All those who practice diving, regardless of their level, have at some point experienced situations of greater or lesser distress underwater. These situations range from a mild state of anxiety due to the changes or situations that occur during a dive, to a state of panic in the most serious cases.
It depends largely on the psychological qualities of each person, in this case of each diver, the intensity in the manifestation of their state in the different situations that can occur during a dive.
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Emotional reactions in recreational diving
There are several factors that motivate a person to carry out an activity like sport diving: knowing and experiencing new sensations, desire for adventure, live what is seen in the media, discover new perspectives, etc.
Nowadays it is easy to access this sport and there are not many physical skills required. On the other hand, a person's behavior in the face of this new challenge is difficult to know a priori, and the response to the various incidents differs in each individual depending on their personality. In some cases it varies considerably from the expectations created when the activity begins.
More and more importance is being given to psychological aspects in diving as a cause of accidents. Human errors far outweigh material failures. The main cause is usually a total loss of self-control associated with fatigue and physical exhaustion.
Stress
We will summarize the concept of stress as a lack of adjustment between people and their environment. It can occur due to a qualitative overload, where the person does not have the skills or knowledge to deal with the situation presented to them, or due to a quantitative overload, where the person knows how to deal with the situation, but its dimensions or lack of time they overwhelm him.
The diver's reaction to internal or environmental imbalance is usually produced by the following factors:
- Environmental: marine life, sea conditions, effects of pressure, hypothermia, etc.
- Ergonomic: limitations to comfort due to the suit, poor dexterity in handling the equipment, inappropriate respirable mixtures, etc.
- Physical load: great intensity of the physical effort made.
- Psychophysical: decreased sensory stimulation.
These factors are a source of stress for everyone. However, there are situations that can represent a significant threat to the diver's integrity, when the mental load aspect predominates over the physical characteristics of the environment.
Any situation or stimulus, whether harmful or not, can be perceived as frustrating or dangerous and become a potential source of accident.
When stress appears in diving, two types of behavior coexist: the attempt to solve the problem and the attempt to protect one's own integrity. If the stressful situation remains, the more intense perception of danger begins and actions aimed at solving the problem are abandoned, focusing exclusively on self-protection.
Exhaustion then appears, creating a feeling of helplessness and quickly reducing the activity of fighting the problem.
Panic reaction (panic crisis)
Panic is a sudden and intense feeling, a blind and irrational fear that exceeds the person's adaptive capabilities and gives rise to inappropriate behavioral responses with total loss of self-control. Fear is a maximum stress in which the person can take advantage, to the extent that he or she adapts to the new situation. Let us remember that fear is an evolutionary legacy, fundamental for survival, which leads organisms to avoid threatening situations (probably, we are in this world because our ancestors were afraid enough to flee or react appropriately at a given moment). .
Any situation that is unknown, surprising, or requires intense physical effort from the diver, can end in a panic reaction, and the consequences that may arise will depend on the ability of both he and his diving partner to regain control of the situation.
Among the most frequent situations that can cause a panic attack in the diver are:
- Those caused by the material: loss or flooding of the glasses and/or regulator mouthpiece, lack of air for various reasons, negative buoyancy, etc.
- Encounters with dangerous marine animals or injuries caused by marine fauna.
- Those caused by lack of visibility, currents, waves, entanglements in nets, physical fatigue or cooling and loss of a diving partner.
The physiological complications of the panic reaction are: strong adrenaline rush, tachycardia, rise in blood pressure, increased cardiac output and involuntary hyperventilation that makes breathing ineffective.
We prepare to react quickly to a situation. At that moment we must regain control, stopping to think about the options we have to resolve that situation. It also produces dry mouth, headache, dysthermia (waves of heat and cold), dizziness, vertigo and other signs and symptoms of the physiological, cognitive and social sphere.
Prevention measures
Given the sudden nature of its appearance, preventive measures are not easy to carry out. Training is the best weapon we have.
During diving courses good learning is essential with repetition of exercises and tasks to face all these situations, teach self-control, emphasize the importance of good physical preparation and praise the well-known phrase: "In diving two are the unit."
Although the topic of panic is not addressed in depth in diving manuals, we must be aware that we or our partner can face an episode of this type, and be prepared.
If stress appears despite everything, the means we have are:
- Breathing control: controlling the rhythm, breathe deeply, lengthening the inspiration and expiration time. We can also lower the level of activation, lying completely still on the bottom - or holding onto a rock - closing our eyes and concentrating on breathing.
- Reassessment of the situation that allows us to solve the problem or safely end the dive.
- Support from the partner: their mere presence is sometimes enough. We will position ourselves in front of him and grab him by his jacket with one hand, while we calm him down with our eyes, trying to calm him down. etc.
- Encounters with dangerous marine animals or injuries caused by marine fauna.
- Those caused by lack of visibility, currents, waves, entanglements in nets, physical fatigue or cooling and loss of a diving partner.
The physiological complications of the panic reaction are: strong adrenaline rush, tachycardia, rise in blood pressure, increased cardiac output and involuntary hyperventilation that makes breathing ineffective.
We prepare to react quickly to a situation. At that moment we must regain control, stopping to think about the options we have to resolve that situation. It also produces dry mouth, headache, dysthermia (waves of heat and cold), dizziness, vertigo and other signs and symptoms of the physiological, cognitive and social sphere.
Prevention measures
Given the sudden nature of its appearance, preventive measures are not easy to carry out. Training is the best weapon we have.
During diving courses good learning is essential with repetition of exercises and tasks to face all these situations, teach self-control, emphasize the importance of good physical preparation and praise the well-known phrase: "In diving two are the unit."
Although the topic of panic is not addressed in depth in diving manuals, we must be aware that we or our partner can face an episode of this type, and be prepared.
If stress appears despite everything, the means we have are:
- Breathing control: controlling the rhythm, breathe deeply, lengthening the inspiration and expiration time. We can also lower the level of activation, lying completely still on the bottom - or holding onto a rock - closing our eyes and concentrating on breathing.
- Reassessment of the situation that allows us to solve the problem or safely end the dive.
- Support from the partner: their mere presence is sometimes enough. We will position ourselves in front of him and grab him by his jacket with one hand, while we calm him down with our eyes, trying to calm him down.
