University Daily Kansan, July 10, 1985
Page 11
Clinic helps to control fear of flying
By Carol Stephenson
By Carol Stephenson Staff Reporter
KANASS CITY, Kan - Stepping on the airplane, the wide-eared passenger nervously looked around and the exit signs before sitting down.
Once seated he checked under his seat for the life jacket and wondered what he would do if the oxygen mask separates from the ceiling during the trin
And he listened tensely to every sound, hoping he would safely reach his destination before failure of one of the engines.
For aerophobics — people with an irrational fear of flying people who firmly believe that if people were meant to fly, they would have been born with wings, and who shudder with fear at the thought of being airborne — Walt Gunn, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Kansas Medical Center, calls one-day clinics twice a month.
Eighty people have participated
in the aerophobia clinics, and Gunn said Saturday that two-thirds had indicated success by informing him that they have actually looked for opportunities to flight or that they had flown successfully. The next clinic will be July 27.
Gunn had been a pilot for Trans World Airlines for 39 years. After retiring he received graduate credits from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and received his master's degree in clinical psychology and doctoral degree in psychology.
Last year, he founded a stress management clinic at the Med Center and started getting referrals under a under stress because of aerophobia.
Flying should be pleasant, Gunn said, but airplanes need undue blame for anxieties. He said there were other things that contributed to the anxieties people experience besides the act of flying.
"Fears are associated with an event, situation, object, or condition," Gunn said. "When people board the plane they bring these anxieties with them and transfer these feelings toward the airplane."
To demonstrate his point, Gunn asks clinic participants about their history of flying and what other things were happening in their lives which may have helped develop their fear.
After the five-hour clinic at the Med Center, Gunn takes the aerophobics to Kansas City International Airport and explains the mechanics of an airplane. The trip to the airport demystifies airplanes, he said. Many people possess a strong desire to travel, but don't understand or can't control, Gunn said, and the airport visits counteract that distrust.
Although Gunn favors the use of prescribed medication to relax while flying, he said medicine was not a panacea.
"In overcoming a fear, a person has two choices: to totally avoid it or encounter it and take it on," he said.
To face the challenge of overcoming a fear, it is important for people to realize the bodily changes that take place when they become alarmed, he said. Once the bodily changes are understood, people can then work at controlling their fear, he said.
Learning to relax calls forth the control and use of the parasympathetic nervous system. Gunn said, which is a component of the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system regulates involuntary action in the heart and glands. It is comprised of the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.
To relax during an airplane flight. Gunn recommends smiling and breathing deeply.
"Smiling may or may not be important," he said. "It does keep the body from preparing itself from threat."
Breathing is important because oxygen that goes through the blood stream reduces stress, he said.
New students like KU academics, social life
By Sherry Gering
Staff Reporter
They come by the hundreds, ready to get their first taste of college life. Well dressed students, wearing blue jeans and hats, present a demonstration displaying nervous smiles.
Their reasons for spending their college years at the University of Kansas are as diverse as they are. Some these kU because of friends, others its academic reputation, and a few simply liked the campus scenery.
Matt Serrano, Kansas City, Kan. said recently, "I can't wait until school starts.
"I've got some friends who go here, and they are good references. They were in a fraternity and they said the social life was good."
Serrano said although he had considered going to a small college, he a big college would be better because he would know more people and make more friends.
Maria Carvajal, Deerfield. Ill,
said she was excited about attending
KU.
"Everyone seems optimistic and it seems like it will be a lot of fun," she said. "I have never heard anything bad about KU, and everybody who has come here has loved it."
Mike Robertson, Prairie Village, said he looked forward to coming to KU because it would get him away from home and he would meet new people. Partying is the first item on his KU agenda.
Although several students said they wanted to come to KU because of the social opportunities, most of these same students said the main reason they came was that KU had a good reputation in academics.
Robertson said he read in a college book that KU was respected for its quality of education.
Carvalaj said one of the reasons she came to KU was that she heard it
had a good department of communications studies.
"It was between here and Indiana, but the communication department here is better," she said.
Kris Shorno, Bartlesville, Okla. said, "I like the journalism program."
She said she always had wanted to enter journalism and after she looked at the programs of schools across the country, she discovered that the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications was better than most other universities' journalism schools.
"I'm ready to go to school now," she said. "I'm ready to be a part of it rather than just an observer."
Parents joined in their children's enthusiasm about KU.
Merrill Walz, Leavenworth, said she was happy with her daughter's decision to come to KU because her daughter was interested in journalism and KU's journalism school
ranked as one of the top in the country.
"Everything that we've seen since she's made her decision has reinforced her decision." Walz said.
For example, Walz said she was impressed when she learned that KU had the largest library in the Big and the 10th largest in the nation.
Thirza Youker, Fort Wayne, Ind., who has a son who will come to KU because he plans to join the swim team, said. "I was impressed with how they promoted academics and not just swimming."
Rometta Hock, Derby, said she was pleased that her daughter was coming to KU because it placed a strong emphasis on academics.
"I're really proud that she's coming here," she said.
And, of course, KU has attractions other than social life and academics.
Teresa McGovern, Leawood, said KU was close to home.
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