I was just involved in a fatal snorkeling accident.

[Jim Lapenta]

As the author of the Shearwater post that was linked to earlier, I can tell you from experience that it does get better with time and effort.

I will also tell you that it's a process and that there will be times when it feels like it happened years ago and when it seems to have happened a few minutes ago.

The latter can be based on the situation, sounds, smells, sights, etc.
Please pay close attention to how you are reacting and feeling over the next few months. Yes, I said months. Delayed reactions are fairly common.

There are things to look out for.
Thinking about the situation over and over will be normal for a while. Thinking about it over and over to the point that those thoughts interfere with your daily routine and life is a flag to pay attention to.

Losing sleep or excess sleeping due to thoughts of the incident to the point that it interferes with other things or puts you at risk of injury needs to be addressed.

Stay away from booze when you are thinking about it.
Self-medication with sleep aids or energy drinks is a no-no.
Your buddies, bartender, barber, etc are not qualified to deal with it if it turns out you are experiencing it.

Prescription aids should only be dispensed by a psychiatrist familiar with PTSD and aware of your situation. I would not expect your family doctor to know they right meds to hand out.

If you seek out a therapist, get one specifically trained to deal with PTSD. Many are not. The one I used happens to own a practice where all 4 of her employees are trained to deal with it and that's all they deal with. She is in fact attached to the Department of Homeland Security Disaster Response Team.

As for your diving. Getting back in the water quickly was critical for me. Some don't ever go back in. Rescue skills such as tows, panicked diver at the surface, supporting a diver who has lost the ability to stay positive, and bringing a non-responsive diver up from the bottom used to be taught in all open water classes.
Some agencies still teach it in the basic OW class and others allow instructors to teach it but don't require it. Taking these basic skills out of the OW class was one of the more reckless and dangerous things that the industry has done.

Take a FA/CPR/AED and Rescue class as soon as you are able to. I actually teach one day workshops to cover the basic skills for those who haven't had them in the OW class and for whatever reason are not able to take the full rescue class.
Having personal experience in this I would be happy to discuss it further privately. I am not a therapist but have made an effort to try and find resources for those who have trouble finding them. The Shearwater post has been edited for space. The full version can be found in my second book or here in the files section of the group I founded. Scuba Accidents and Risk Management Techniques for Divers

 

[Rred]

Joe-
As a volunteer first responder I will tell you what is taught and done professionally everywhere these days: If you respond to an incident, you are ordered to show up for counseling afterwards. Period. No matter how you feel about it. The situation you find in your head, now, is something that it can really pay to speak to a professional of some sort about. We're not talking about ten years in psychotherapy twice a week, just make one appointment, spend an hour, see if you want to go back for two or three more. Or to see someone else who might be more right for you.
By all means, deal with this so you can move past it.

Personally, I think you did everything right. You responded, you performed to the best of your limited training, and when the "patient" says thank you and goodbye--you're actually REQUIRED to honor that request and let them go. That you followed along just in case anyway, goes beyond what you had any obligation to do. You EXCEEDED the norm.

Can we always do something better? Often, not always. You could, for instance, put a whistle on your neck chain (what, you don't wear a medical ID or body tag when you go solo in the ocean? Or a car key?) but I'll tell you form having tested many whistles...if you're 100 yards downwind of the lifeguards, they'll never hear it. Still, they're cheap enough to carry.

If you are in rough water, rocky shore, things are bouncing around, sometimes there is no safe exit or entry, and it doesn't pay to lose both parties trying to overcome that. That may mean rethinking where you swim, but that only comes with experience, don't fault yourself for not having experience.

You may be surprised when you start looking into CPR, first aid, "rescue diver". A lot of it is simple skills followed by practice. I hope I'll never have to use a tourniquet--but I've practiced, and I make sure to keep one in my trauma kits. So I have no "experience" with it...but I think I'm still a step ahead of someone who sees one for the first time, untrained, and asks "What do I do with this?"

You might ask the local FD or rescue squad, if there's someone they use for "incident" counseling, who is familiar with what you're feeling. You did good.

 

[Kimela]

It might be worth it to try to get into a therapist who does EMDR - they could help you process this quickly and before it becomes much more debilitating. There are EMDR therapists on the Big Island. (EMDR is very effective to process trauma - some first responders are trained in a short-form which is very effective to help witnesses to tragedy on the scene of accidents and natural disasters).

 

[Aloha Joe]

This event seems so far from my mind! Similar to trauma I’ve had and gone through EMDR, if I start to think about the memory my brain just politely says “stop”.

I was rewarded with an amazing Manta Dive. One of the mantas has a thing for me and kept flipping right at me - I had to duck several times!

 

[Littlerayray]

Nice hope everything is going well like I said before if you want to Skype I would be more then willing to listen typing is one thing speaking it out loud is another