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I think that the problems many divers have with talking about their own
panic situations is to some extent contributed to by peer pressure.
I have observed this personally when I've brought up the subject of how
I've experienced passive panic brought on by poor visability conditions.
From the time we are kids most of us are encouraged to tighten up our
guts and "take it like a man." (No offense intended to the ladies.) 

I think that this is a cultural thing that is probably a result of
a number of factors ranging from the need to protect family members to
the need to occasionally go out and fight in wars. In any of these
circumstances people have to sacrifice themselves and that usually means
bravely marching into the face of death. I imagine that not showing signs of
weakness (such as fear) in these circumstances can be advantageous for
a variety of reasons.

While courage and strength are benificial in diving I think we all
understand the dangers involved in supressing fear and stress for too
long in our sport; it can lead to panic, which can in turn lead to death.
Given this, it seems to me that any tendency to avoid an open discussion
of real and personal fears and panic is counter productive. This sort of
a dialog not only acts as a psychological pressure release, its also
gives all the persons concerned a better opportunity to understand where
the people they will be in the water with are coming from and where their
limits are likely to be. This doesn't mean that we need diver's support 
groups but we certainly ought not discourage this sort of dialog either.

Finally, IMHO, it takes more courage to honestly examine one's own fears
than to pretend that they don't exist. When we examine our fears then we
learn to move beyond them.

I note that when Sheck Exley was asked what set his limits on some of his 
record setting dives, he said that it was fear. 

QED.

I imagine that this is old stuff to a lot of the people here, but I thought
that I'd put in my $.02 worth.

Eric

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