How to Overcome Aquaphobia

I am a pretty strong swimmer (once did a 1/3 mile open-water swim for a triathalon) but I confess to a bit of anxiety in water where I can't see or touch the bottom. It's very natural to be anxious in the water. My advice is to find something pleasurable about the experience (whether it's the liquidy sensation, the coolness of the water, the smoothness of movement) and focus on that.

Or you could avoid pools altogether and never have to confront fear of water again.

You are never too old to learn to swim. Yet, I could never have overcome my fear of having my face underwater by following this advice. I had had a mixed relationship with water most of my life. I had learned to (sort of) swim, but in a flailing, panicky way. And for only a few yards. I mostly avoided pools, lakes and the beach. But when I discovered snorkeling, I loved it. And, in my mid-40s, I took up sea kayaking, usually in a double with a strong swimmer. In a kayak, this non-swimmer reveled in breaching waves in open water in Maine, the San Juan Islands in Washington, and the coast of Mexico. There was a disconnect in me about the fact that if I fell in, I would likely die.
After a while, I realized that I was putting others at risk, for my kayaking companions would likely try to rescue me. So, gritting my teeth, I conquered the paralyzing fear of having my face underwater. I put on a snorkel mask and began to try and swim laps at the Y. After several months of gradually improving my stroke and form, and with heightened stamina, one day I tried it with swim goggles instead of the snorkel. It worked. It was so easy it was like "what was THAT all about?" At age 53, I was swimming like I had done so all my life. Doing all the lap swimming had acclimated me to being in water. I was no longer flailing, trying to keep head above it. I was one with it.

It's great to see a healing message for the vast population in the U.S. that's afraid in water. Kudos to the Times for the path it's been on for a few years to help these adults: the messages are getting better. My one regret is that though the article is generally positive, a reader can come away from it thinking I've said they have to force themselves to do something they don't really want to do. Not true. In fact, that's the main message that prevents people from overcoming their fear of water. I made the correction with the author last week but somehow it didn't make it to print.

I'm grateful for any good the piece can do.

Interesting piece. Good points & sad for those adults, but bravo that they're doing it! It gets me reminiscing about Dad taking us kids to the local HS pool on many Friday nights. He did laps, we had fun. At about age 7 we took ourselves to same pool for swim lessons after school. I started bringing our son into the pool at about 5 months, I think he could "swim" to the side of the pool & save himself by 9 months. At what age do most or many drownings occur?? Two - five years of age maybe? Infant swim lessons should be mandatory for children, starting in their first year of life, with someone they trust. This denial to our children is ridiculous. It's too easy to put off. I think public schools in Chicago used to teach swimming to students, as many had pools. The easiest time to teach a human to swim is when they're very young.

The nearest beach, Jones Beach was “way-out” on Long Island. We’d arrive tie a ribbon on the antenna, and walk about ten steps onto on to the sand and stop. The shoreline dimly visible. My mother, “You don’t want to be to near the water, a wave could come”. When I got a girlfriend on LI they decided I needed to learn to swim and sent me to a YMCA. I hated it; there was a lighted board in the locker room. The sign was made up of hundreds of light bulbs. Like a movie marquee, it would light up and the loud speaker would blare, “Sink-eases report to the pool.” Yes, I was a sink-easy. What a perfect name. Undoubtedly designed to inspire you to become a minnow the next level up from sinkeasys. Everyone laughed as we entered the pool. A troupe of kids destined to sink. And not just sink. We sank very easily. They tried every technique to get me to learn to swim. Holding my hands and pulling me through the water as I choked on chlorine, holding a mirror in the pool and telling me to swim underwater, (that is where you sinkeasys are anyway. right?) with my eyes open, so that I could see I was still alive and swimming. Frankie told me the reason I continued to sink was because I was Jewish and only Christians could swim, because Jesus walked on water. A logical explanation I took home to my mother. Her answer, designed to end all conversation was, “Jesus Shmuses.” I never went back to the Y. I never learned to swim. To this day, I consider myself a sink-easy.

As a pubescent swimmer, I got the assignment at just 13 from an instructor to teach six or eight seniors not to be afraid of water. It worked, maybe because I was the age and demeanor of their grand-kids.

I am a Boomer whose mother was a Red Cross swimming instructor who taught my sister and me to swim in the Potomac and in pools at early ages. The seniors were WWI-era and several said they never even put their faces in water. They used washcloths instead. The whole group admitted to being very afraid of drowning.

I used the RC techniques for little kids. Those included Ben Franklin's picking up an egg in waist-high water, leading to floating, flowing bubbles, bobbing and so forth. I suppose I was too naive and loved swimming so much it must not have entered my mind that my students couldn't get over their fear.

They all got it. To this day, 50 some years later, I think of that as one of my most satisfying tasks. It was well worth it to hear several of them say it was as though they had learned how to fly, that they claimed a whole new element. Several said they felt liberated.

Let me note that the instructor was very savvy to sense that I was up to the job.

Melon and her team are miracle workers. I am looking forward to returning to Sarasota to build on my progress.

Sounds good but none of these suggestions have worked for me. Despite numerous classes over decades still panic in the deep end.
It seems a foolproof method to overcome aquaphobia has not yet been invented.

A shout out to another "water therapist;" Jeff Krieger, who has been helping people, young and old, to overcome their fear and learn to swim for years now.

Jeff's program is SOAP -Strategies for Overcoming Acquatic Phobias. My group consisted of women who were tired of being afraid and of concealing the fear. It was a pretty accomplished bunch, as well, strong enough to want to tackle a fear. The approach was slow and thoughtful, resting on identifying the fears and developing strategies for reducing the panic - in baby steps - and in the end, it was exhilarating as terror gave way to enjoyment.

As the article says, this isn't about "learning how to swim" - in my past I had gone through classes - even managing to pass a required college test - but the truth was that I was terrified and avoidant,

It has been several years now, and I still remember the "lessons" ( more like group therapy in water) as remarkable guided practice in confronting deep-seated fear. Transformational.

Note - I checked, he's still teaching, and there's a Facebook page for S.O.A.P., and a website, waterphobias.com. Unlearn the terror!