Guba First, let me clarify that I am not a diving instructor. However, I have extensive experience in situations (both as a "participant" and as an instructor) in areas that require the handling of emergency situations. I've was a firefighter for 27 years and a lifeguard (and lifeguard trainer) for over two decades. In both of those activities I wound up in teaching roles and it was necessary to understand panic and how its effects could be mitigated. With that said, I hope you don't mind me throwing in some input, though I am not a dive instructor.
Part of the "trigger" for panic is to be placed in a threatening situation with no rational idea of the full range of the consequences. That means that the "victim" understands the negative consequences (drowning, etc...), but they cannot visualize positive outcomes. When that happens, survival instinct takes over and a person will bolt, the quickest, though most dangerous, resolution to the situation.
What training does is to allow a person to visualize alternate, POSITIVE outcomes. Once a person realizes that there are other solutions, bolting is much less a reaction and the person can then keep a grip and work toward those solutions, and that's where well-honed skills will be employed. This, I think, applies to diving as well as the urge to bolt from a burning building or running from a firefight, or any other situation involving a threat to one's safety. If a person has had ample previous opportunities to visualize and work through what they should do, then doing what they should NOT do becomes less likely.
Of course, that means that one should train constantly, but it also implies that they need to devote significant time simply reviewing those other positive alternatives in their head. It is unwise to try to retreat from thinking about bad situations and simply hope they never occur. It's important to "face the dragon" so that if (some would say "when") things go wrong, the necessary actions are closer to the surface of one's consciousness and, therefore, more likely to provide that postive outcome.
Thanks for your patience and sorry if I'm stepping out of line.
Bill
I just came across this post in a previous thread "Extinguishing the impulse to bolt". I think that it sums up the discussion initiated here. If divers are mentally prepared to face the unexpected, then thinking while in the middle of panic can overcome the "flight" response. So if a situation is truly preventable, then we can all agree that training is the preventative. It comes back to training. Maybe that is the message we should leave with divers who were just certified. Don't stop training. Be an aware diver.
