Diver anxiety

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Sometimes I will get a touch of "I'm not getting enough air" feeling early in a dive. To deal with it, I stop swimming, do a big inhale and big exhale and then a rough calculation of PO2. I'm not kidding, realizing I'm getting 3 or 4 breaths worth of oxygen for every inhale helps a lot.
 
You want paranoia. I've got some left over for you all after a dive I did in Cape Cod. It was a boat charter. I remember the dive shop asking people if they wanted to rent spears to be used to spear flounder in an area that was touted as being loaded with them. There were about 12 of us with at least 9 renting spears.
Spearguns or pole spears? Or something else?
Getting out of the water when there were nine divers with spears in zero viz? That's not paranoia, that's solid common sense!
Yeah. That just seems bizarre to me. There are charters around here that allow spearfishing, or even specialize in spearfishing. But this sounded like more of an after thought. That just seems strange. I wouldn’t trust most divers with correct fish and size identification on a large charter. It’s hard to mix up a flounder with something else, but it’s very easy to get the size wrong if you haven’t done it before. And in zero viz, no thank you.

FWIW most of my dives are with a speargun in hand, and I’ve taken new spearos several times. Just never so many or in near braille diving conditions.
 
That wall of text leads me to my question. Ever since that event i feel myself getting anxious at just the thought of doing a deeper dive. Has anyone ever dealt with this before and if so how did you get your "sea legs" back?
I had that same experience several times early in my diving creeer. I had it happen in a quarry, when I had about 30 dives. I had it happen in the ocean, off Bonaire when I had ~100 dives. When I was doing tech training, with several hundred dives under my belt, the first time I went to 145 feet I fought the urge to 'cut and run' for almost the entire dive. We were diving in a FL sinkhole, and there was a boat sitting on a rock pile at 145 feet, and I hovered at the stern staring at the transom for most of the dive, so much so that afterward the Instructor asked me what was so incredibly fascinating about the boat. The fact is there was not a d**n thing fascinating about it! But, it allowed me to focus on something and not think about how anxious I was long enouigh to complete the dive and the required skills. :)

I don't know that there is one and only one 'cure'. For me, it was a matter of continuing to dive, to push depths when I felt comfortable, to not push them when I didn't. Part of it was doing what some people would call bounce dives. I would be diving with a group, on Bonaire or Roatan for example, and I would drop to 100 feet for a few minutes, then come back up to the 70 foot range with the others. I continued that practice over time as I felt increasingly comfortable. Now, I do solo dives to 200+ feet (with the 'appropriate planning and preparation' caveat, of course), without any particular anxiety at depth. It was a matter of acclimatization. For me, part of my increased comfort was merely trusting my equipment. Early on, I kept thinking about everything that could go wrong. Fortunately, I have had enough minor things go wrong, over the years, that allowed me to 'work the problem' successfully, that I am no longer as paranoid as I once was.

Yes, dark / murky water can enhance anxiety. Yes, cold water can enhance anxiety. Yes, a hood - that fits too tight around the neck (and compresses the carotids just a bit) - can definitely enhance anxiety. Don't be embarrassed by it, and don't give up on yourself, many of us have gone through it. Work yourself deeper at your own pace, and don't let anyone else press you into hurrying, or into going deeper than you want, on a particular day.

A story: years ago, when I was fit enough to do reasonably serious technical rock climbing, I was at a climbing site, waiting for a pair to climb a route ahead of my buddy and me. The climber leading the pitch seemed to be futzing around at the base of the climb quite a bit, and I initially thought he was probably just a new, inexperienced climber. But he turned around at one point to face his belayer and I quickly recognized him, as the author of a number of well-known climbing guides, and a guy who had put up a number of impressive new routes. I heard him mention to his belayer, 'I just get butterflies every time at the start of a climb.' That was an eye-opener for me, and very reassuring. If truth be told, I don't get butterflies before every dive. But, the first time I stand at the stern of a boat each new season, ready to jump off in 160+ feet of open ocean, I can tell you that my heart rate is way up there.
 
I had that same experience several times early in my diving creeer. I had it happen in a quarry, when I had about 30 dives. I had it happen in the ocean, off Bonaire when I had ~100 dives. When I was doing tech training, with several hundred dives under my belt, the first time I went to 145 feet I fought the urge to 'cut and run' for almost the entire dive. We were diving in a FL sinkhole, and there was a boat sitting on a rock pile at 145 feet, and I hovered at the stern staring at the transom for most of the dive, so much so that afterward the Instructor asked me what was so incredibly fascinating about the boat. The fact is there was not a d**n thing fascinating about it! But, it allowed me to focus on something and not think about how anxious I was long enouigh to complete the dive and the required skills. :)

I don't know that there is one and only one 'cure'. For me, it was a matter of continuing to dive, to push depths when I felt comfortable, to not push them when I didn't. Part of it was doing what some people would call bounce dives. I would be diving with a group, on Bonaire or Roatan for example, and I would drop to 100 feet for a few minutes, then come back up to the 70 foot range with the others. I continued that practice over time as I felt increasingly comfortable. Now, I do solo dives to 200+ feet (with the 'appropriate planning and preparation' caveat, of course), without any particular anxiety at depth. It was a matter of acclimatization. For me, part of my increased comfort was merely trusting my equipment. Early on, I kept thinking about everything that could go wrong. Fortunately, I have had enough minor things go wrong, over the years, that allowed me to 'work the problem' successfully, that I am no longer as paranoid as I once was.

