Most of the previous posts discuss panic or anxiety states that occurred during their initial experiences and this suggests that such a condition is related to inexperience, it is not necessarily. Any cave diver will tell you that the one thing they really cannot afford to do when a long way in is lose their cool for any reason, and cave divers tend to be very experienced and cool people- but it happens.
My first encounter with an anxiety state was a few years ago and at that time I had about 600 dives and a pocket full of cards. I was in the Solomon Islands taking photos of a Jap shipwreck with a divemaster and two other, relatively inexperienced, divers. We were cruising along the main deck and I indicated to the divemaster that I was heading off on my own to get a shot that I really wanted and that we had discussed before the dive.
The bow of the wreck was the deepest part at about 110 ft and protruded out over the reef wall so what I wanted was a silhouette of the bow taken from underneath with the sun above it. The three divers continued along the deck and I dropped down the side of the hull until the rudder finally passed by.
Looking up there was the shot I wanted- beautiful, all I had to do was get it in the frame of my housed 35mm with a wide angle lens. So, staring up through the viewfinder I slowly descended further until finally the composition was good and then pressed the shutter. At around this point I started feeling a little weird, couldn't put my finger on it but just weird. A quick glance at the computer showed a depth of 130 or so feet and I jabbed the inflator again to get neutral. I don't know what it was- maybe narcosis was getting me more than usual, the panorama of being alone in the void with that old bow hanging above- I don't know. But all of a sudden I had a powerful urge not to be there and the only place that I wanted to be was way up there above.
I could feel my respiration rate increasing and everything seemed to form a tunnel with only the perceived need a rapid ascent filling my consciousness. With some effort I kept my breathing slow and regular while making a normal ascent until I got a hand on the hull of the wreck, all the time telling myself that everything was OK, that I had plenty of air and my equipment was working perfectly. Eventually I reached the main deck again at about 80 feet and stopped right there, got two hands on a rusted railing and focused on a lump of coral with a few small fish darting about. Within a few seconds everything seemed to fall back into place and the phantom of stress had vanished.
A few minutes later I found the other divers and we continued a great, and relaxing dive but the experience under the bow stayed in the back of my mind.
These days I have a few suggestions for divers who want to avoid unnecessary stress underwater:
- Stay sharp with basic skills- practice mask clearing and reg recovery at least every few months.
- Always carry redundancy- a spare mask and a spare air or other suitable alternative gas source and practice using them. It is incredibly reassuring to know that you are not totally reliant on one set of anything or anyone else's response.
- Remember that controlling respiratory rate is almost a silver bullet in relation to building anxiety- keep that in your mental emergency kit.