Scuba diving therapy is a type of treatment that consists of different scuba diving techniques and exercises. Essential elements are increased body awareness, social bonding, and breathing techniques. The goal is to improve physical and psychological well-being.
Description
Scuba diving is habitually associated as a high performance adventurous sport that requires a multitude of safety precautions. The otherwise risky sport or even a component of military service, has been established as a provisional element of therapy. Scuba diving has shown effectiveness as a therapeutic and rehabilitation process for veterans who had acquired traumatic physical and/or psychological injuries. Scuba diving was shown as a therapeutic process that can help people with various disabilities to reconnect with such activities while simultaneously focusing on the clear goal of coping with their impairment. It can seem as a very challenging sport for them but the experienced weightlessness of the water facilitates their experience. Even in extreme cases like with people in a wheelchair they regain a feeling of equalness in the water alongside general mental improvements. Scuba diving therapy and rehabilitation relies on extensive stimulation of the entire human body. The concluding benefits were also seen in the improvement of psychological aspects such as anxiety disorders, PTSD and an abatement in social dysfunction and depression.
Types
Recreational diving as treatment
As other recreational sports, freediving and scuba-diving can provide immersive experiences that can help to reduce stress. A study of Marlinge et al. (2019) has shown that scuba diving helped to promote relaxation which can lower levels of multiple stress markers like cortisol, copeptin and ischemia - modified albunim- A (IMA) levels. Additionally, researchers from the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine found scuba diving to result in a significant improvement of PTSD symptoms, a reduction of muscle spasticity by an average of 15% and more.
Diving as diagnosis technique
According to Alfred A. Bove (2013), controlled diving can aid clinicians to differentiate between a inner ear barotrauma and an inner ear decompression sickness.
Adaptive diving
Adaptive diving is a safe form of diving that helps people with amputations and various disabilities to dive independently. The technical training is adjusted individually per person. Through adaptive diving people can improve their body balance, and fine motor control in their hands. Studies with veterans have shown that the body balance after losing a leg can be improved with the help of adaptive diving. The studies also state an improvement of 3.7 and 3.9 point improvements of the veterans anxiety and depression symptoms. The improvements were shown with higher self confidence, emotional calm, goal and purpose.
Area of application
Scuba diving can decrease depression, anxiety and PTSD in military veterans and people that are dealing with such mental illnesses. Diving allows patients to achieve a feeling of liberty, due to the concentration needed for the duration of the dive. This leads to an increase in mindfulness and a decrease in depression and anxiety levels. The risks that are involved in scuba diving may also lead to a decreased urge of control in life. This helps individuals achieve acceptance of uncontrolled events. Next to a decrease in stress and anxiety, veterans participating in scuba diving also reported improved levels of concentration and focus.
The use of diving in therapy, specifically scuba diving, is applied to a wide range of disorders.The therapeutic properties range from psychological to physiological treatments. In Norway, for example, it is applied to people who have lost their vision, suffer from multiple sclerosis or amputees. The aim is to increase their sensory awareness and promote the strengthening of confidence.
Military veterans often undergo therapeutic diving, since they often suffer from both physiological and psychological impairments, such as traumatic brain injuries or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Scuba diving has the potential to benefit veterans with PTSD, as they respond less to conventional treatments than the non-military populations.
Diving therapy is advantageous for milder types of anxiety and chronic stress disorders, by increasing mindfulness and a sense of relaxation. Scuba interventions have been organized for people with neurological and neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder.