Panic in OW - advice needed

[Pelagic Penguin]

Practicing, within limits, is a great way to slowly adjust yourself to scuba diving without getting your head under water - pun intended. :wink1:

But I think what's most important in addressing the fear is, first and foremost, WHY are you panicking? You're under water. You're under (literal) pressure. You're putting your safety in the hands of your buddy and your own skills. Are you fearful of drowning? Being stung by a jellyfish? Decompression sickness? Blown sinuses? Confined spaces? The safety of your buddy? Disturbing the environment? Encountering the unknown?

As a horseback rider (of 12+ years!) I experience panic every time I jump a horse over 2'. I know that I have a chance of the horse stopping or side-stepping in front of a jump. I can fall off, be trampled, break limbs (which I have done), or end up like Christopher Reeves. I have identified that my fear is physical: I have a rational fear of getting hurt. What I fear the most, though, (and this took me awhile to realize) is the length of recovery time before I can get back on a horse. And this is what drives me to jump up to 3' regardless of the fear.

There are two types of fears: physical and mental. Figure out what kind of fear you're experiencing, and what is driving your fear. It sounds like your fear occurs at depth. Examine why that is. Understand your fear under calm, scuba-free conditions so that when you get in the water, you can work with your mind and body to do what you want to do.

Remember, too: knowledge combats fear. The more you learn about scuba diving, through books, forums, classes, and experience, the more comfortable you will be with your own skills and the less fear you will feel. Just keep at it, and you can overcome any fear you experience in any aspect of your life!

 

[Jamba]

What can I say...Thank you all for your valuable thoughts and your suggestions! You have been so helpful, I highly appreciate it.

I was well aware of the possible danger that my reaction implied/s, which was the reason I posted here to get an evaluation from you experienced folks, because it seemed not to be in my judgment at that point and I beat myself up on it pretty good.
Therefore it was really important to me to learn that other people had similar issues and what would be a good way to encounter the problem. Many good thoughts and I took a lot of your suggestions to heart!

I consider it very important to be honest with oneself and know the limits, as well as having people that are honest to you. It is the only way to become good at something and improve.

Like I said, I think I finally learned a lot from this experience especially what my personal limits are concerned, not to go dive if I don't feel up to it or do what I am not ready for. I think I finally have a good feel for what I am comfortable with at this point and I will definitely have an eye on myself in the future and go as slow as necessary to become good and safe - I have all the time there is.

Offthewall,
Thank you for sharing your "anti-panic-method" which is kind of what I am doing right now. I don't have the urge to go deep or progress in no time, just getting comfortable. Actually, the shallow dives with my "under water baby sitter" (experienced buddy) were breath taking and if my final comfy-depth turns out to be 60' or something else I am good with it.

I try to get into the water as often as possible and my instructor still offered to call him up, whenever I feel I want to go dive, which I definitely do.
I will keep learning and take more classes when I feel ready for them, but I want to learn to dive in the water and not in a classroom by taking one class after the other. I would like to make diving a journey that lasts a lifetime and is not over in a couple of years, so no need to rush.

Thanks again for all your thoughts on this.

Jim,
I am located in San Diego as well (guess I need to edit my profile). Thanks for your offer; can I send you a PM?

 

[DMJulie]

My first DSD dive was pretty much awful. I was so scared! There was 4 in my group with our instructor. I watched the instructor take each person down one at a time and as they went down (to only about 15ft) they demonstrated the skills we had just learned on the shore. Well as I watched everyone else, I was freaking out at the surface thinking about when it would be my turn. By the time the instructor came up to take me down (only 5 minutes had probably gone by) I had pretty much decided that scuba diving was not for me and I was going back to shore to wait for everyone else to do the dive. thankfully my instructor calmed me down and got me under, I was scared and held my instructors hand the entire dive! Talk about embarrassing!

After the dive I was glad I had done it, but was not in any hurry to try it again. My best friend had a better time then I and wanted to go again. After talking with her, I realized my pride was bigger then my fear, so I went again and again and again. Now I am almost done with my Dive Master cert. I have logged over 50 dives in the last 9 months and LOVE scuba diving.

I guess the moral of my story, is try to stick with it. Remember why you wanted to try diving in the first place. Remember why you wanted to get your OW cert. Diving is fun but can be scary, its a good thing you can voice your fears, thats how we get past them.

My suggestions would be to talk to your instructor regarding specific fears you have and have them explain to you on what to do if the thing you fear happened. This way you have the information to cope with the fear. Before you know it the fear will be gone.

Good Luck.

Happy Diving!

 

[Bobby Demosthenis]

What can I say...Thank you all for your valuable thoughts and your suggestions! You have been so helpful, I highly appreciate it.

I was well aware of the possible danger that my reaction implied/s, which was the reason I posted here to get an evaluation from you experienced folks, because it seemed not to be in my judgment at that point and I beat myself up on it pretty good.
Therefore it was really important to me to learn that other people had similar issues and what would be a good way to encounter the problem. Many good thoughts and I took a lot of your suggestions to heart!

