Advice please on student anxiety

[chiara]

I panicked on the surface on my very first certification dive.

It was cold (beginning of April), it was dark, and despite feeling fine just before entering the water, there was no way I could go down.

That happened three and a half years and 222 dives ago.

I had had six months in the pool.

I did fine the following Sunday, and never stopped since.

I am now an instructor and signed PIC envelopes for my first two students last week-end.

What I can say is: give her the time she needs, let her practice if she thinks she needs to and things will come.

Keep us updated!

 

[Paco]

Here's an update.

Walter, I'm sorry I didn't answer all your questions. She had all her pool training in one day, except for the pool time that I had with her (a couple of just swimming around sessions). Actually, last night we spend over an hour in a pool. She practiced all the skills in the deep end, some several times. She now seems very comfortable with the equipment, skills, etc. We'll be in open water later today. I'm confident that she'll now be fine. I'll let you know.

 

[Rick Murchison]

Falcon99 once bubbled...
Most of us have seen the helicopter "dunker" on the Discovery channel. It is an oversized (~12 foot diameter) barrel that has doors, windows, and seats like a helicopter. You belt in, it drops in the water, floods, and inverts like a helicopter does in the ocean. Your task is to wait until all motion stops and exit the craft CALMLY, as instructed (through the main exit, or other). We had six 'dunks', each with progressively harder exits.

I absolutely hated that **** ******* ************* helicopter dunker trainer!
And I'm a fearless man!
Rick

 

[Rick Murchison]

Paco once bubbled...
She had all her pool training in one day

This is grossly inadequate.
Which shop?
What agency?
Rick

 

[Walter]

"She had all her pool training in one day"

"She felt anxious upon entering the lake........she began to panic and went to the surface"

Some people shouldn't be teaching diving. I would expect her to panic after such inadequate preparation. I agree with Rick, this is inexcusable and does border on being criminal.

She has not had time to learn the skills adequately. All the skills she did learn are in short term memory. Finally, she hasn't covered nearly enough skills (I'm assuming here because you didn't say what skills were covered, but with so little time learning them all would be impossible).

The best solution for her is to find a good instructor and start over. Interview instructors to find out what is covered and how the class is organized. Fast and easy is a mistake, especially for those who aren't naturals.

 

[diamondvp]

Hi, I am new to this board. My husband, 10 yr old son and I recently took our dive certification course. To save us trips (we have to drive 2 hrs for the class) the dive shop said we could get certified in one weekend (Sat. & Sun.). Our first day was last Sat. the 26th. By lunch I had decided the class was way to fast paced for me and I wanted to slow it down and told them I rather take it slower and drive back another weekend if I had too. I was convinced it would be best and easier to get it all done this weekend and talked into staying and doing my first dive the first day of class. I wasn't even comfortable breathing under water and was having to do these skills in the pool before I had a feel of things. The more I had to do the worse anxiety I was feeling. I wasn't comfortable I choked the first time I took my mask off due to water getting up my nose and I had to surface. I was in the pool in 4 ft of water so that wasn't bad. I went under and did it again and I did fine. After lunch we had class time then had to go to the lake (I live in OKalhoma and if you've ever been in our lakes they are far from clear no matter what anyone tells you). I snorkel carribean waters and love it but this lake stuff sucks. So the first dive I had to do was go in 25 ft of water for 20 min. I was so scared to go in that dark merky water I was about to panic. I was also not comfortable breathing under water. The class went under and I didn't. I finally went under w/ another instructor whom I feel more comforable with and did my dive. I was scared but then felt better once I was done. Well then come day 2. Our lake dive included doing our skills and I did my fin pivet no problem even blowing into my bcd myself. I was a little paranoid but was not to the point of anxiety. Then I had to do my partial mask flood and full mask flood. My anxiety was increasing since I remembed choking the first time I took off my mask. I have contacts I couldn't open my eyes under water. I did it fine and lived through it. On my third dive I had to do my full mask removal and emergency ascend. I was really dreading the emergency ascend which was next. I could barely do it in the pool so doing it from 25 ft was extremely scary. I was so scared and paranoid at this point I couldnt do it. The visibility in the lake wasn't even a foot and it was getting dark outside so that didn't help things either. I was 25 ft deep and wanted to surface. I signalled to my instructor (the one I wasn't comfortable with) that there was something wrong & and I wanted to go up. He grabbed my bcd and was signaling that I was okay. I kept saying no I want to go up. The fact he wasn't letting me go up made me feel worse and more anxious. I could feel myself starting to hyperventilate under water. I finally went up and was in tears and was so out of breath that I didn't feel like I was ever going to catch my breath. All I could think about was giving up and going home. I didnt' want to be certified at that point. It wasn't worth it to me. I finally calmed down and went under and did my full mask flood and emergency ascend. My point here is that first the class was way too fast pace but nobody was letting me do things at my pace and just rushed me which made me feel more scared and anxious. I only felt comfortable w/ one instructor because he didn't seem as pushy as the other one and any time I had that instructor I was getting anxious so instructors make a huge difference in things. Also, I don't think you should ever ever ever hold anyone under water when they want to go up. He knew I was about to panic because my eyes were huge. I wasn't ascending fast I was following all procedures so he had no reason to hold me there. I was trying to surface before the anxiety attack to keep us all safe. The only thing I could think is if he didn't let me go I was going to drowned. Holding someone down is no way to make someone comfortable. After that I did my last dive w/ the other instructor and did just fine. I was still scared but not to the point of freaking out. I know exactly how this guy's wife feels having people make you do things faster than you'd like and it's no fun. Diving was suppose to be fun for me and this class was the most scariest thing I've ever done in my life. I did finish my dives and am getting my certification but I don't know if I want to dive now. At this point I may never do it. Being held under water against my will has ruined all fun for me.

 

[Walter]

diamondvp,

Stories like yours anger me. There is no excuse for what you endured. I'm also totally against teaching 10 year olds to dive, but that's another story.

Good classes are spread out over several weeks.

Good classes let you practice one skill until you are comfortable with it before moving on to the next.

Good classes don't include beginners in 1 ft of viz.

I can't blame you not wanting to dive, you aren't ready to dive. You were never taught to dive. You were ripped off.

 

[Genesis]

I just saw some of this, with the first OW cert dives (in shallow water, natch) done in less than 5' of vis.

How do I know? I dove the same waters at the same time, and damn near ran into the class - due to being unable to see them until I was 2' away!

This kind of thing is one of the strongest arguments for tearing down the "traditional" LDS system, and uncoupling training from the other functions of a dive shop.

All should be completely independant - training, fills, service, trips - combining them should be at the discretion of an operator, not the "only way to get approved for <X>", or the "only way to get insurance for your business."

 

[diamondvp]

I am so glad that I'm not the only one that thinks that class wasn't right. Makes me realize I wasn't being overly paranoid. As far as certifying 10 yr olds, When I talk to the dive center they said they have dive camps for that age group all the time and it wasn't problem. However, today I went to PADI.COM and read the minimum age and it says 12 yrs old. That makes zero sense to me. If PADI is the one issuing the certification cards and their website says minimum age is 12 then how in the heck is my son suppose to get a card when his age is 10 (he'll be 11 in 2 mo.). Do they not look at that when they issue the cards? If he wasn't suppose to go through this class I'm not going to be very happy w/ the dive center. He did fine in it. In fact he got a better score on his written test than his dad and I did but I'm all about following guidelines and if PADI doesn't agree that a 10 yr old is proper age to be teaching to dive than neither do I. They know the sport way better than I do. I should have read PADI's website before contacting the dive center but I was clueless. I'm just a snorkeler wanting to go deeper than the surface. Next time I'll do more research instead of relying on the dive center to tell me everything I need to know. So far I have spent $1547 including equipment (except BCD's and all that) and yes I don't feel ready to dive. Now that I think about it the reason they wanted me to advance and get certified is because that is less time they have to spend and more money for them. Uggg! What do you suggest I do? Should I request more training? I'm sure they'll try to charge me for it. All I know is I'm not diving until I feel comfortable doing it and at this point I'm not comfortable.

 

[Genesis]

raped on the gear on top of it all.

My recommendation: Find a friend with a pool who will let you use it, get someone who can get you a couple of tanks filled, and practice in the pool until you are comfortable and have decent trim.

When you can do all of the skills comfortably in the pool, your trmi and buoyancy control is decent, then you can venture forth and attempt diving in open water.

You're certified but not qualified by your own view. You can, however, fix the qualification problem with practice. Find a place where you can work on it and have at it.

And in the future, ignore the LDS. They pretty clearly don't have your best interest in mind - which is no surprise - few do.