Extinguishing the impulse to bolt

[boulderjohn]

this is pure musing, not an instructor, take it with a pound of salt.

i wonder if part of the class could be brainstorming every possible action with outcomes in a few relatively common panic-starting scenarios? by this i mean set up a scenario (while dry in a classroom or otherwise not actually diving) like 'you notice you're not getting much gas when you try to take a breath. what could you do next?' then lots of suggestions from and to the class with a 'what do you think might happen then?' follow up. i think if going to the surface is an option presented with some non-desireable outcomes that the 'stop, breathe, think, act' thing makes more sense. in much shorter words, it's my opinion the 'think' in that phrase should be replaced with 'think of as many options and likely outcomes as you can in a short time & the next logical step for what seem to be the best choices'. yeah, not as catchy.

the reason i'm thinking this is that i've noticed that tweens/young teens seem to think of one thing to do to get out of whatever difficulty they're in and fail to think of multiple options or the next logical step in the one they've thought of. it seems like the first springboard to more mature logic, but one that needs to be quickly augmented, a stage to get past.

Interesting post, arriving seconds before my last one.

I do indeed talk about the non-desirable outcomes. I especially talk about my nephew's mother-in-law, who had a heart attack while diving. This led to circulatory problems which led to the panicked sense that her regulator was not giving her air. She spit out the regulator and bolted. I tell my students that she almost certainly would have survived the heart attack, but she did not survive the embolism from the rapid ascent. I also have a brainstorming session in which I ask them to think of a situation that could not be solved without a bolt to the surface. They have never been able to suggest one. I pretty much never miss an opportunity to warn them about this.

The mature logic issue also interests me. I was once talking with a certified diver who was about 19. She talked about a time she had bolted in her class, and the instructor had stopped her and given her a severe warning about it. She was huffy--"this stupid instructor couldn't see that I had a perfectly good reason to bolt." I think another year or two later and she would have had a different attitude about it.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I ask them to think of a situation that could not be solved without a bolt to the surface. They have never been able to suggest one. I pretty much never miss an opportunity to warn them about this..

/


How about scuba failure and buddy separation?

 

[RJP]

/


How about scuba failure and buddy separation?

At that point I don't think a CESA - the only available and appropriate option - is the same as "bolting to the surface." (With the key word being CONTROLLED...)

 

[Sas]

I've only had the urge to bolt once and it was very early in my OW training - first pool session I believe. I had trouble clearing the mask after doing the mask remove/replace and even though I could breathe fine, it was freaking me out. Eventually I did go to the surface (slowly not really a bolt at this point) but to take a rest and decide if I wanted to do it again. I did want to do it again as I really wanted to dive. I went back under and did it - but of course it was still a weak point.

This sounds almost the same as me but it was on my first OW dive. I was at 3m practice mask clearing and kept inhaling water and whilst I wasn't panicy I was so uncomfortable I just wanted to be on the surface. My instructor grabbed me but I kept shaking my head and figured 'it is only 3m' and I headed up. I rested for a while on the surface, thought about whether I should keep trying and a DM was very patient and understanding so I tried again. It wasn't comfortable for a while but I've never felt the urge to go to the surface again, not even close.

I guess the few times where I have felt distinctly uncomfortable underwater has been when I've been without air and inhaled a lot of water and have lead to a different thought process than bolting. One time my buddy sprung a surprise OOA drill on me at about 33m and I gave him my primary but forgot to put my backup in my mouth and kept breathing (that was the first dive I had ever felt really narced too so I am sure that had something to do with it), inhaled lots of water and started choking. And another time I ended up inhaling heaps of water was when I was switching to a deco bottle and forgot to turn it on (yes, another eejit move :blush: stuff like that only seems to happen during training ...). All I could think about during those times as I was choking was that I had air in my tanks and that I just needed to put the reg in my mouth and I'd be fine. I tend to often visualise what my response would be at certain points in a dive if I ran out of air and so on, and when I've been without air, I've just done what I've imagined in my head in the past without even thinking about it.

 

[RJP]

I'd love to hear from instructors who have helped students through this, or from any diver who has worked through this issue. Since I'm working on my DM at present, having some ideas to help people with this would be very useful, I think.

This is one of those times where the old adage of "Seek first to understand, then to be understood" really seems to apply.

A great many of us are so damn comfortable in the water - either "always" from the beginning or "currently" based on training and experience - that we genuinely lack a meaningful empathetic/sympathetic response to the "bolt" reaction in others. I'm not saying we don't intellectually understand it, but rather that it obviously just doesn't truly resonate with us in the same way it does with them.

The result is that WHATEVER you try to tell them rationally simply comes across sounding like "get over it" to them.

I've found some success in the following:

You have to first accept that TO THEM the idea of bolting IS the optimal solution. Don't tell them NOT to panic. Instead, validate their experience by telling them that it is completely natural to experience a sense of panic at that point. (I usually joke that if the overwhelming desire to get out of the water wasn't completely natural...life on earth would never have evolved beyond the tadpole stage!) Then tell them that what you're going to do is help them ACCEPT that panic and learn how to move beyond it...

A subtle, perhaps semantic difference, but I've found that "giving them permission to panic, as long as they don't succumb to it" really helps a lot more than telling them that I am going to "teach them not to panic" which just doesn't seem even remotely possible to them.

 

[Sas]

A subtle, perhaps semantic difference, but I've found that "giving them permission to panic, as long as they don't succumb to it" really helps a lot more than telling them that I am going to "teach them not to panic" which just doesn't seem even remotely possible to them.

Actually that is a really good point. When I was newer to diving I figured one was never supposed to feel uncomfortable in the water as that would make me a crappy/unsafe diver which would then make me feel worse if I was nervous for whatever reason. A bit later I find it a lot easier now to accept that there will be times that I will be a bit uncomfortable underwater when something goes wrong and now I approach those times by problem solving rather than wasting time worrying about why I am worried.

 

[boulderjohn]

/


How about scuba failure and buddy separation?

At that point I don't think a CESA - the only available and appropriate option - is the same as "bolting to the surface." (With the key word being CONTROLLED...)

I am not totally clear on what is being argued here. I think I agree with RJP, if I understand the point correctly.

A CESA is absolutely not a bolt to the surface. In a CESA, a diver makes a methodological and controlled decision to follow training and swim under control to the surface, exhaling the whole way. That is not a bolt as is defined in this thread.

 

[TSandM]

Well, I think the common thread is something that elicits an adrenaline response from the diver. Whether it's being startled by an eel or shark, or choking, or experiencing a CO2 building, the final common pathway is adrenaline. And some people appear to respond to the pounding heart and shortness of breath of an adrenaline rush with an intense need to go to the surface.

It seems as though the key, perhaps, is to teach people to recognize the EARLY phases of the process, so that they can take meaningful steps to prevent it from spiraling out of control.

I think watermanship definitely plays a role. I had the opportunity to assist with a snorkel and skin diving class with a bunch of junior high school kids today. It was interesting to watch the group and assess the degree of comfort each kid had in the water. They could all swim, they could all snorkel, and they could all dive. But some were relaxed and natural, and others were clearly much more challenged.

 

[japan-diver]

There is a very good article on the primitive brain (The Primitive Brain) that will help explain the bolt response. In over 15 years of teaching the bolt response is usually seen in those students and divers who are not truly comfortable in the water to begin with and do not have the training to deal with problems.
I have not had a bolt response in one of my students since my first year of teaching when I made some significant changes to my teaching style and ensured comfort level with breathing, swimming before moving to deep water and stressing that problems need to be solved on the bottom - stop - breathe - think- act. I have seen and had to deal with the bolt response on vacationing divers that are trained elsewhere that show up to dive with us - good DM's can pick-up on the clients that are at risk for this behavior most times by just chatting with them and getting a feel for their comfort level, these clients then get a bit of special attention.

 

[Splitlip]

There is a natural Darwinian instinct in all animals to fight or flee.

In the unatural underwater environment flight can be catastrophic. But fact is, when humans face a threat (be it real or percieved) the act of flight (bolting) is a common occurance.