I've been through 6 go-arounds, some routine, some not. I suspect your wife has been through at least that many, so this must have been out of the ordinary.

While scary at the time, I look back at some of the roughest turbulence I've been through and I think it helped me realize how sturdy planes are. I've been through some rough patches since, but always know how much worse it can get without any problems (It also helps watching some of the videos of testing).


After a couple "I need to stop doing this" episodes, it takes 2-3 normal flights and I'm back at it. Hopefully your wife will be the same and putting this under her belt will help calm future episode and deal with other passengers going through it for the first time.

If she doesn't deal with it well, though, I would recommend a rethink. Panicking at the very moment that all the safety training is actually needed is not a good thing.