From: cgc2646@usl.edu (Cech Claude G)
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
Subject: Re: Weight belt oops at 50'
Date: 14 Oct 92 02:11:17 GMT
Article-I.D.: usl.1992Oct14.021117.7605
Organization: University of Southwestern Louisiana

In article <Bw0M9E.A8L@news.orst.edu> sdodd@OES.ORST.EDU (Stephen M Dodd) writes:
>
>Their was temptation to abandon hope and allow the
>free ascent to seize me and take my me to my fate.  
>
>
>I was stuck without enough clear information to make a choice.
>
>I fought back a rising sense of hopelessness.  After all I had lost my
>weight belt and deserved to die.  
>
>
>Steve
>

(I've edited out a LOT of Steve's comments, which gives a very misleading
impression of what he actually said.  Apologies in advance, but I want to
focus on something related to the above comments.)

Steve's comments above along with several other postings about divers who
simply disappear have got me thinking about a potential danger divers face
that we may not be aware of or prepared for.  I've been musing about this
since hearing an interesting talk a few days ago about so-called "animal
hypnosis," or tonic immobility that appears to occur in situations of great
stress and danger.  The speaker (Gordon Gallup) suggested that this reaction
may be a last-ditch instinctive mechanism to cope with predators, as most
predators seem to require movement to complete their kill.  Think of cats
playing with mice, for example.  (I'm skipping over a lot of technical
details that wouldn't be appropriate for this news group.)  What is of
relevance, however, is Gallup's suggestion that *we* may have the same
mechanism, based on interviews with survivors of natural disasters, rape
victims, etc., who often report a state of absolute passivity in which
they didn't even attempt escape, or consider the question of whether
to make the attempt:  They went into this absolutely calm state in which
they almost acted like detached observers of what was happening to them.

Apparently, a sudden change of stimulation (for animals in the lab, at
least) can sometimes bring the state to an end.

So, my point:  Consider the implications for a diver going into such a
panic-induced state in the deep.

If you have been involved (as a participant or an observer) in diving
situations involving an extraordinary level of fear/panic, did you notice
any tendency to simply let go, or any tendency towards immobility?  Or,
did you go into the opposite routine of rapid breathing, desire to get
to the surface ASAP, etc.?  If the former, was there anything you can
point to (a buddy grabbing an arm, for example) that ended the state?

Given the nature of this, I think we probably shouldn't take up net
bandwidth for replies.  If you'd like to e-mail such experiences to me
however, I'd be interested in compiling them.  (Obviously, anything we
get will NOT be sound statistically;  still, it may be a worthwhile
database as a source for hypotheses that can be examined in a more
controlled fashion.)   Anonymity, of course, guaranteed.

	- Claude



***************************************************************************
++        Claude  G. Cech        ++   Fine Print --  Opinions are like   ++
++    Department of Psychology   ++    puffer fish:  Impressive when     ++
++  U.  Southwestern Louisiana   ++  threatened, but potentially lethal  ++
++    e-mail: cgc2646@usl.edu    ++        if swallowed  whole .         ++   
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