I consider it very important to be honest with oneself and know the limits, as well as having people that are honest to you. It is the only way to become good at something and improve.

Like I said, I think I finally learned a lot from this experience especially what my personal limits are concerned, not to go dive if I don't feel up to it or do what I am not ready for. I think I finally have a good feel for what I am comfortable with at this point and I will definitely have an eye on myself in the future and go as slow as necessary to become good and safe - I have all the time there is.

Offthewall,
Thank you for sharing your "anti-panic-method" which is kind of what I am doing right now. I don't have the urge to go deep or progress in no time, just getting comfortable. Actually, the shallow dives with my "under water baby sitter" (experienced buddy) were breath taking and if my final comfy-depth turns out to be 60' or something else I am good with it.

I try to get into the water as often as possible and my instructor still offered to call him up, whenever I feel I want to go dive, which I definitely do.
I will keep learning and take more classes when I feel ready for them, but I want to learn to dive in the water and not in a classroom by taking one class after the other. I would like to make diving a journey that lasts a lifetime and is not over in a couple of years, so no need to rush.

Thanks again for all your thoughts on this.

Jim,
I am located in San Diego as well (guess I need to edit my profile). Thanks for your offer; can I send you a PM?

And you know the good thing about this? When (as I am sure you will) you become an Instructor or Divemaster for that matter, (trust me it will happen, you may not think your ready, but do what you are doing, dive as often as you want and can) you have something to relate to. You can empathize with your students if something similar occurs.

As an Instructor(or Divemaster) you learn to deal Mental or Physical stressers, but your 'experience' will be invaluable rather than quoting from a book.

San Diego...is the water warm over there? and, regardless of the answer, what suit do you normally wear? I am in the cold waters of the British Isles, I am from England! I don't dive much over here, down to the fact I have no dry suit.

Bobby

 

[oceanaddicted]

Like all the others on this thread have said, it is not unusual at all to be nervous or feel panic coming on your first OW dives. The only thing I can think of here that hasn't already been discussed is honesty with your instructor about how nervous you were. One of the first things I get out of the way when teaching is to gain the confidence and trust of my students. It's all downhill from there and as a Instructor with a huge liability, believe me, I want to know what's going on in their heads at all times. The next thing that I can think of is did anyone criticize you in training? If so, that is evil. No instructor should criticize or belittle their students, not EVER. I certainly hope not in your case. Sometimes peer pressure is a factor too. Were the other students better at the skills than you were? If so, so what. You are among the normal and NO ONE is perfect. Don't remember who said it but it was good advice.....dive with very experienced divers and stay shallow at maybe less than 30 ft for a while until you get comfortable. Dive the same sites you are familiar with a few times until you gain your confidence back. You will be fine and never give up diving over something you know you can already do. Congrats on your OW training and good luck with your future lifetime of diving.

 

[dwhthediver]

Jamba,
I have read all the posts that you wrote, and congratulations! Always have respect for diving, and call any dive that you are not comfortable doing. Your diligence and practice have paid off big dividends and the underwater world in now your playground!!! Keep diving, dive slow, and enjoy the scenery, and the fact that you have a very experienced buddy with which you can dive is awesome! Now I am going to go into the corner and sulk as I thought that learners permit was an original with me, all my students hear me say it. I then show them my instructors card, and then tell them this is an advanced learners permit, because unlike a driver's license, which is an end point, everyone diving is learning on every dive.Dive often, and keep taking classes, both give you knowledge, and underwater, knowledge and its apllication makes your diving safer

 

[Jamba]

San Diego...is the water warm over there? and, regardless of the answer, what suit do you normally wear?
Bobby

7mm wetsuit, hood, gloves, boots. Believe the watertemp. is between 50-70F (10-20C) depending on the season. My coldest dive so far was 55F (13C).

The only thing I can think of here that hasn't already been discussed is honesty with your instructor about how nervous you were. .... as a Instructor with a huge liability, believe me, I want to know what's going on in their heads at all times.

Well, what this point is concerned I am 100% with you on that. If I were an instructor (which I was in a different sport) I would want to know what is going on as well. First of all, it is not fair for the instructor, since he has a huge responsibility and second he cannot help you if he does not know.

So, yes, I tried to be as honest with my instructor as possible.
When I first meet my instructor a week or so before the course started, we had a little chat. He knew I had done a try scuba class (pool) with another instructor of the LDS before signing up for the course and knew that I had some apprehension. He picked up on it right away and asked me about my concerns, explained what the course would look like, what would be taught, his teaching history and the kinds of diving he does, etc..This made me really confident in him and I had already heard some good things about him.
What I mean by "as possible" is, I was able to tell him that I was extremely nervous prior to the check out dives, but when he asked me what I was nervous about or what I was afraid of I couldn't tell, because I did not know either. The only thing I could tell was that I was afraid of some situation coming up that I felt I could not handle, but I could not specify that. I guess I belong to those people that always have to be in control and feel ready for any possible situation.

