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The Mental Side of Self Defense - 4 Self Defense Modes

Self Defense Street Fight No Responses »

Apr 092010

Richard Armen asked:

If you were to look around at all of the martial arts schools and self defense training programs, you might come to the conclusion that all that is needed for effective self defense is to learn a few moves or techniques. However, true self defense is so much more than that. Without considering the mental side of the defense scenario, you will be unable to act in a dangerous situation, even after taking self defense courses.

Many martial arts-based self defense classes are missing the key factor of the mental fight. The strategies taught in such classes may or may not work under pressure, when your life is on the line. If you are evaluating potential self defense strategies, don’t make the error of neglecting the important issue of emotions and your natural emotional response to the stress of an attack.

While it’s pretty easy right now to rationalize that you’ll be able to keep your calm in the heat of the moment, the truth is that humans are emotional beings. Before you can even think of a potential way out of an attack, you must overcome your body’s natural response to the stress. This is often described as the “fight, flight, or freeze” response. It is perfectly natural, but it is a very dangerous thing at a time when seconds can mean the difference between life or death, especially if you’re not expecting your body to respond in this manner.

Although your personality type can have an affect on your body’s response in a time of panic, there are four general response possibilities recognized by experts. These responses come not from thinking about the predicament but from primitive instincts hard-wired into the brain. The four recognized response modes include:

Confident and Relaxed. In this mode, we don’t really perceive the actions as a threat. Even when presented with a serious attacker, the response is strength and confidence. Those who are able to remain in this mode hold their ground and are able to respond to the attacker’s moves quickly and efficiently.

Direct and Committed. In this mode, the victim fights back quickly with direct, committed actions prompted by either fear or anger. In this mode, we take a direct approach, “going for it” no matter the consequences. This can be an effective self defense mode, although it can result in overly reckless actions.

Defensive and Emotional. Far more often, the person being attacked is overwhelmed by the aggression displayed by the assailant. The body’s natural response will be covering vital targets and fleeing to a safer distance, perhaps by literally jumping backwards at the sight of the attacker.

Evasive and Avoiding. People in this mode tend to avoid conflict at all costs. The first impulse will be to naturally create distance between ourselves and our attacker. Those who are in this emotional mode at the time of the attack will duck or evade the assailant’s blows, but probably won’t be able to land any punches of their own.

Even in similar circumstances, our emotional states are constantly changing to reflect the situation. The emotional state in which you find yourself during an attack can be affected by the situation surrounding the attack, as well as the actual assailant you’re dealing with. Your body may respond to one attack with confidence, while remaining evasive or defensive during another. The important point is to train yourself to be able to fight back effectively regardless of your emotional response to the situation.

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Psychology of Self Defense

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Feb 012007

Mario Andreis asked:

In order to be able to respond to any kind of an attack, the first thing one should do is to prepare psychologically for possible confrontation. One should become aware that in any given moment he could face a danger coming from another human being. Acknowledging this is the first step in achieving the readiness to an attack.

It must be noted though, that emotional awareness on itself will not necessarily guarantee the ideal physical reaction even though this is implied in most martial arts schools and conventional self-defense programs. Emotional and psychological readiness must be viewed as an absolutely necessary brick in the wall of your self-defense. The rest of this self defense wall consists of course of physical condition and training. Most self-defense courses and trainings lack real life pressure and stress one is submitted to during the attack. For this reason special attention should be paid to making the circumstances as real as they can get while performing the drills and trainings.

Also there should be many scenarios which can occur in real life simulated. The more situations you experience, the more ready for the street you’ll be. Many times self-defense courses consist of drills and trainings too static for the real attack situations. Such courses may make you feel better but they may also tell you a lie. You may think that you’re somewhat ready because you invested in course and because you took some lessons but in reality you may be even more endangered. Why? Because you’re convinced that you know how to do things when attacked while in fact your false defense will only make the assailant angrier and more determined to do you harm.

So if you’ve learned anything from this article, then you should know by now that before thinking that you’re ready to face the attacker you need to:

- Adjust your everyday-thinking to real life circumstances, that is – you should live with the thought in your head that there is a threat outside, and that threat can become real at any given moment

- You should be prepared to react in case of violent attack, you should think about what and how the things should be handled if they happen

- You should think about what actions you would be capable of taking. Would you critically injure another person? Would you kill another human being?

- You should take classes with professional people who know what they’re teaching you. Some swinging hands in the air will not help you one bit!

- It’s a real life you live, no matter whether you’re ready or not for it!

If you’re not a physical type of person, if you’re not physically strong nor you have the time or the genes to become strong then you could use some kind of self-defense weapons.

Some very popular are: pepper spray, taser, stun gun and even guns and knives. Yes these can really help you but make no mistake – you should by all means take the lessons on how to use these kinds of weapons. If you don’t take time to learn the proper usage of weapon then you risk even worse consequences than what you would be in case you have no weapons at all. Remember, you better not carry any kind of weapon around that you’re not ready to use and that you know not how to use it the right way. One of the most suitable gadgets for this purpose is a pepper spray. The effect on the attacker is devastating but not fatal. Did you know that it takes more to recover from pepper spray effects than from taser?

Think about the facts of self-defense depicted in the paragraphs above and stay safe.

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