How to get rid of fear?

[Alessandro Calello]

Hello everyone,

I'm an OWD which decided to become an Instructor, I'm currently doing my AOWD course with the goal to become Instructor at the end of this winter.

I did my OWD 9 years ago, then I didn't dive anymore since last summer, I was in Mallorca and I went to this diving centre, when I got there I told to the Instructor that I needed a refresh because I wasn't sure and confident since I had been so long without doing it, I told him to please help me, but when we were under water he made me remove my mask without explaining me anything, I know that I was able to do it when I did my course 9 years ago, my instructor also told me that, but I think that if you get the driving license for your car and don't drive for 9 years anyone will feel not confident on the wheels right away, so he made me remove the mask and when I did it we were I believe 2 meters deep, when I did it some water went in my nose and I got afraid, then I felt some water in my mouth I got a panic attack and went up like a rocket, the instructor did nothing to make relax and this experience traumatised me more than I thought, like if after long time not driving I had an accident, after that day I went in a pool with a snorkel making excercises to breathe keeping my nose in the water, I did excercises under the shower, so I'm trying to win this fear that I got now, but when I have to do it under water I just have a block and I dunno what to do to get rid of it, it makes me so angry because I know that I can do it, I can swim perfectly in apnea but I just have this block now and it's really frustrating...

Any advices please?

Thanks!

 

[admikar]

If it's only mask removal that you have a problem with, try baby steps. Go into a pool,preferably standing depth, move bottom of your mask just a bit and partially flood your mask, and then clear it. When you get comfortable, flood it a bit more and more, until you can completely flood and clear it. Removing and replacing your mask after that is just another step, just like you took them before.

 

[Storker]

Any advices please?

Given your other thread, my advice would be to forget your goal of becoming an instructor already by the end of this winter. In my (not so humble) opinion you just won't have time to collect enough diving experience, under different conditions, to be a competent instructor.

Take a refresher, take AOW, and dive, dive, dive. Have fun diving, building your experience base. Take Rescue, take other courses if you want to. Collect experience, expand your experience gradually, and re-consider your goal of becoming an instructor when you have logged more dives than I have. Remember that even divemaster (a prerequisite for instructor) requires minimum 40 logged dives to enroll and minimum 60 logged dives to finish. And if those dives are under similar and benign conditions, you'll be doing both yourself and your students a disservice.

 

[Neilwood]

I would agree with both of the above posters.

Becoming an instructor in such a short period is going to be very difficult - even harder if you want to be a good instructor.
By good instructor I mean someone who can not only teach in perfect conditions to perfect students but adapt their teaching to suit circumstances. Doing it the quick way is what is known as zero to hero but I certainly wouldn't treat an instructor who has qualified that way as a hero.

With regards to the mask, as @admikar suggests, taking baby steps might help. Start with a partial flood, then full flood, then mask removal and replace at or near the surface. Once you have that down, progress to deeper depths.

 

[Marie13]

I love diving, but I still have some anxiety. Lots of time in the water is the only way I know of to get rid of it. I'm planning on lots of underwater time next season and I'm doing as much pool time as I can manage (even with just mask, fins, snorkel) this winter.

 

[PSUSciDiver]

Work on this, in a pool where you can swim laps -put your goggles up on your forehead and snorkel laps. This way your face is exposed and you can practice breathing as if you where on a regulator. It will take time, weeks, months. Slow your roll and get back to the basics.

 

[taguja]

Here might be something to consider.

It is a natural reflex that you notice when water get into your nose and hits the back of your throat. This is normal. It is your body telling you that something is not right. However, you get get used to this feeling and make it more tolerable. One way is to regularly have water running into your nose (you need water that has no pathogens). Then, swim and dive without a mask, have your eyes open, do flips underwater, and so on - this gives you the confidence and you will be fine. Nothing happens over night, so be patient. Also, cold or cooler water will still be irritating, but you know then that you are safe.

I read this once in a book that described how to fight fear and increase comfort when diving.

 

[Diver0001]

Hello everyone,

I'm an OWD which decided to become an Instructor, I'm currently doing my AOWD course with the goal to become Instructor at the end of this winter.

