One of the things we do really, really well in scuba instruction is make divers terrified of getting DCS. By that, I mean we probably do it a bit too well. If you have been on ScubaBoard for a while, you will have seen countless threads in which people are afraid that they got DCS on a really mild dive on which there was next to no possibility whatsoever. There was a recent thread from someone who thought he might have gotten it in a swimming pool, which is pretty much impossible.
Now, I am not saying we should not have a little such fear, but it is important that it be realistic. I once had a buddy suddenly sprint to the surface from 80 feet because he had looked at his computer and seen he had only two minutes until he was in deco. He was sure that entering deco was going to cause an immediate and painful death, so he sprinted to the surface to avoid it.
The irony is more than that he was in no real danger of DCS and that his computer would have given him more time as he did a nice, slow, casual ascent. In fact, he could have ascended to a shallower depth and continued the dive for quite a bit more time. the real irony is that in trying to prevent that DCS, he made a panicked sprint to the surface, which a joint study by DAN and PADI showed was a factor in the most common fatal scuba accidents. His irrational fear of DCS had caused him to do the most dangerous thing he could have done under the circumstances.
Perhaps we should put more emphasis on descending without causing barotrauma and making safe ascents and a little less on the dangers of DCS.