Near Miss and Psychological Impacts

[Scary Terry]

Hi all,

Interested in anybody who can share successful strategies for moving past a near miss incident and kept successfully diving.

This relates to a situation that occurred in March of this year which still weighs on my mind, where I was completely out of air in a ripping current about 25 metres below the surface. It required me to buddy breathe from a DM who was only coincidentally close by. My buddy was too far away to help in the current.

I dived later on the day of the incident, and have probably had about 20 dives since, usually reluctantly and nervously. But most days I still relive / remember what happened and when I do it fills me with dread. I have also become far more fixated on reading about other accidents and near misses.

At some point, with more distance from the situation, I may write it up for the Near Misses board to triage where I went wrong and learn more.

I guess the question is for others who have gone through something similar: what did you do to move past it and keep the passion for diving alive?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Joshua Pritchard]

I think the fact that you have dives since is a really good thing. First up Acknowledge the incident and that it has had a lasting impact on you (you seem to have done this) and don't let anyone minimise the impact for you .. It is yours and it will always be different from other peoples.

I would say that accepting that something happened is important, but you need to not read all the bad **** that can happen and dwell on it. or at least try and minimise that behaviour as from what you say that seems to be taking hold. reading about other experiences can be really good but not if it comes at the price of ruminating on the "**** that could easily happen to me" kind of thoughts.

I would recommend talking to a professional and my choice would be see if you can find someone that practices ACT in your area ACT is a really good tool helping you to learn how to accept and recognise behaviours that are not helpful, ACT to me embodies the mantra "Feel the Fear and do it anyway" that dosnt mean you have to do stupid things but with luck if you can work out how to deal with those reactions.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I agree with Joshua that talking with a professional might help.

Also, try keeping in mind how much you have learned from the incident and, as a result, how much more experienced a diver you are now.

 

[Rollin Bonz]

I've never had a real close call so far in my short diving career. But the one "incident" was due to pure stupidity on my part. Knowing that, and commiting to never repeating that mistake was all I needed to move forward.

If you want to continue diving, I think dissecting the incident may be the quickest route to overcoming it. Not necessarily in a public forum. Maybe going over it with your buddy or the DM. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't. Maybe it's as simple as my scenario...

Wow, I just about #$%ed up, that was stupid and could have ended poorly, NOPE, won't do THAT again! ​

But find out, as best you can, why it happened and what you can do moving forward to prevent it from recurring. And honestly, do you want to continue to dive without trying to make any needed corrections that could prevent a recurrence?

Best of luck!

 

[scubadada]

Hi @Scary Terry

I have had only one very frightening experience while diving. The series of activities that led up to the event were entirely my own fault. Fortunately, the outcome was good. After the event, I carefully analyzed all the mistakes I had made. I promised myself never to make any of those errors again. I have kept the promise for the last 11 years.

So, I'm sure you've carefully thought out how you could possibly have gone OOA. Take care never to make those errors again. My frightening experience became an incredibly valuable learning experience which I have generalized to other situations. Make your frightening experience something similar and improve your good and safe diving.

Very best, Craig

 

[JackD342]

I'll suggest something less general and more specific regarding your justified anxiety about Out Of Air emergencies. Add a redundant air source to your gear, and practice its use with an instructor so you know you can depend on it in an emergency. That could be a pony bottle, or it might be a Spare Air. Spare Air is travel friendly, and is available in 1.7, 3.0, and 6.0 cubic foot versions.

You could even go a step further and take a Self Reliant / Solo diver course.

 

[Slym]

The same thing happened to me after my post OW dive in Mexico, we were in a pretty heavy current and I was breathing heavy. look at my spg and I saw less than 250 psi. A DM was nearby and I signaled low on air, we made a conrolled acent to the surface and all was well. i dove again and I kept a better eye on my spg from there on.

I've also learned to dive with the military, and if that ever happened to me during the initial training, I can't tell you how many hours I would be getting PT'd to the ground. Out of air situations are a serious dive incident.

If I can offer my advice, learn from it and move on "always be better".

 

[northernone]

Two thoughts.

1. Sounds like a fairly common response to trauma. Similar if it was diving or a car wreck or any other near miss type event. Help and talking about it can make a difference, some find professional counselling useful as well.

2. Caution as a diver makes a good diver. I am intensely aware of the things which can go wrong while diving and that alert attitude is one of the things that keeps me from repeating my mistakes of the past.

Cameron

 

[2airishuman]

It is hard to reply with specificity without knowing more about the incident.

Broadly speaking, it is useful to classify incidents as being mainly either:

1. Mistakes made
2. Bad luck

If mistakes were made then hopefully you learned something and it won't happen again. If bad luck, well, evaluate the kinds of dives you're going to make, and realize that overall, diving is very safe.

On the other hand, if it isn't fun anymore, it's OK to find something else to do instead. Diving is supposed to be fun, and if it isn't, why do it?

 

[SnohomishDiver]

I've not had any close calls in diving, because I've only dove a very few times. However, I've crashed a couple of motorcycles, dumped a canoe or two in whitewater, folded up a wing at a few thousand feet with my paraglider, and fallen a few times rock climbing. With the exception of the climbing stuff - because falls just happen - key to moving on to me was to analyze the root cause of the mishap, ingrain the prevention, and then just move on.

Engineers use the term "analysis paralysis" regarding design projects. You can just get locked up in studying some problem to death, to the point where you're not really solving the problem, but just burning time. I'd suggest you try to stop reading about similar OOA situations, vow to keep an eye on your air, and press on.