associated data as to who, what,
when, where, or how.

How is this related to the Strengthening Exercise for flight anxiety?
Flight anxiety is ALWAYS connected to images. However, you CAN
experience the other types of anxiety when flying, which - of course
- can lead you to believe it is flight anxiety when it is, in fact, signal
anxiety having to do with Pandora's Box, or it is anxiety based on an
implicit (feeling) memory that is not well-connected with explicit
information about the event.

These non-flight anxieties can add to flight anxiety and thus increase
the total anxiety load.

What is the third cause? The third possibility for having panic without
any awareness is that the person simply has little or not ability to look
within. Internal mental processes take place but are not noted. Some
research has shown that a high percentage of people in prison have
little awareness of their own mental processes. They get into trouble
because they often don't know what they are about to do. They can
not say what they are going to do. They find out what they are going
to do after just doing it. This blindness to internal process develops
when there is severe abuse, so severe and so painful that the person
protects himself or herself from feelings by not being aware of anything
going on inside.

It is possible for this blindness to be segmented; there can be areas
in which the person is aware of internal processes, and areas which
are completely invisible.

Much of Marsha Linehan's work in developing DBT focused on persons
who had little awareness of internal process. All they knew is that they
did things, and did them out of control, often self-destructive things. DBT
is largely about learning to see internal process. In DBT, this is called
'mindfulness'.

If one seeks to be 'mindless' to avoid distress, one may be unable to
see the domino effect of internal processes which might otherwise be
informing one what one is about to do, which in turn, allows for choice
and the control to direct ones life.

Dr. James Masterson has likened such persons to sailboats which are
moved this way or that by the winds, and then complain about where
they end up. If we have little idea where we want to go, we have little
or no possibility of getting there.

But, he points out, that directing ones one life causes a particular kind
of distress of its own, for it requires us to be aware of the thoughts and
feelings we have inside. If we find awareness of internal process - our
thoughts, feelings, and memories - too painful, we avoid mindfulness.
And the result is, we fail to meet meaningful goals, and we have anxiety
and panic without awareness of its cause.

==========

I NEVER WOULD HAVE IMAGINED I WOULD BE AT THIS POINT
IN MY LIFE TODAY

Dear Captain Tom:

I promised myself I would not let a day go by without properly thanking
you, again, for all your help with the SOAR program. I had not flown for
about 15 years (after having flown for many years...not often, but at least
once or twice a year for visits, vacations, etc.).

My very patient husband stood by me all these years, never pressured
me, just encouraged me to get help. We had missed important family
events, I had had to drive a long distance alone on a business trip, and
all our vacations, though wonderful, were long or short drives from home.

I began reading the SOAR newsletters regularly, then purchased the
audio tapes. It was a long time before I was even brave enough to listen
to them (because that meant that maybe I would be one step closer to
flying and I couldn't imagine getting to that point). Finally I purchased the
DVD's on the Control of Anxiety. I decided that life was going to go by,
whether I flew or not, and that in fairness to my family, it was time to
travel/fly, no matter what happened.

I reviewed the exercises on the CD--the Strengthening Excercise was
the only one I really needed, as well as all the valuable information you
impart on the CD's about the mechanics of the flight, the 'jello' images,
and the safety of flight in general. Luckily, the flights were relatively
smooth---yet the turbulence we did experience did not really bother me
at all. I cannot tell you how liberating this was for me---and to have my
children experience their first flight after all this time (they even thought
it was boring--like riding on a bus).

I appreciate your responses to my inquiries about choosing an airline as
well as your making yourself available by phone, if needed. I think just
the knowledge that someone is there to listen and help is important.

If you had asked me a year ago, I never would have imagined I would
be at this point in my life today (just looking up in the sky at an airplane
in flight used to give me anxiety). When we returned from out recent trip,
I actually asked my husband if we could book another flight for our next
vacation---I feel like I want to make up for lost time. While that is not
possible, I can at least move forward knowing that I have the tools to
control my fears.

Thank you, again. The work you do is invaluable. I look forward to continue
reading your newsletters and reviewing the tapes again in the future.

Very best regards,

==========

PATRICK'S BLOG THIS WEEK

What's the problem with U.S. airlines? The low-price paradox.

'Throughout Europe, Asia and elsewhere, profits are running high, with
passenger satisfaction levels and employee dignity fully intact. Here at
home, even with overbooked cabins and payrolls pared to the bone,
airlines continue to post substantial losses while service standards are
shameful.'

Read Patrick's blogs at www.salon.com.

http://www.salon.com/tech/col/smith/2006/02/24/askthepilot175/

(Readers may gain free access to Salon.com by watching a short
advertisement. Look for the 'Site Pass' option. When the ad is finished
playing, an 'Enter Salon' link will appear.)

==========

ARE YOU READY?

You might be amazed how many people find an article about the SOAR
program and stick it on their refrigerator, figuring that someday, they will
do something about the flying problem.

You might be more amazed about how much time passes between the
sticking of the clipping on the refrigerator and the phone call to contact
us.

It tends to be about two years. Two years! Think what you could do with
two years.

If it hasn't been two years yet, do you really want to wait that much longer
to live life the way you really would like to?

Lisa and I would like nothing more than to get a call from you, or an email
from you, about where you are right now, whether you are ready or not,
whether you are stuck or not, whether you are still thinking about it or not.

It may help move things along. It may not. Either way, you may feel better
knowing someone does know how you feel.

Lisa is at 800 332-7359. I'm at 877 332-7359.

==========

AND FOR ANYONE WHO IS READY

All the help you could possibly need with flying is here. To get started,
go to:

http://www.fearofflying.com/store.shtml

and place your order. You can start viewing the video on your DVDs on
your computer. (We do send you the DVDs, but you don't have to wait at
all).

Or, go to http://www.fearofflying.com/

and watch the free video.

==========