Today I went to get a haircut. My hairdresser was of the silent variety – quite the rarity, in my experience. I was more than happy to flick through a gossip magazine while secretly eavesdropping on the woman in the next chair, who was filling her stylist in on her sister’s flying phobia treatment.
I kind of knew that this was private, but to be honest, I’d probably have overheard even if I hadn’t been deliberately listening. And perhaps I shouldn’t be recounting this, but the story was of genuine interest to me. In short, the sister in question seemed to have quite suddenly developed a pronounced fear of flying at some point in the past year.
This is of interest to me because a friend of mine recently mentioned that she thought she was becoming more anxious about driving over time. She hasn’t had a sudden turning point, like this other person had with flying, but it has gotten to the point that she’s asked me if I know of any good psychology practices in the Mornington area.
Having never been to psychologist, I’m probably not the most helpful person to ask. This woman at the hairdressers, though, was speaking glowingly about the clinic her sister had been to, which just so happens to be on the Mornington Peninsula. I should have leaned over and asked her what the name of it was.
The sister with the flying phobia, by the sounds of it, had been seeing a psychiatrist, not a psychologist. Still, I’d imagine that any decent Mornington psychiatry clinic would be connected to a psychologist, and that you could receive a referral from one to the other.
Anyway, I’m sure my friend is capable of figuring it out for herself. She assures me that she’s not experiencing this anxiety in any other parts of her life – in fact, she’s perfectly happy overall. It’s purely the driving thing. Human minds are so inconsistent – but I suppose that’s what makes them so fascinating.