Scuba diving and the stress response: considerations and recommendations for professional and recreational divers

Scuba diving is an activity that people engage in both for recreational purposes as well as having professional, commercial, and military applications. Scuba diving has often been considered a high-risk activity but, overall, scuba diving has been shown to be a safe activity when divers participate within their experiential, physical, and psychological limits. However, increased physical and psychological stress can quickly arise during diving activities due to unexpected events and situations and may lead to the onset of panic in an unprepared diver. Dive safety is dependent on the ability of a diver to understand the primary signs of stress and panic and attempt to minimise their potential impacts on the immediate situation. The purpose of this review is to examine the stress response in divers, illustrate the role that panic plays in potential diving accidents and fatalities, and provide recommendations to both help understand and manage stress and panic in the diving community in an effort to further increase the overall safety of scuba diving across all applications.