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EDGING ROUND THE PANIC PIT
NIGEL EATON, EDITOR
MORE THAN A QUARTER OF AMERICAN DIVERS have suffered a panic attack under water, but many continue to dive despite their potentially life-threatening experiences. These are among the findings of a survey published recently in America's Undersea Journal.
Compiled by Drs David & Lynn Colvard, A Study of Panic in Recreational Scuba Divers analysed responses from 12,097 divers submitted between September 2000 and January 2001.
Broken down to record differences between males and females, similar percentages of men and women (16% and 18% respectively) reported a history of "panic" before they took up diving. However, more women reported one or more "panic experiences" while diving (37%, versus 24% of men).
What is panic? The survey defined it as "intense fear of losing control or dying", causing symptoms such as chest pain or discomfort, a choking sensation, feeling dizzy or faint, and heart palpitations.
The survey raises plenty of questions. What, for instance, were the most frequent causes of the attacks? And, considering the likely adverse effects on buddies, instructors and other divers, what was the justification for sufferers continuing to dive? It should also be noted that most of us would define panic not just as a feeling but also in terms of consequent actions.
The main conclusion must be that the figures are high, even allowing for the fact that the respondents were a self-selecting group among several hundred thousand divers exposed to the questionnaire. Bear in mind that many panic-prone divers would not have seen the survey because they had opted to quit the sport.
It is therefore crucial that most respondents said they were able to control their responses under water. Following the onset of their first panic attack while diving, 81% of men and 73% of women claimed to have remembered their training and controlled the situation (whereas 15% made a rapid or uncontrolled ascent resulting, in about 1 in 20 instances, in symptoms of DCI).
There can therefore be no better advice in situations of stress under water than that given by John Liddiard in this issue of Diver (see The Subtle Art of Stopping).
Analysing deco-stop diving - where the consequences of panic leading to unplanned ascents are likely to prove disastrous - John reminds us of the cardinal rule. By remembering to "Stop, Think, Act", we can prevent an alarming situation turning into one that is dangerously out of control.
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