How Scuba Diving Helps Heal Stress, Anxiety, and PTSD
Benjamin Hadfield Oct 15, 2025
How Scuba Diving Helps Heal Stress, Anxiety, and PTSD
I grew up in the high desert plains of Arizona — about as far from the ocean as you can get. But from the time I was a kid, I was obsessed with the sea. I’d watch Jacques Cousteau documentaries for hours, completely mesmerized by that otherworldly blue world and the calm, steady voice narrating adventures beneath the waves. I had 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea almost memorized and, Back then, diving felt like a dream meant for other people — explorers and scientists, not a kid surrounded by dust and cactus. I never imagined that decades later, the ocean would become something very different — not just a dream, but a lifeline.
Finding Peace After Service
Years later, as an active duty Marine, that same sense of wonder was replaced by something much heavier. The constant alertness, uncertainty, the adrenaline, the responsibility — it all builds a kind of tension that doesn’t go away just because you retire. PTSD isn’t something you can will yourself out of. It’s always humming in the background, shaping how you see, think, and even breathe.
Like a lot of veterans, I carried things home that people couldn’t see. You come back from service, and the world feels both too fast and too quiet. You’re always alert, always scanning, even when there’s no danger. Sleep doesn’t come easily. Crowds feel like traps. There’s a tension in your chest that never seems to let go.
I tried different ways to quiet my mind, but nothing truly worked — until I got back into the water.
The Science of Stillness
Scuba diving demands presence. It forces you to slow your breathing, steady your body, and focus on the moment. Those same controlled breathing patterns used to conserve air are also what therapists teach to regulate anxiety. Each inhale and exhale underwater activates the body’s calming system — the parasympathetic response — lowering heart rate and easing the fight, flight, or freeze instinct that PTSD keeps switched on.
The underwater world also changes how we process the environment. Sounds are muffled. Colors shift. There’s no chaos, no traffic, no phones — just rhythm and flow. Scientists call this state “blue mind,” a term coined by marine biologist Dr. Wallace J. Nichols to describe the meditative effect water has on the brain. For those dealing with stress, anxiety, or trauma, it’s more than a theory — it’s a lived experience of relief.
My Personal Turning Point
When I started diving again, I didn’t think of it as therapy. The moment I descended on that first dive, everything changed.
My world narrowed to the sound of my breath. Inhale. Exhale. Bubbles rising through clear water. For the first time in years, my body wasn’t in combat mode. I wasn’t reacting to the past. I was simply there — weightless, quiet, alive.
That feeling carried with me back to the surface. The calm didn’t disappear when I took off the gear; it lingered. Over time, my anxiety eased. My reactions softened. I began to find moments of peace not just underwater, but in everyday life. Diving became more than a hobby — it became my therapy, my meditation, and my way of reconnecting with myself.
Healing Through Community at Stuart Scuba
At Stuart Scuba, I’ve seen that same transformation in others. Veterans, first responders, and people from all walks of life come in carrying invisible burdens — stress, anxiety, trauma. But in the water, those walls come down. There’s no rank, no judgment, just mutual respect and shared experience.
The team here is deeply committed to adaptive and inclusive diving, making sure everyone — regardless of physical or emotional challenge — can experience that same peace. It’s more than instruction; it’s support. It’s a connection. It’s healing through purpose and presence.
Adaptive Diving: Healing for Everyone
At Stuart Scuba, I discovered something even more profound — adaptive diving. I watched divers with physical, cognitive, and emotional challenges experience the same peace I had found. Some were veterans like me. Others faced entirely different struggles — paralysis, limb differences, anxiety, depression.
But underwater, those differences disappear. Everyone moves at their own pace. Everyone breathes the same. The water doesn’t care what you’ve been through — it gives you freedom. Adaptive diving isn’t about what you can’t do; it’s about discovering what you still can.
I’ve seen people who hadn’t walked unaided in years glide effortlessly through coral formations. I’ve watched divers who struggled with panic find stillness in the rhythm of their breath. I’ve seen laughter, connection, and confidence bloom in people who once believed peace was out of reach.
That’s what makes Stuart Scuba so special — it’s not just a dive shop, it’s a community of people helping others rediscover themselves, one dive at a time.
A Message to Those Still Struggling
If you’re living with stress, anxiety, or PTSD — or if you’ve ever felt limited by your body, your past, or your fears — I want you to know this: the ocean has room for you.
You don’t have to be fearless. You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to take that first breath underwater and trust that healing can start there.
Diving didn’t erase my PTSD. But it taught me how to manage it — how to breathe through the moments when my mind races, how to find calm in chaos, and how to reconnect with the world around me. It reminded me that peace isn’t lost forever — sometimes it’s just waiting below the surface.
At Stuart Scuba, we make sure that anyone — regardless of ability or background — can experience that same healing. Adaptive diving gave me my balance back. It can give you yours too.
About the Author
Benjamin Hadfield is a Marine veteran, an adaptive diver Instructor Trainer, and Owner of Stuart Scuba. After serving and retiring from the Corps, he found healing and purpose through scuba diving. Today, he shares his experience to help others — veterans, first responders, and anyone living with trauma — discover the peace that exists beneath the surface.
Join the Journey
Experience the healing power of the ocean.
Learn more about Stuart Scuba’s adaptive and therapeutic diving programs at www.stuartscuba.com and start your own journey toward calm, confidence, and connection — one dive at a time.
