I took a piece of Richard Branson’s “screw it, just do it!” attitude and rather unexpectedly, found myself on a plane over Birmingham with 120 flying phobics on Sunday. (The view when flying at 4000 feet above Warwick Castle was absolutely stunning!) Not actually scared of flight at all myself, I was assisting the amazing team from Virgin Atlantic’s ‘Flying Without Fear’ programme.

               The day began with many people so anxious that they were in tears before they had even walked into the room. Thankfully our techniques work quickly and easily on most people and a few quick 1-to-1 sessions got everyone in the room feeling more comfortable.

               Steve, the Virgin pilot, used his wicked humour, huge sense of compassion and vast experience to explain to the group just how planes fly and therefore all the noises and feelings we experience whilst flying. I learned that when building a plane, the wings are bent to 90 degrees, that the wing goes all the way through the body of the plane (and so can’t fall off) amongst other technical stuff. Dave the cabin crew trainer explained that the primary role of the crew is safety and dispelled any myths about coded messages between crew members signalling impending disaster (when actually they are just asking for more gin for the man in 34E). Paul then explained the psychology of fear and Gill taught the group a variety of NLP and TFT techniques to use to overcome their fear.

               They were then taken in smaller groups to the airport, through check-in and security as normal and 98% of people got on the plane. Those that didn’t, did so out of choice and admitted that even though they did not fly, they had come a long way towards conquering their fear of flying that day. The cheer at the end of the flight as the plane landed was amazing. Even more incredible was the blind girl with her guide dog (a flying virgin and definitely the calmest passenger). Watching the cabin crew go through the safety check with someone who can’t see was a real eye opener for me. Sitting and talking her through the flight and trying to be her eyes and reassure her was a challenge I had not expected. She made it through and now feels that the turbulence she once feared is just a bit of discomfort and nothing compared to the pain she endured with her recent surgery.

               I would like to thank Paul, Richard, Gill and the rest of the Virgin Atlantic ‘Flying Without Fear’ team for the opportunity to be part of such a great day.

 

www.flyingwithoutfear.info

It has been another life changing weekend for me and many others. Saturday saw 700 smiling faces after a day with Paul McKenna in London learning how to re-programme their habits around food. All the feedback was very positive and showed that everyone enjoyed themselves on the day. Most people said they could not believe how easy it all seemed. The proof will be in how many of them actually follow the rules. The figures show that 71% of people lose weight successfully and keep it off compared to 9% with most diets. The other 29 % are not actually doing it. I love the fact that I have not yet been asked a medical question on one of these days that I can’t say to the person, “yes it is ok for you to do this”, even if they have to modify it to work with a condition such as their diabetes

Yet more news headlines this week that highlight how little is being done for war heroes with PTSD. This time the Daily Mail highlighted the story of Johnson Beharry VC veteran of the Gulf War.

To read more, you can go to http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1278998/Johnson-Beharry-Victoria-Cross-hero-attempted-suicide-driving-car-lamppost.html#ixzz0olZQeRXF

Johnson has clearly suffered from many of the symptoms of PTSD including: nightmares, flashbacks, outbursts of anger, a failed marriage and ultimately a suicide attempt, in which he drove his car into a lamppost at 100mph. Once again, the NHS has been praised in their treating of physical injuries but they appear to have done little, if anything, to effectively help with the psychological trauma.

He says that the way veterans' mental problems were treated was 'disgraceful' and charities were being left to patch up 'holes' in care.

In a fit of indignation, I rang the Daily Mail in the hopes of being able to contact and ultimately help... as of yet, I’ve had no reply but watch this space!

Sometimes our most inspiring moments appear when we are least expecting them.

For me recently this came at the end of a rather dull day of diabetes and cardiology updates when the key note speaker was Simon Weston talking about living with PTSD.  www.simonweston.com

He captivated the room of over 300 doctors and indeed brought a lump to the throats of many of us with his account of the blowing up of the Sir Galahad in 1982 and his subsequent struggle back to health. After no less than 85 operations he was physically able to do many of the things that he wanted: drive a rally car, fly a plane, marry and have children. However, for 24 years his life was overshadowed by the nightmare and flashbacks of PTSD. He encouraged us, as physicians, to look at alternatives, especially NLP. He emphasised that the last thing patients need when they are suffering from PTSD is to be drugged up and that a lot of conventional therapies are slow painful and ineffective.  He and a number of his friends and colleagues have been treated with NLP and are now free of their nightmares. He described it as feeling as though the elastic round his chest had snapped and he could finally take a deep breath and breathe properly again.

What really hit me that day though was the statistics: 255 killed in the Falklands, 300 lost to suicide afterwards. Simon himself admits to very low times including a suicide attempt.

Talking to him afterwards it appears that the armed services still do not recognise NLP as an effective treatment of PTSD, if indeed they really admit to the existence of PTSD in the first place. Whether like the Americans they are frightened of the potential scale of litigation and payouts I am not sure.

A recent advert in the medical press for a civilian doctor for the army wanted someone who will help to get soldiers back to the frontline as soon as possible.  With this goal in mind, I think that they need to improve their treatment of servicemen’s mental health and seek the services of experienced NLP practitioners in order to achieve this.