Anxiety Management

[kensuf]

There's an interesting statistic with aviation accidents.

Freshly minted pilots tend to be relatively safe compared to those that have been flying for a little while -- there's a drop in safety somewhere between 100 and 250 flight hours. This is probably because the pilot with 100-250 hours has enough familiarity with the equipment that they feel they can skip a particular safety check here or there, but the newer pilot is still learning the ropes and tends to be very attentive in their pre-flight checks.

Somewhere along the line, the pilots that continue flying tend to become more attentive -- they either survived enough close calls to change their behavior, or had a close call and quit leaving the flying to the guys who were super attentive to begin with.

There's a term, normalization of deviance. It applies here.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Actually, it's the automatic evolutionary emotions like Stress, Fear and worst of all -Panic- that reduces situational awareness and causes perceptual narrowing to fixate only on the most basic instincts in an emergency. You have to control these primal emotions and turn to your conscious mind which is uniquely capable of deliberate & creative problem solving. You don't want anything else to add or compound a Panic situation like narcosis or low viz/silt-out for instance if you can help it as well.

While automatic emotions can quickly focus on the most immediate & vital variables like the Need to Breath Instinct for example, the learned & rational brain is able to expand the list of possibilities to resolve the situation and to engage the most reasonable action.

Obvious example: Fear of drowning and resulting Panic in an Out-of-Air Scuba contingency compels to conserve one's breath (or "hold" your breath), and make for the surface as quickly as possible. But proper training dictates that even in this dire emergency to never hold your breath and instead perform a CESA --that is to rationally overcome the panic, and utilize the learned skill/technique that will give you the best chance of a viable outcome.

"Per attempt, some have said that cave diving is the world's most dangerous sport. Fear keeps us in check. We previsualize our dive before entering. We try to imagine the things that might go wrong and the solutions to them. Still, we have to keep a certain amount of fear in our hearts in order to come home at the end of the day. The fearless usually die in this sport. The important thing is that you do not allow the fear to make a hostile takeover of your brain. You have to keep the emotions down so that there is room for reason to lead the way out. In a crisis, you need to make the next good decision to get a few feet closer to home. . ."
(Jill Heinerth, from The Real Story of Risk, p.245).

Know the risks in an Overhead, control fear & anxiety, but also use it to keep yourself sharp & alert within your training & comfort level. . .

 

[The Chairman]

However, I would hate to see people shy away from sharing the unvarnished truth. We need this courage and honesty in order to continue to learn.

Hear, hear! Too many people want to exact a pound of flesh when they see a 'wrong' on the interwebs. Pushing this stuff underground may be normal, but it's also dangerous. The last thing I need is a buddy who's afraid of discussing how they dive and what mistakes they've made. Bottling up your doubts and fears is a good way to have them flood over you at the most inopportune time.

 

[Imbodie]

You have to have some personal responsibility on the dive.

SORRY..... I HAVE to correct this..... YOU ALWAYS HAVE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR SELF ON ANY DIVE.... You can't lay any blame on any other diver for YOUR mistakes... I don't care if it is a dive buddy or an instructor....(ok for anything but initial cave training) ONLY YOU can know YOUR limitations (and prevent forest fires).

 

[Imbodie]

I'd like to hear people's thoughts and experiences about a few ideas.

1. Did your cave training discuss anxiety? Did it talk about how to avoid it? Did it talk about how to manage it once it appears? If it doesn't should it and how?
I think we did.... honestly don't remember

2. Is this something that divers are wary of talking about? Should it be discussed more?
given the macho attitudes I'm sure A LOT of cave divers avoid this subject like the plague

3. Do others find that hypercapnia is a factor? What other factors are relevant?
I don't think this has ever been an issue for me... Maybe that last dive with Pete at Ginnie... I was REALLY working against the flow and could have been an issue because I did have higher than normal anxiety levels...

4. What do you do when anxiety appears?
As a dry caver and dry cave guide I have seen anxiety pop up when guest's started to become exhausted and have experienced the same in my own caving.... I've been wedged pretty well into a gravel passage and had NO ISSUES, but then I was also worn out after a long surface hike combined with fast paced move through the cave and literally could not do a hands/knees crawl that was only 10' in length because of the anxiety...

 

[vinegarbiscuit]

1. Did your cave training discuss anxiety? Did it talk about how to avoid it? Did it talk about how to manage it once it appears? If it doesn't should it and how?
Yes, it was discussed, and my instructor told me to take a "time out" when (he used the term "when", not "if") anxiety struck - to just stop and get my breathing under control. That as long as I could breathe, I was OK. That if I needed to thumb the dive, that was absolutely OK.

2. Is this something that divers are wary of talking about? Should it be discussed more?
My buddies have never considered anxiety a taboo subject, and if any of them did, I would look hard at our suitability as buddies. There is no room for anything other than absolute transparency.

3. Do others find that hypercapnia is a factor? What other factors are relevant?
Lord, yes. Nothing like huffing and puffing through very strong flow (or whatever) to evoke thoughts of "what the HELL am I doing here? Am I insane?!". To me, that's when the anxiety usually kicks in. Fortunately, I have never experienced anxiety as a response to an external event (e.g., lost line, problems with equipment, problems with a buddy, etc). It's always been a result of my own head messing with me. I've also had a few horrid moments of anxiety when I've been narked.

4. What do you do when anxiety appears?
I turn inwards for a brief second. I focus on moderating my breathing, and I mentally revise the training and experience I've accumulated to date. I think of how carefully I have prepared for my dive, and remind myself that I have done everything I can to maximize my chances of survival in a cave environment. It just takes a split second, but it's a comfort. Then I look at the beauty of the cave and remind myself how incredibly lucky I am to be where I am. And then - I know it sounds stupid - I think of the funniest thing I can (a scene from a film, a passage from a book) in a bid to make myself giggle. It works every time.

 

[owljhk]

First time posting. I was recently diving and experienced stress/anxiety when swimming against a current and regulator seemed to be delivering less air than I needed. There were a number of issues that also were in play which I won't go into. This stress/anxiety hit me out of the blue. I had never experienced anything like it during hundreds of dives even some where fairly stressful things happened. I was initially certified in 1975 and have done maybe 10 courses since then and I do not recall receiving any training on stress management while diving, possibly because I never expressed a concern about it. Believe me, I have a new sympathy for people who have stress while diving. The following link has recordings with useful techniques that are free to download: Stress & Panic Management for Divers - DivePsych.
I also read Scuba Confidential and Scuba Professional by Simon Pridwell and thought those books were useful. For stress/anxiety management, Simon specifically recommends two other books: Stress and Performance in Diving and The Tao of Survival Underwater. I would like to read these, but I can only find them for very high prices.

 

[Steve_C]

Swimming against a current. Very easy to get a CO2 buildup. This is physical stress which can lead to mental stress. I could be wrong but what you describe sounds like classic CO2 buildup including the feeling that you are not getting enough air.

 

[owljhk]

Steve_C, I think that was a major factor. I was unprepared to deal with the situation other than to make a slow and safe assent. Now, I am more educated about this, am taking all measures I can think of and read about to avoid having this happen again, and I have procedures in place should I become stressed/anxious while diving. I'm wondering if scuba education should include more attention to stress management skills.

 

[KevinNM]

I also read Scuba Confidential and Scuba Professional by Simon Pridwell and thought those books were useful. For stress/anxiety management, Simon specifically recommends two other books: Stress and Performance in Diving and The Tao of Survival Underwater. I would like to read these, but I can only find them for very high prices.

Add Helium has it for $90, which is almost reasonable for a textbook these days. The Tao of Survival Underwater