How do racing thoughts lead to fear of flying?
Racing thoughts are part of fear of flying. As racing thoughts repeat, they branch out — making more irrational thoughts — based on the original irrationality. Fear of flying, a phobia, is a resulting irrational set of thoughts, feelings, and beliefs associated with a certain idea or object. For example, a person with a fear of flying in large planes can believe the plane is too heavy. That leads to: it will fall out of the sky, it will crash, I’m scared about the time between the crash and actually dying, the noises will be deafening and terrible, and on, and on, and on. Your mind can become quite creative, developing a phobic swirl — a plunging downward spiral of swirling negative thoughts.
