Policy on sedative prescribing for fear of flying

Does Ladybarn Group Practice provide sedatives for the purpose of flying abroad with a fear of flying?

We have recently had an increase in requests for sedatives ahead of plane journeys to treat Fear of Flying. In this past, this has occasionally been arranged on an ‘ad-hoc’ basis depending on individual GP judgement.

Following review of the most up to date evidence, we are now unable to provide any sedatives for fear of flying. We have detailed some of the reasons below:

  1. Sedatives, such as diazepam, will make you more sleep and relaxed. This could be very dangerous if there is an emergency situation during the flight

  2. There is a small risk of sedatives such as diazepam causing a paradoxical agitation and aggression. This could have serious consequences if it occurred within the confines of a plane and could result in criminal charges

  3. The British National Formulary (BNF), which is an evidence based prescribing guideline, states that benzodiazepines are contraindicated (not allowed) to be prescribed in phobia. Prescribing in such circumstances places a significant legal risk for the prescriber

Many airlines offer courses to tackle Fear of Flying and a number of these are listed below: