Anxiety related diving nightmares

Just when I thought they were over...

My gf always used to get anxious in the days and weeks leading up to a diving weekend. Nothing bad, but I know when she feels anxious. Once she's on the boat and in the water she's fine and loves her time on our trips. Unfortunately, her anxiety gave me nightmares. I know they're ridiculous, but they would happen and always variations on the same theme.

Her getting dragged down by several large Humbolts into the waiting maw of a giant squid. I think Humbolts appear as the villain because our normal dive spot is in the Sea of Cortez.

Fast forward to now, she's over her anxiety and I stopped having the dreams, but now as I consider entombing (dam autocorrect, enrolling) my oldest into a Scuba Rangers camp the dreams have returned. Not Humbolts this time, but anxiety dreams none the less.

I took to scuba right away and breezed through the ow skills and classes, where as she took a lot more time needing oodles of practice to master a couple of the skills. I think my dreams are stemming from diving with buddies I care deeply for who aren't as comfortable as I am. Whether they are comfortable or not, I perceive them in my subconscious as being uncomfortable, or more accurately less comfortable.

I'm not looking for advice, just sharing my thoughts and wondering if anyone else has experienced anxiety related diving dreams?

Wow. That's a bit scary. I wouldn't like the nightmares at all.

IMHO in would recommend lots of safe, easy, local dives while building everybody's skills and comfort level.

All our dives are warm water, easy profiles and not all that deep. We also make sure to hit the pool prior to ant trip where we've been out of the water for longer than a month or so. It's not a skills issue as much as me being irrational. As much as I'd would love to dive with my boys, there is, and might always be, a sliver of fear.

It's interesting that this started as a sort of "sympathy" anxiety. That is, it was your partner's anxiety which started it all.

Over the years I've been married, I've had to consciously separate my own feelings from those of my wife on several occasions. I think this is a skill every member of a long-term couple needs to learn. Otherwise, every time my wife is upset about something so am I.

As a physician, I see nightmares as a possible symptom of anxiety, and anxiety as a medical condition which can be easily treated--through counseling, medication or both. Of course, finding others who have had similar experiences is also therapeutic.

Fears engendered by scuba diving are sometimes a good thing. Not feeling right about a dive is a really good reason to re-examine the situation, try and figure out what the problem is, and correct it. Could your nightmares actually be your sub-conscious's way of letting you know that there's some sort of preparation you're not attending to? It doesn't sound like it from your post, but I thought I'd mention the possibility.

The anxiety is not the paralysing/ cutting into my life type. Nor are the dreams the wake up screaming in a cold sweat variety. This is more of an observation on my part that I find interesting. But you're right that the anxiety was a sympathetic response. We've always been dive buddies and dive well together and as she became more confident the anxiety went away in both of us. Neither one of us has any qualms of thumbing a dive and there is never any hesitation by the other to comply.

Maybe have a session with a counselor or a clinical psychologist. Likely, this problem isn't just a scuba diving problem but an anxiety problem in general manifesting into scuba diving dreams. Even without meeting a professional, though, with more dives under your belt (and your family's belts), you'll grow more comfortable and these symptoms will probably go into remission and maybe disappear.

Dr. B makes good points. It sounds like your anxiety about your wife's concerns are driving this. Recommend that you and the Mrs. get in some practice pool or local dives before trips to lessen her anxiety and thus yours. I have diving dreams too, but they are usually peaceful, relaxing dreams - except when I clear my ears too much in my sleep

I appreciate all the responses. A lot more clinical than I was looking for, but thank you for the input. Her anxiety has since passed as have my dreams some time ago. The more she dove the better she felt in the weeks leading up to a trip.

I started this thread over a recent dream about diving with one of my sons, who, has yet to make a decision about signing up for a scuba rangers camp this summer.

I've had 3 different dreams with in the past week of sharks trying to attack me and my having to push them away by their noses. But im not going diving anytime soon and i actually love diving with sharks and have no fear of them.... i think i just watched to many videos on youtube or something.