Psychology Today is not respectable at all. Students are not permitted to cite it in term papers and we do our best to explain to them that it's contents are hogwash. It's main mission it to make money for its publishers and perhaps entertain the uneducated. We do have serious peer-reviewed scientific journals, which are as you characterize your field - hypothesis, modeling, etc.
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"Learning the techniques of others does not interfere with the discovery of techniques of one's own." B.F. Skinner, 1970.
Well, for someone who doesn't dive, 100' is deep...Originally Posted by FW
I really get tired of people trying to represent cave diving as the most dangerous sport. They obviously haven't done their research.
Rob Neto
Chipola Divers, LLC
Check out my new book - Sidemount Diving - An Almost Comprehensive Guide
"Survival depends on being able to suppress anxiety and replace it with calm, clear, quick and correct reasoning..." -Sheck Exley
What part of the mill pond is 100' deep? He didn't say "long deep cave".
That makes sense... Indeed this did not seem like a formal journal. Thank you for clarifying.
Xenia, a.k.a. Local Zip Code Diver
It seems like this isn't even a serious article but merely a "blog."
For you psych types - Are there any diagnostics to determine predisposition to a total shutdown in reaction to panic?
I've only 'lost it' once - after falling in an ice cave and becoming wedged in a near-vertical crack. I was alone and under-geared. The tunnel vision passed after a few moments, but that would be all it takes in a water-filled cave to set yourself up for the end. I was only 13 or 14 at the time, so perhaps biological and psychological immaturity may make this not-so-telling for me.
Also - while I don't recall it being called Shark Night, 'that night' of YMCA scuba class was the most valuable scuba training exercise I've ever experienced! Builds significant confidence, while reducing ego!
That experience has probably made you much less susceptible to panic attacks. I have had a few like that over the years, and each one has made it easier for me to deal with stressful situations.
Forrest, I totally agree with you. Any experience in stifling panic is useful in the next stressful situation. I had years of dealing with situations spiraling out of control (patients have a way of doing that) and we said about our second year of residency, that your panic button got pushed so often it didn't work any more. Certainly, the high-stress situations I've been in underwater have each worked to give me greater self-control for the next.
However, I will say that, if you are air-hungry enough, you may remove your regulator. I had a cold water immersion experience that left me severely short of breath, and damned if I didn't take my regulator out to see if I could breathe better without it. (I couldn't.) I was on the surface, though . . .
Agree with everyone, especially if this article had shown up in Advanced Diver Magazine, NACD Journal, etc. But it didn't.
On the bright side (of the article, and not the death), this is an article that avers the dangers of cave diving + is aimed at the general public. Chances are that many OW divers (and yet-to-be-OW divers) may read it or have read it. Nothing wrong, IMO, with letting people know that it's dangerous in a cave, even if the message does smack of sensationalism.
Bill Ripley
Rebreathers are something that we have to go to in order to dive the way we want to dive. They are not something we go to for any other reason.
I like that "panic button" analogy
I have done hard surface swims, and was overbreathing the reg so bad, that is did work better to remove it. A wave breaking over you might negate that, however.
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