I did my OWD 9 years ago, then I didn't dive anymore since last summer, I was in Mallorca and I went to this diving centre, when I got there I told to the Instructor that I needed a refresh because I wasn't sure and confident since I had been so long without doing it, I told him to please help me, but when we were under water he made me remove my mask without explaining me anything, I know that I was able to do it when I did my course 9 years ago, my instructor also told me that, but I think that if you get the driving license for your car and don't drive for 9 years anyone will feel not confident on the wheels right away, so he made me remove the mask and when I did it we were I believe 2 meters deep, when I did it some water went in my nose and I got afraid, then I felt some water in my mouth I got a panic attack and went up like a rocket, the instructor did nothing to make relax and this experience traumatised me more than I thought, like if after long time not driving I had an accident, after that day I went in a pool with a snorkel making excercises to breathe keeping my nose in the water, I did excercises under the shower, so I'm trying to win this fear that I got now, but when I have to do it under water I just have a block and I dunno what to do to get rid of it, it makes me so angry because I know that I can do it, I can swim perfectly in apnea but I just have this block now and it's really frustrating...

Any advices please?

Thanks!

Alessandro,

I have had students before who have had similar experiences. My wife is a child psychologist and she calls these (in Dutch) "enkelvoudige trauma" (singular traumas). She sees it a lot among the children she treats and she's somewhat of a specialist in dealing with traumatized children due to the nature of her work. So.... of course.... I asked her how I should handle it as an instructor.....

The good news is that singular traumas are easily overcome relative to long duration or multiple traumas. Even though I am not a psychologist I have had good success helping divers with it, even when the trauma was fairly severe. For example I once had a student who was involved in an accident in which her buddy died. She was a very experienced diver (+/- 800 dives) but was afraid to go diving again even though she was passionate about it and really wanted to keep diving.

I'll spare you the details but I've seen this in several cases. The trick is "exposure". In other words, you have had an experience of panic because it went "wrong" so you need to balance this with many experiences of when it goes "right". How long this takes differs from one person to the other but the idea is to train the brain to *expect* the desired result instead of (emotionally) expecting the *feared* result.

As I said I'm not a psychologist so I hope I'm not explaining this wrong but with this in my mind I've found that students who have had a singular trauma can get back in the saddle again fairly easily with a little help. As an aside, just to finish the story, I went to the pool with the diver I mentioned above but I spent a lot longer with her after that just listening to her story. I also referred her to a professional that my wife recommended because obviously she didn't need a diving instructor. In your case, however, you *do* need a diving instructor and someone who is patient and "clicks" with you.

Once again, the good news is that you can fix this.

R..

 

[Musicgirl]

Everything sounds bang on here. Definitely find an instructor to help and resonates well with what you need.
The one piece of advice that always stuck with me from my first instructor was "Remember, you can always breathe". You have no idea how that helped. The panic kicks in when your brain registers the feeling of water on the eyes and nose as "drowning" and the reaction is to stop breathing. A little mind over matter, and just repeat in your head "just breathe" over and over, as you put water into the mast or remove the mask. I realise it's not the only approach or one that will work for anyone, but it's about giving your brain something constructive to focus on.

 

[Diving Dubai]

@Alessandro Calello

Firstly, as others have said. Forget about being an instructor at this time. Your divign experience is too limited. Remember when you were under training, would you have wanted an instructor with only 100 dives? Learn to dive (past certification) get some real world experience and them see how you go. There is no rush, and the more experience you have to draw on, will assist you in being a better instructor.

Regarding your mask clearing. This is all in your head, it's nothing hard, you need to face up to your fear and with a mentor work at it. It's a simple skill. As an instructor you need to be able to demonstrate this.

Before the MODS admonish me for being harsh...

I suffered the same. It took me almost 100 dives to "man up" and solve my problem. I would dive with an almost opaque mask rather than clear it. On my OW course I refused to clear twice, after a bad pool experience (day 1 was perfect, day 2 It went a bit wrong and I bolted to the surface coughing etc)

My fear still limits me. I won't go technical because I have to make a no mask swim in sea water. Things I want to do, I can't because I've let my fear control me. Don't be Me!!!

Get a mentor, someone you trust. Take baby steps and you will over come.

I hope you'll come back and say you succeed, and can do what I can't, all because I let my fear control me