Yes, dark / murky water can enhance anxiety. Yes, cold water can enhance anxiety. Yes, a hood - that fits too tight around the neck (and compresses the carotids just a bit) - can definitely enhance anxiety. Don't be embarrassed by it, and don't give up on yourself, many of us have gone through it. Work yourself deeper at your own pace, and don't let anyone else press you into hurrying, or into going deeper than you want, on a particular day.

A story: years ago, when I was fit enough to do reasonably serious technical rock climbing, I was at a climbing site, waiting for a pair to climb a route ahead of my buddy and me. The climber leading the pitch seemed to be futzing around at the base of the climb quite a bit, and I initially thought he was probably just a new, inexperienced climber. But he turned around at one point to face his belayer and I quickly recognized him, as the author of a number of well-known climbing guides, and a guy who had put up a number of impressive new routes. I heard him mention to his belayer, 'I just get butterflies every time at the start of a climb.' That was an eye-opener for me, and very reassuring. If truth be told, I don't get butterflies before every dive. But, the first time I stand at the stern of a boat each new season, ready to jump off in 160+ feet of open ocean, I can tell you that my heart rate is way up there.
Thank you for that. Im actually wanting to get back in the water again (in better conditions). To prove to myself that i can get over this and get back to normal diving routine again.
 
That's quite the story. Was that the General Sherman wreck? If so, I too was there for a couple of dives in 2011. The 2nd one was solo as my instabuddy quit. I too was scouring the sand near the wreck for shells (as always).

It was a barge (I didn't record the name) in the vicinity of Barracuda reef.
 
On a recent dive, i had a mild panic attack at 70 ft in a quarry. My buddies and i were maybe 5 minutes into our second dive of the day, and i just had an overwhelming feeling that i needed to be on the surface. I signalled to my buddy that i was ascending, and proceeded to make a controlled ascent (it took 2 and half minutes) but blew my safety stop. I am a relatively new diver (about 60 dives). After being on the surface for a few minutes we decided to try a shallower depth and proceeded to have a nice second half of the dive at about 30 ft.
That wall of text leads me to my question. Ever since that event i feel myself getting anxious at just the thought of doing a deeper dive. Has anyone ever dealt with this before and if so how did you get your "sea legs" back?

One of my rules of thumb is, "The first dive is always a shitshow." My usual dive buddy and I will always do an easy dive first, if it's been more than a couple of weeks since we've been in the water. I find this to be true for equipment/psychology/physiology/you name it.

If I'm teaching, I'll jump in for 20 minutes or so before my students arrive. Sometimes just getting in the water and shaking off the rust is what's required.

To answer your question, I haven't had that experience, but my usual buddy has. He's an instructor and we hit the surface after a dive with students and he told me that had we not been training, he'd have thumbed the dive for no other reason than he didn't feel quite right. It wasn't anything he could identify physiologically, but psychologically he just wanted out.

I bring this up because it happens to all of us, and there isn't anything wrong with it. Trust your gut. Do some easy dives to get back in the swing of things. Check your equipment. Does your hood or drysuit squeeze your neck? Were you working too hard? Test your questions on your next easy dive and see what happens, and always trust your gut. Fear is a gift that your don't have to understand.
 
One of my rules of thumb is, "The first dive is always a shitshow." My usual dive buddy and I will always do an easy dive first, if it's been more than a couple of weeks since we've been in the water. I find this to be true for equipment/psychology/physiology/you name it.

If I'm teaching, I'll jump in for 20 minutes or so before my students arrive. Sometimes just getting in the water and shaking off the rust is what's required.

To answer your question, I haven't had that experience, but my usual buddy has. He's an instructor and we hit the surface after a dive with students and he told me that had we not been training, he'd have thumbed the dive for no other reason than he didn't feel quite right. It wasn't anything he could identify physiologically, but psychologically he just wanted out.

I bring this up because it happens to all of us, and there isn't anything wrong with it. Trust your gut. Do some easy dives to get back in the swing of things. Check your equipment. Does your hood or drysuit squeeze your neck? Were you working too hard? Test your questions on your next easy dive and see what happens, and always trust your gut. Fear is a gift that your don't have to understand.
Thank you for the advise. Btw you should put that rule of thumb on a tee shirt.
 
I suffer from panic attacks due to childhood trauma...I have learned to dive through them with different techniques.. I focus myself at the task at hand where my mind is occupied with that and not panicking. I will sometimes focus on my breathing, checking my air..etc just to get my mind in a different gear. I have had a few dives where panic tried to set in...I worked through it and it is almost not a issue anymore...Try different techniques and see what works for . This is a clip from yesterday at around 25 ft....The first dive rings true for me too if I have not been down in a couple weeks.....
 
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