Al Forgione, Ph.D. is Associate Clinical Professor at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts. He joined the staff of the dental school in 1972 to teach behavioral sciences and patient management. He taught 15 one week seminars to the students on hypnosis and relaxation techniques to control fear and other psychological problems associated with the oral cavity. In this respect he was one of the first psychostomatologists (or mouth psychologists). In the course of his research he was asked to do a pilot study to show the effectiveness of the new treatment modality called behavior therapy before grant money could be granted for research in fear of dental treatment. At the same time Dr. Forgione was approached by a flight attendant, Carol Burrows to teach a fear of flying course at Pan Am. Dr. Forgione informed The National Institute of Health in Washington that he would choose fear of flying as a pilot for the dental fear study.

Within one week of placing an ad in the Boston Globe, over 500 people applied to take the class for fear of flying. Students were assigned to groups of 150. It was a period of both intense activity and excitement. Never had so many been treated for a psychological problem at one time. The behavior therapy approach was in direct contradiction to the prevalent Freudian concept of therapy. The approach was based on associating relaxation with thoughts and images of flying which were conditioned with anxiety. The basic concept was one proposed by Wolpe, a student of Dr. Leo Reyna who also trained Dr. Forgione. By the theorized process of reciprocal inhibition, relaxation blocked and replaced the anxiety response associated with anticipations of anxiety.

The course lasted 6 weeks, two hours per week. On the seventh week, 150 former fearful flyers boarded a Pan Am 707 and flew a one hour triangular course from Boston to Newburgh, New York to Labrador and Back to Boston. In one year, the 500 former phobics graduated to become fearless flyers. Over the courses much was learned. The course was extended one week with each repetition of the class, reducing the anxiety experienced to a greater degree with each additional week. Finally a period of ten weeks achieved maximal relaxation. From that time onward, the length of all subsequent courses has been 10 weeks. That is why the home study course is planned for 10 weeks. The success achieved with these early courses proved that psychological fear can be treated rapidly and efficiently and no other psychological problems appeared according to Freud’s concept of symptom substitution).

However when Dr. Forgione returned to Washington to report the success with 500 phobics, the funding for the grant on fear of dentistry was no longer available. The committee had changed and another person was awarded grants on the topic. That ended Dr. Forgione’s career as a government dependent researcher. He immediately was in the private fear of flying endeavor. He shifted his interest at Tufts to facial pain and founded the Tufts Temporomandibular-Myofascial Pain Center. The Center continues today, renamed The Gelb Craniomandibular Orofacial Pain Center.

In 1973 Dr. Forgione founded The Institute For Psychology of Air Travel and began treatment and research of the fear of flying. With Dr. Richard Surwit he co-authored Fear: Learning to cope, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1978 and in 1980 co-authored Fearless Flying: The complete program for relaxed air travel, Houghton-Mifflin.

Today, over 400 classes later, classes are held on a more personal basis. Currently, in 2007, class size is limited to 8 and the cost of the course at Boston is $495.00. The treatment is so effective that the course is guaranteed and if the fear returns within four years, treatment will be free. The course is so successful that less than four students return from the thousands who have graduated.

The Fearless Flying Course was created based upon these courses and refined over the years. Dr. Forgione has found that conservative treatment as in the home study course is an excellent first step to fearful flyers and phobics. There is a very good chance that the Home Study Course will be all needed if the fear is a singular fear of flying. The course has also been used for other fears with the student changing the target situations.

In his work with head, face and neck pain patients at Tufts, Dr. Forgione discover a set of acupressure points (finger pressure not needles) which relax chronic tension and relieve pain. These points have been included in the Home Study Course because they have been most helpful for relaxing fearful flyers.

Dr. Forgione has lectured extensively in the United States and abroad. He has lectured at Tufts University, Harvard, Babson and Emmanuel. Currently he is a lecturer at Boston University. He is also in private practice, specializing in fear.

The Institute for Psychology of Air Travel