Wife fear of mask clearing

[diver0008]

Switch to a low volume mask such as the Cressi Nano; it takes very little effort to clear the mask.

Good luck

GJS

This will not help her with the skill test required for her certification.

 

[diver0008]

My wife has decided she would like to get certified. She had her first pool skills the other night. When she came home she told me there was no way she could clear her mask/take it off etc. It "freaked" her out.

I told her, this is the most basic skill and for sure you have to have it. Suggested if having a mask off under water disturbs her, submerge with it off and then put it on when you are on the bottom of the pool. She will see all is okay. She is at round two tonight so we'll see if that helps her.

Has anyone else dealt with this, and have any advice I could give her? I told her it is fine if she doesn't get certified, so there is not big pressure. It would actually save me a lot lugging heavy equipment to places if she doesn't!

JJ

When I did my OW certification test, there was another guy doing it with me. He could not bring himself to remove the mask underwater. He bailed, and failed. So, I assume this is relatively common.

My only suggestion to get over the fear, is to get accustomed to not wearing a mask by entering the water and submerging yourself without the mask on and with eyes open. It's not dangerous. There is nothing to be scared of. The mask is not a protective device, and in reality, it's only purpose is to aid in vision and comfort.

She has got to get over it. There is very good reason for this being a basic required skill. Not being comfortable without a mask on, or being able to deal calmly with a flooded mask is asking for trouble.

 

[TMHeimer]

Murky, I agree. You'd think anyone taking scuba would already have been underwater quite often with eyes open. You'd think.

 

[Diver0001]

When I did my OW certification test, there was another guy doing it with me. He could not bring himself to remove the mask underwater. He bailed, and failed. So, I assume this is relatively common.

Actually, in my experience it's very uncommon for someone to be taken to the "check out" phase of the course, which is what I think you are describing, with any residual mask issues, let alone serious ones.

She has got to get over it.

While I agree that she has to "get over it", the issue is usually something you cannot simple "choose" to get over. I'm not sure if that is how you intended it to come across, but it is how I read it and I why I was triggered to post this response.

In the process of "getting over it", it is very helpful for a lot of people to work "toward" a goal rather than to "resist" a problem. In fact, this doesn't just apply to diving, it's a general rule of life, I think.

So as an instructor, I would never suggest for a student to "get over" something. In this case, I would "work toward" being able to breathe with the nose exposed to water, as I described above.... and then the next step and the next step after that until at some point the diver suddenly becomes aware that they are "over it".

There is a big psychological difference between those two things (working toward or against something) and it can make the difference between an instructor who "gets stuck" on a problem and one who works through it fairly readily.

This post may obviously be more relevant to the pros who are reading this thread than it is to you or the OP but I thought I'd say it while it was on my mind. It's something I learned early on as a DM when I was often given the task of "drilling out" problems with "trouble cases". I soon found myself "drilling in" the positive instead of "drilling out" the negative and by just looking at the flip side of the issue I quickly became the resident expert at this kind of problem solving. Maybe someone can use that.

R..

 

[diver0008]

I was triggered

"get over it"

"getting over it

"get over"

"over it"

No need to get all worked up over semantics.

 

[flyboy08]

Actually, in my experience it's very uncommon for someone to be taken to the "check out" phase of the course, which is what I think you are describing, with any residual mask issues, let alone serious ones.



While I agree that she has to "get over it", the issue is usually something you cannot simple "choose" to get over. I'm not sure if that is how you intended it to come across, but it is how I read it and I why I was triggered to post this response.

In the process of "getting over it", it is very helpful for a lot of people to work "toward" a goal rather than to "resist" a problem. In fact, this doesn't just apply to diving, it's a general rule of life, I think.

So as an instructor, I would never suggest for a student to "get over" something. In this case, I would "work toward" being able to breathe with the nose exposed to water, as I described above.... and then the next step and the next step after that until at some point the diver suddenly becomes aware that they are "over it".

There is a big psychological difference between those two things (working toward or against something) and it can make the difference between an instructor who "gets stuck" on a problem and one who works through it fairly readily.

This post may obviously be more relevant to the pros who are reading this thread than it is to you or the OP but I thought I'd say it while it was on my mind. It's something I learned early on as a DM when I was often given the task of "drilling out" problems with "trouble cases". I soon found myself "drilling in" the positive instead of "drilling out" the negative and by just looking at the flip side of the issue I quickly became the resident expert at this kind of problem solving. Maybe someone can use that.

R..

This may work?

 

[TMHeimer]

Good advice from returner. I would think that with the right approach almost everyone can get over it. My wife will never get over her claustrophobia, but that may be apples/oranges.

 

[candacebot]

homerdoc, how did she get on with round 2?

I experienced very similar feelings during and after my pool sessions, I had a mild panic the first time we did remove/replace and breathed in a nice amount of disgusting pool water. After that I had anxiety each time a mask skill came up. I had to breathe and breathe and breathe and remember it isn't a race, I have plenty of time to do the skill, I CAN breathe with my nostrils exposed to the water (that was a big learning curve for me, I wasn't able to separate it at the beginning) and reassure myself.

Little by slow I was able to get it. Then we got to open water and a hood and ridiculous gloves got added to the mix. Nice. More anxiety ensued. The very last skill of the very last checkout dive was remove/replace, and when they announced it, I thought I was going to cry. I took some deep breaths, and I have rarely felt the elation I felt when I got it back on, cleared it, and got my fist bump from the instructor!

Best of luck to your wife.

 

[diver0008]

Inspiration...

 

[homerdoc]

Late update, she has been traveling so I just got her in a pool yesterday. I got in with her, and said lets figure this out. Her trainer was outside the pool watching. She freaked the first three times. I was down there watching her, and saw that she was holding her mask 1 to two inches from her face trying to clear and getting water in her nose. When we talked about it and I said just hold it a little out she did it and was good. Then we went on to taking a mask off swimming without it putting it back on and she was good.

Her trainer actually gave her another good tip to keep water out of her nose, put her chin in her chest when she is clearing or swimming without a mask. I just seal my nose with my upper lip so I didn't think of that.

Thanks for all the good advice you guys gave.

One other thing, the first three times she would go to the bottom of the pool and just start trying to clear etc, we had a long talk about get your breathing steady and buoyancy steady first.

When she was comfortable, I made her swim around with me and anytime I pointed she had to take it off and put it back on.

Check out dive is June 10th, we'll see how she does!