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Chapter 7 — 3
Some divers may respond to certain levels of stress in ways inappropriate to survival. These
potentially dangerous stress responses are :
• Panic –
a psychological stress reaction characterised by excessive anxiety
• Fatigue –
a physical stress response to exertion
• Sudden Death Syndrome –
a lethal cardiac response to stress (see Chapter 35).
Fig. 7.2
PANIC
Panic is probably the most common contributor to death in recreational scuba diving. Studies
have implicated panic as a contributor to between 40–80% of such diving deaths.
Panic is an extreme and inappropriate response to a
real or imagined threat. Behavioural control
becomes lost. Some readers will have experienced,
or been near to, panic in some real life situations.
In general, the more naturally anxious a diver is, the
more likely he is to panic.
As panic develops, the capacity to think rationally
and solve the emerging problem deteriorates. The
diver becomes more and more narrow minded and
eventually may focus on only one goal e.g. reaching
the surface – to the exclusion of other vital factors,
such as exhaling during ascent.
Fig 7.3