Akiko, age 42, has always been afraid of flying.
Whenever she got on a plane, her heart began to pound and her palms got sweaty.
During takeoff and landing, Akiko’s fear was so intense that she could hardly breathe.
The experience of flying was so painful that Akiko hadn’t flown at all during the past ten years.
But now she’s been promoted to regional sales manager
and the new position requires her to fly several times a month.
Because she doesn’t want to lose her job,
Akiko started seeing a therapist who specializes in treating the fear of flying.
The therapist planned a series of sessions for Akiko, arranged in a sequence of gradually increasing realism.
The first session was in the therapist’s office. She taught Akiko how to become deeply relaxed.
Then she showed Akiko pictures of airplanes again and again until Akiko could look at them without feeling afraid.
In subsequent sessions this same process was repeated,
first with Akiko imagining that she was on an airplane, then with Akiko taking a tour of a stationary airplane,
and finally with Akiko boarding an actual flight.
At the end of these sessions, Akiko was able to fly whenever her work required,
without the fear that was such a problem for her earlier.