People who seek help for fear of flying: Typology of flying phobics

The objective of this study was to examine sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of 419 patients who were self-referred to a treatment agency because of fear of flying. With the use of homogeneity analyses to explore the association between flight-anxiety and different types of phobia, four specific subtypes of flying phobics were identified. The subtypes differed in terms of Eight-anxiety level, age, sex, complaints like ''fear of aircraft accidents, the need to have control over the situation, fear of losing control over themselves,'' and phobias underlying their fear of flying, such as claustrophobia, acrophobia, social phobia, and symptoms of panic attacks. It is argued that the typology identified could have implications for the selection of treatment components.