Like I said, I learned a lot from these 5 dives and I really thought about what I should have done different and will do in the future! First thing is, I definitely signaled my instructor I was OK, when I really was not (big mistake, a big no-no in the future for sure!).
Problem for me was...what to say, I knew I was nervous and he knew. Even if I would have told him I was not ok and we would have surfaced, I would not have been able to tell what the problem was other than that I was uncomfortable and nervous as hell. Yes, I know, would have been reason enough.

If I had called it after my "little" freak-out I would not have gone back and in retrospect I am glad I continued even if I was more than happy when it was over. The other thing was, and this is where peer pressure might have been an issue, I did not want to spoil the other guy's check-out dives. He was really excited about it and had a trip planned the week after. Guess I spoiled mine instead.

The next thing that I can think of is did anyone criticize you in training? If so, that is evil. No instructor should criticize or belittle their students, not EVER. I certainly hope not in your case. Sometimes peer pressure is a factor too. Were the other students better at the skills than you were?

No, I was NEVER criticized or treated inappropriately in any way! It was a very, very pleasant class. There was only one other student, couple of years younger than me, taking the class. It was really neat since we got a lot of personal attention and I was excited about getting in the pool since I really enjoyed the try scuba. Both of us picked up on the skills pretty good and both of us had no problems doing them hovering in the pool. In the end I think, it was not my skills that were not ready it was my head making it a total mess! Ocean-time is coming up, oops. :shocked2: I could not imagine that I should be ready to go out into the OCEAN after spending some time in a pool let alone being ready to go out there by MYSELF after a few dives with an instructor.

Well, did not know about the "learners permit thingy" at that point.

Lot to learn...

 

[EvenKeel]

This being my first post on these boards, I thought I'd say hi :cool2:

Well, I think everyone deals with new situations differently.

I spend some time in the Coast Guard as a boat crewman on board 44' Motor Life Boats in the Pacific Northwest. It was my chosen career to jump into the water and hoist people on board the boat and, in a few extreme cases, into a basket strung beneath a helocopter. I was never on board when a 44' rolled 360, but we took a few 90 degree lists where I was submerged for a few seconds while strapped onto the rail above the well deck. I've done some things that most people would consider crazy, but it was just part of the job.

During my first dive (an "Intro to Scuba" trip), I was about 10' down the rope and froze. Something in me rejected the idea that I should be breathing underwater. The instructor came up and signalled that he couldn't see bubbles from my respirator. I'd just stopped breathing. I tried breathing and did the "listen to the bubbles" mantra for a few minutes. I descended another five feet and had a sharp pain in my left ear. In my "listen to the bubbles" trance, I'd forgotten to equalize. The instructor signalled me to go up a little, equalize and try descending again. I eventually made it to the bottom about thirty feet down and it was a good fifteen minutes before I could relax and look at the ledge we were swimming near.

I'm hooked. I've signed up for a scuba course and hope to be in the water in the Keys next April.

My wife had a daunting experience during her first IS dive as well. This was well before I met her. She went on the trip because her father was a Dive Master. The instructor took her off the rope at about 20 feet and, much to her terror, put her face to face with a 4 foot barracuda. She inflated her BC and headed straight to the surface with my father-in-law holding her ankle. Can you imagine going on your first dive and ending up inches away from a mouthful of teeth within minutes of getting wet?

Needless to say, she won't be accompanying me on my new adventures. She simply refuses to get back into the gear even for another IS dive. She's quite content snorkelling and I hope I'll be spending some wonderful surface time snorkelling with her. That is all well and fine, but the husband part of me wants to track down that "instructor" and hold his head in a toilet for a minute or two.

With all that said, I agree with everyone that advised you to discuss your state of mind with your instructor. The instructor's job is to teach you the skills that will keep you safe. One of those skills is building your confidence so that you don't think, "OMG, I CAN'T BREATHE IF I TAKE OFF MY MASK" every time you get in the water. Try going into the pool, sans mask, eyes closed for a while. Then try to put your mask on and clear it. Alternately, have your instructor put tape over your mask, put it on and clear it. The mask is only there to help you see underwater.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

YAY! Glad to hear you've found your path to diving enjoyment! Many people don't realize how much your diving can be affected by the state of mind you are in on the surface. Diving is either a release from stress or an addition to it and it can vary from person to person or from day to day with one person. Self awareness goes a long way toward being a safe diver.

Keep diving and keep learning! Take it at your pace, you've got the rest of your life to build your comfort zone and slowly experience what lies at the edges.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[SkydiverChick]

My skydiving instructor taught me to close my eyes and visualize the perfect dive in my head twice. Then he would remind me that this is supposed to fun and I'm there because I want to be there. No one is forcing me. These things helped me when I was doing my OW. I had the same problem. I bolted to the top (tried to anyway) when I had to remove my mask and my instructor pulled me back down. In my opinion, the best place to make a mistake or panic is when your instructor is with you. That way you know where you went wrong. My biggest problem in just about everything I do is that I over think things. Every instructor I've ever had from skiing to scuba, says that I make things harder than they actually are.