Tag: trauma

decompression stop
Approaches to support divers following an incident in scuba diving, HEALTH, Mental health issues and scuba diving, Psychological impact of accidents and incidents, TRAUMA

Distress decompression to recover from a bad dive experience

Stress (or more accurately distress) is strangely similar to nitrogen. As divers we protect ourselves from injury because we understand the way that nitrogen build up in the body while breathing compressed gas/air during a dive. Being aware of the way that distress can be stored in the body can help to recover from a bad dive experience. That experience may be anything along a … Continue reading Distress decompression to recover from a bad dive experience

Dr Laura Walton
Approaches to support divers following an incident in scuba diving, TRAUMA, Uncategorized

PTSD after diving accident: when to seek help?

When someone is physically harmed in an accident, we tend to have a rough understanding of the urgency of medical help. If the person has severe bleeding, broken bones, respiratory distress or other obvious signs of physical trauma, immediate healthcare is required. Some diving-related injuries are less obvious, particularly decompression illness, where symptoms can be mild. Yet, the advice is clear: if the person has … Continue reading PTSD after diving accident: when to seek help?

Dr Laura Walton
Psychological impact of accidents and incidents

Social reactions to decompression illness

What can sociological and psychological sciences do for divers? Studies of diver behaviour can reveal important factors that contribute to risk of injury and how we react to incidents involving injury and/or fatalities and can potentially inform changes to procedures that can influence social attitudes and individual attributions, and ultimately safety. Several months ago I caught a very brief radio piece referring to research on … Continue reading Social reactions to decompression illness

Dr Laura Walton
BLUEMIND, Therapeutic applications of scuba diving

Diving to heal

 As a psychologist I understand post-traumatic stress as something that affects the body and mind; the mental, emotional and physical all wrapped up together.  An analogy I often use to explain this when I work with people experiences the after effects of trauma is: if you had ran a marathon your body has been used hard, muscles will be sore, joints inflamed. If you go … Continue reading Diving to heal

Dr Laura Walton