Curing Dive/Pre-Dive Anxiety?

[Gallix23]

Hey everyone,

My mother and I just got back from our first 2 open water dives for our certifications. My dives went great, hers on the otherhand, not so great.

The first dive we descended to about 23 feet. I got there first, then she did, but right when she hit the bottom, she ascended again. My instructor signaled me to stay down, they both disappeared for about 5 minutes, and then just my instructor came back down and signaled to start the dive.

Just a little background info: During the pool training, she was completely, 100% fine. Did everything perfectly, had no problem in the water, was comfortable with the water, etc. etc. However, the open water dives were much different. In the pool, we had on 3mm wetsuits in 84 degree water. In the ocean, there was 10ft vis, we had on a 2 piece, 7mm wetsuit (so pretty much 14mm around the chest/abdomen), hoods, gloves, boots, on top of everything else. She said that this may have been part of the reason for feeling anxious, she said the hood and the wetsuit made her feel restricted and the hood touching her throat made her feel nervous.

When it came time for the second dive, she suited up, but then got the feeling again and decided not to dive. She really wants to do this, and is devastated that she couldn't bring herself to do it today, but we have our next two dives on Sunday, so she's going to try again.

Do you guys have any tips, advice, or similar experiences that I could give her to ease her mind and give her some confidence on Sunday? I'd appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

[Teamcasa]

Talk to her, ask her why she feels anxious.

In addition, make sure her wetsuit fits properly. If her suit fits poorly it can restrict her breathing and anxiety will ensue.

 

[Gallix23]

Oh, I forgot to mention, she needed even more weight to get negative, so she had on ankle weights as well as the BC integrated weights and another weight around the tank. She said that the ankle weights made her feel like she was "going to drown" because she felt like she was struggling just to kick on the surface.

She also said that when she went down it was sort of a catastrophic thing where she got a partial mask squeeze but had water in her mask around her nose, which, when she tried to blow to relieve the squeeze, just shot up and got into her eye, at which point she just called it off and ascended.

The instructor did change the wetsuit, and she said it felt more comfortable. He also let us borrow a hood so that she could wear it and get use to the feeling of it.

 

[ligersandtions]

Is there a possibility to do some more confined water diving? I know the pool is 84F, but if the suit, gloves, hood, etc. are making her nervous, it may be beneficial to do a pool session in all the gear she'll be wearing in open water. I find that wearing all that neoprene on the surface is really uncomfortable, but it generally seems to disappear underwater. My guess is that she was uncomfortable with the gear on the surface, anxious about the dives, stressing about the gear and the skills....and it all ended with her wanting nothing more than to get out of the water and out of the gear.

It's a comfort thing....and I really do think that another pool session or two would help. Not only for the gear issue, but also since it sounds like she was struggling with mask issues as well. This is a sign that she's not really comfortable with mask equalization or clearing. The more time she spends in the water (whether it's 8 feet or 30 feet), the more comfortable she's going to get. Talk with your instructor....see if it's possible to do some more pool work to increase her (and maybe yours as well) comfort.

Don't give up though. Diving is great! It's not for everyone, but hopefully she can get comfortable and it will be for her

 

[Gallix23]

I could see about the confined training, if anything I'm sure if she doesn't end up coming around Sunday that can be arranged with the instructor for another day in the future.

I do agree with the comfort thing, and I told her that whole thing about not feeling it underwater, but I don't think she was under there long enough in a relaxed state that she realized it, she just immediately nixed it. However, she has said to me that she hates the feeling of water around her nose, but she dealt with it in the pool since it wasn't as noticeable and she was able to keep it clear (even I, who had no problem with the mask clearing in the pool, got my breath literally taken away when I flooded my mask with the 51 degree water, but I just needed to take another breath and was fine).

 

[Teamcasa]

Being she was constricted by the wetsuit, mask squeeze and more than likely overweighted her reaction is no surprise. Nicole is right, ask to do more pool time. She will gain confedence and be able to react with ease to small issues.

In addition, find her a mask that fits well and does not leak.

 

[Gallix23]

Her and I snorkel regularly (freshwater) and we have some brand new masks we just bought, so we may bring those and see what our instructor thinks (because the ones that he has are alright, but none seem to work for her, mine leaks a bit but it doesn't really phase me).

I think for Sunday I'll just try some positive thinking and reassurance with her, along with a (hopefully) better mask, and see how that goes. If it goes well awesome, if it doesn't, we'll talk about the extra pool sessions since the season is coming to a close anyways, that way she can try open water again when next season opens.

 

[Starcruiser]

I had kind of the same problem when I first started out, with the instructor rushing us into the water as soon as he was suited up. If it's just the instructor and you two, ask him (her) if they can 'ease' into the dive, to gradually get the feel of the equipment and low vis. Start by submerging closer to shore and just parallel the shore before heading out into deeper water. This might give her time to acclimate and help her relax a bit.

 

[ptyx]

Cold water is rough.

If better gear and pool sessions still leave her unable to transition to cold water diving, the ultimate (but expensive) solution is probably to travel to a place where she can get more experience in an easier environment first, such as Hawaii or Florida.

 

[Gallix23]

It is just us and the instructor, and she actually mentioned earlier that if she had time to snorkel around a bit and get used to the stuff she had on, she probably would have been fine (to the instructors credit, the water was cold, so I understand his go, go, go, method). However regardless of temperature, I think Sunday we're going to ask him for a little more time to ease in before we actually descend.

I really think if we did dive in Florida or some place warm things would have been fine, we would have been in minimal gear with awesome vis and scenery to get her mind off of the anxiety (not that NE is bad diving, it was awesome but to really appreciate it you have to be basically on the bottom).