annlaur
Contributor
It's an ongoing process for me and has lasted for over 4 years, but everyone is different. I have always been an anxious person, so maybe that's the reason why it's taking so long. The fact that I only get the chance to dive while on (long but infrequent) trips doesn't help either, since I almost have to start over the whole "getting my confidence back" process everytime.Annlaur,
I'm glad to hear that someone else has actually dealt with this with some degree of success.
Hopefully it will be easier and faster for you.
That being said, I still enjoy my dives immensely. Even if I feel edgy at times.
I went through something like this years ago during a very stressful period having nothing to do with diving. In the end, I came to kind of anthropomorphize the anxiety as an enemy that could not really harm me, so I could tell it, "Do your worst, and see what it gets you. Okay, I feel it. Is that all you got, because it's really uncomfortable, but it's not doing me any real harm, so go away." Then, "Oh look - it did it's worst, and it didn't kill me." I don't know just where this stuff comes from in the mind, but I found it gives up after a while when it can't win.
Well described ! I use a similar thought process to keep the panic at bay, but that is an acquired skill that first needs to be practiced in a safe environment (on land).
I might get flamed for giving advice to the OP without being a psychologist or doctor of any kind, but this is an exercize that has helped me (someone on the board had posted it years ago, don't remember who) :
Sitting in a place where you feel both safe and comfortable, close your eyes and visualize yourself on the dive that freaked you out.
You really need to live the experience to the fullest, see yourself gearing up, jumping in, descending, equalizing and so forth. Visualize yourself swimming against the current to reach the correct line and turning around to see your buddy is lagging behind.
If you do this correctly, you should by then relive the anxiety you felt on the dive.
Now observe what happens in your body : heart racing, shallow breathing, palms sweating, chest constricting whatever. And listen to what your mind is saying, what it is afraid of.
Then take slow, deep breaths with full exhales, move your neck and shoulders which might have tightened, open your hands which might have turned into a fist and observe how you'll slowly relax and how the gloomy feelings will start vanishing.
Once you've calmed down, with your eyes still closed, assess the "real situation" : so you're 30 feet ahead of your buddy trying to reach a line in a current to reach a wreck. What should you do ?
You probably won't get that far the first times you try it. It doesn't matter, the idea is for you to learn to recognize the signs of anxiety and to learn to deal with it. So once you start freaking out, even if you haven't even "jumped in the water" in your mind, start observing how anxiety manifests itself, what it's telling you, and then do the deep breathing and observe how you can control it.
If you feel too uncomfortable at any time during the exercise, just open your eyes and try another day. Do not try to push yourself, the point of this is not to traumatise yourself even more.
Practicing this several times (but no more than once a day, as it's a stressful experience) will teach you how to deal with anxiety and gain confidence that you can overcome it.
Word of warning : many substances can increase anxiety (alcohol, some medication, marijuana and other drugs ). Since anyone on the Internet could read this tread, it's worth mentionning that the above exercise should not be attempted while intoxicated, as it could only make things worse.
As 2 Big 2 Fail wrote, anxiety won't kill you or harm you. It does, however, impair your judgment if you let it escalate, which is dangerous in certain situations such as diving or driving a vehicle.