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Updated: Feb 16, 2026

Training Rats to Voluntarily Dive Underwater: Investigations of the Mammalian Diving Response
Published on: November 12, 2014
Diving and antidepressants
1Larenseweg 14, Hilversum, The Netherlands, bram@praktijkquerido.nl.
Abstract:
Psychoactive drugs pose a risk to both the diver and his or her buddy. Little is known about the safety of diving with antidepressants. Amongst the potential interactions with the diving environment are: somnolence; convulsions; a bleeding tendency (potentially worsening decompression illness, DCI), alterations to glucose metabolism and psychiatric side effects. Fluoxetine may potentially reduce the inflammatory process associated with DCI. This article presents guidelines for recreational diving in combination with antidepressants. These guidelines were endorsed at a meeting of the Dutch Association for Diving Medicine in 2015 and are solely based on 'expert' opinion.
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