SCUBA Diving Helps Veterans with PTSD
When immersed in water, paralyzed Veterans often report being able to feel areas of their bodies and a reduction of or complete lack of pain. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Veterans state the high-focus nature of SCUBA diving helps relieve anxiety and stress. The Veterans Administration hospital is currently planning to conduct a medical study of the physical and psychological benefit of SCUBA diving on disabled veterans.
The program is open to war veterans who are experiencing PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury, as well as other disabilities. The full article includes contact details for those who are interested in taking part in the activity. What do you think are the physical and psychological benefits that war veterans may get from SCUBA Diving? Let us know by leaving your comments below.
Filed under Anxiety Disorders, Mental Illness, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder by on Apr 19th, 2010. Comment. 
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Comments on SCUBA Diving Helps Veterans with PTSD
There may be use in cross referencing the knowledge learned from the discipline of free diving. The top free divers can go down to 288 feet on one breath. They are able to do this because their heart rate is slowed down as a function of them being in the water (like all mammals, this naturally occurs when we are submerged). The slowing of the heart rate may be, in and of itself, a profoundly therapeutic intervention for an individual with P.T.S.D.
The free divers also practice breathing / meditation / relaxation techniques that allow them to extend their ability to hold their breath even further. Learning these tools may make free diving even more therapeutic than scuba diving as a training tool to counter the anxiety rated to the intrusive memories of the traumatic experience.
In addition to the benefits mentioned above, scuba diving and free diving can serve as a flooding experience (a cognitive behavioral intervention to work through fear). Both free diving and scuba diving involve to facing the fear of death. When this fear is worked through gradually and successfully, then the person with P.T.S.D. can experience lasting relief from anxiety symptoms.
There also seems to be some benefit from the restricted amount off sensory input during the free diving and scuba diving experience. I hear from divers with P.T.S. D. that they experience it as a relief to just have to focus on the limited range of view that their scuba mask allows (perhaps this is experienced as a relief instead of a trigger because their hear rate has already been lowered. I image there is some parallels between the blinders sometimes put on horses when they enter traffic. A level of calm is induced by limiting the sensory input that can be overwhelming at times.
I am interested in exploring the benefits of free diving as an intervention for foster youth and veterans with P.T.S.D.