“In the water, I forget everything”: What if scuba diving could “cure” the victims of the Nice attack?
Najate puts on her jumpsuit. She can’t swim. She dives into the Jean-Médecin swimming pool, in Magnan. At the same time, several kilometers away, in the hyperbaric medicine department of Pasteur 1, Caroline puts on a 3D mask. And dive virtually.
The water. Leave the surface of the world. Immerse yourself, emerge…
Both were on the Promenade on the bloody evening of July 14, 2016.
The first says the impossibility of living since. The fear “at every sound ” et “the horror film that remains, inside, in the body, in the heart”.
The second is haunted by this decapitated child: “ I saw the truck arrive. The baby was in his stroller. I should have… I had to… I could, I should have pushed that stroller aside. I survived, and that baby… Fucking life bullshit!” Two survivors, dead inside.
They participate in Dive4Nice: a study on the effects of scuba diving on post-traumatic stress disorder conducted by the University Hospital of Nice.
Amykases, heart rate and relaxation
Patients dive “in real life” at the Jean-Médecin swimming pool, in Magnan, and virtually at the Pasteur 1 hospital, under the watchful eye of Doctor Carl Willem.Photo by Jean-Francois Ottonello.
“The idea is to understand whether, physiologically, breathing into a diving regulator can activate neurological circuits that reduce stress and promote cardiac coherence, resulting in a feeling of well-being and calm as well as an increase in the efficiency of the different systems of the body: respiratory, immune, cardiac and digestive”explains Dr. Carl Willem, a sports doctor specializing in underwater medicine, who coordinates the project.
What if diving prevented diving psychologically? The resilience sea?
Two studies, with promising results, have already been carried out, including one in Guadeloupe with the victims of the Bataclan, under the aegis of the Marseille hospital.
In Nice, we refine with a panel of fifteen patients selected and followed by the hospital’s psy department. Fifteen men and women of all ages, victims of the attack but also of rape, incest or school harassment. They are divided into three groups: those who dive “in real life”, those who dive virtually, a test group. All are equipped with cardiac sensors and submit, during each experiment, to a salivary test: this involves measuring amylase, this salivary enzyme which activates the parasympathetic system and allows the appeasement of stress.
In Nice, doctors are trying to demonstrate the benefits of scuba diving on patients who suffer from post-traumatic stress: attacks, rape, incest, school harassment…Photo by Jean-Francois Ottonello.
Back to the Jean-Médecin swimming pool: Najate comes out of the water. She was guided throughout the session by her instructor, Sylvain. Vent after vent, palm to palm. She sticks her head out of the water. Radiant. Sustained.
Najate can’t swim. And yet she dives into the Jean-Médecin swimming pool. On July 14, 2016, she was on the Prom”. She came across horror. Out of modesty, she does not tell. Just, since then, she no longer lives. yes to the Dive4Nice study.Photo by Jean-Francois Ottonello.
Because this scientific adventure, and especially human, also tells a chain of solidarity. First the meeting of Doctor Carl Willem with Patrick Prigent, the vice-president of the association Life for Nice on July 14, 2016, who immediately joined the project: “This study feels good. We had so many members who had tried everything – drugs, EMDR, forgetting…”
Then there was the support of the French Federation for Underwater Studies and Sports (FFESM) and the Aigle Nautique de Nice diving club, which voluntarily put its instructors at the service of this protocol full of hope.
A study coordinated by Doctor Carl Willem, a sports doctor specializing in underwater medicine, who coordinates the project for the Nice University Hospital.Photo by Jean-Francois Ottonello.
“We are all from Nice, we all have July 14 in our flesh, it’s so normal to help, to take part in the sequel”smiles the president of the club, Alain Anglade, at the edge of the basin.
The big bath from which Najate comes out: “ In the water, I forget everything. It’s the first time in years that I’ve been able to forget and relax…”
This scientific study is above all a human adventure, a chain of solidarity: that of the “Life for Nice July 14, 2016” association, that of the French Federation for Underwater Studies and Sports (FFESM) and the diving club of the Aigle Nautique de Nice, which volunteered its instructors for this hopeful protocol.Photo by Jean-Francois Ottonello.
Is it due to the regulator? The clinical study will continue for another three months. The Ecole des Mines de Paris will then establish the statistical tables which will allow the analysis of the doctors. And scientific conclusions. Then why not expand to other underwater activities, such as apnea?
A group of patients also dives virtually with a 3D helmet. This is the case of Caroline. From 1 July 4, 2016, she can’t forget this image that haunts her: that of a baby decapitated by the 19 tons.Photo by Jean-Francois Ottonello.