Paris-Rio air trips are among the most anxiety-provoking, according to stress specialist PSYFrance Assistance. Indeed, these flights accumulate several sources of anxiety.
Flights to Rio for the World Cup in Brazil next June may not be easy. According to an infographic produced by PSYFrance Assistance, an organization for stress management and the prevention of psychosocial risks in companies, this journey can be considered one of the most trying for those worried about flying. However, it is estimated that 30 to 40% of passengers on a plane experience anxiety. One in ten passengers is even phobic of this mode of transport.
“Certain situations surrounding the theft would be […] more or less carriers of anxiety ”, explains for PSYFrance Emilie Bourgoin, researcher in psychopathology in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne). The Paris-Rio flight is particularly anxiety-provoking because it combines many sources of concern. We know, for example, that flight distresses a large number of passengers, primarily turbulence, followed by take-off and landing. “We can easily understand that long-haul travel is becoming particularly problematic”, analyzes Emilie Bourgoin, since it requires many resources to manage anxiety. The longer the journey, the greater the risk of experiencing an anxiety attack in flight. Thus, 37% of people phobic of the plane have already experienced a panic attack during the trip.
In nearly half of cases, the phobia of flying is associated with other fears (claustrophobia, agoraphobia, fear of water, of the darkness of sharks, etc.). A Paris-Rio type flight combines a good number of them: the passenger spends nearly 11 hours locked up, with many people. The ride flies over the Atlantic Ocean, where sharks are not uncommon. We must not forget that there is also a precedent that is always remembered: the infamous Rio-Paris flight AF447, which crashed at sea on May 31, 2009, after a night take-off.
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