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Darren Laur
5th February 2002, 05:57
FEAR AS YOUR ALLY


A recent study conducted by a well-respected organization in the United States determined that in 80% of attacks on women (I would even extrapolate this to men as well), the predator frightened his victim into submission simply by using verbal intimidation. The mind guides the body. The street predator knows that if he is able to paralyze your mind through fear, your body will freeze also, no matter how much physical training you have.


What is fear? Most people view fear as an extremely negative feeling which causes one to totally freeze and panic, and as a result get hurt. Although this is a common belief, it is not quite accurate.


Fear is both a physical and an emotional response to a perceived threat or danger. The physical reactions prepare us to confront and survive a dangerous situation, by readying autonomic functions for self-preservation and trauma. Heart rate increases; adrenaline and blood clotting enzymes are released to make the body stronger, faster and less likely to feel pain. Although the biological response to fear does not differ from person to person, the emotional response will, based upon one’s perception of threat. It is this perception of threat that can, and will, differ from person to person based upon training and learned past experiences in how to deal with the specific threat encountered. What may seem to be a threatening situation to one person may not be to another.


This emotional response to fear is both learned and voluntary. A learned experience is generally taught to you. For instance, if you are a parent who has arachnophobia, and you see a spider crawling across the floor, your first reaction may be to scream and jump on a chair. Your small child will soon begin to “model” his behavior in the same way. Seeing the spider will trigger the learned fear response.

The voluntary reaction is what we choose to do when faced with a dangerous situation. Unfortunately, many people use fear in a self-defeating, negative way rather than with a challenging positive attitude.


Perceived threats trigger our learned and voluntary responses and any three will occur: fight, flight, or hypervigilance. A lot of us know about the fight or flight response, but not many of us know about hypervigilance. Hypervigilance (freezing in place or taking irrational actions) is something that we are all inbred and programmed with from the cave man days, at the “reptilian brain” or “frog brain” level. For those of you that have seen Jurassic Park the movie, what do the experts in the move yell to those people who were running from the Tyrannosaurus Rex ? Why ? because it was “hypothesized” that dinosaurs hunted via movement. Now, lets bring this to the tear 2002. Lets say you are traveling mach factor ten down a deserted highway in the middle of the night with your high beams on, when all of a sudden a deer jumps out in front of your car. What does the deer do ? It freezes. Why? Does it see the car as a car? No, it sees the car as a threat. What does Bambi do when it sees or senses a threat in the bush? It freezes, in an attempt to not be seen by that which is potentially hunting it. Like Bambi, we have this same response programmed into us as well. Once caught in a state of hypervigilance, it is a downward spiral that once caught into, is very difficult, if not impossible, to get out of. Why is this important? Because the mind guides the body. If the brain freezes, so will the body !!!!! Allowing yourself to become stuck in a state of hypervigilance, both mentally and physically, will most certainly allow the attacker to succeed, or will prevent you from becoming proactive in dealing with the situation at hand.


The emotional response to fear, need not be mental immobility; it can be trained and utilized as a voluntary, positive force. An analogy can be drawn by comparing the fear emotion, with electricity. When used positively and appropriately, electricity runs our lives; when used negatively and carelessly, electricity can kill. The emotion of fear is the same way; used in a positive way, the emotion of fear is a “powerizer” and an “energizer”. Used in a negative way, the emotion of fear can cause one to panic, freeze, get seriously injured, and in the worse cases, even killed. What you choose to do with the emotion of fear – allow it to control you, or harness the energy – is left up to you to decide, it is a conscious choice, but the decision you make could mean the difference between winning or loosing.


So now we know that fear is simply an “emotion”, just like any other emotion that the good Lord gives us. We also now know that although the emotion of fear is triggered based upon one’s perception of threat, which could differ from person to person, biologically it reacts the same in each and everyone of us. We also now know that when the emotion of fear hits, one of three responses; fight, flight, or hypervigilance, will take place. Based upon what I just shared with you about the hypervigilant state, I think you will agree that we want to pick the “fight” or “flight” response. How do you choose fight or flight and not the hypervigilance response? The answer is simple in concept; ask yourself: “ Am I threatened or am I challenged?”


To understand this concept, place yourself on the following scenario: You are in an office building that has thirty floors, and wanting to go to the top floor, you decide to use the elevator. When the elevator arrives, with no one inside, you enter and start your ascent. Arriving at the tenth floor, the door opens and standing in fornt of you is an unknown male, 6’5”, 250 ponds, built like a Mac truck, brandishing a knife and saying, “ shut up and I won’t hurt you, if you scream, you’re dead.” Now ask yourself , “Am I threatened or am I challenged?” Most people , when faced with this situation, will say they are threatened.


The brain makes decisions for the future based upon past experience and training; it guides the body. No matter how much physical training you have to deal with an attacker who is about to assault you, if you stay in the “threatened” mindset, you will go into hypervigilance mode, come to a paralytic standstill, and be at the mercy of the attacker. Because off this fact, you need to get “CHALLENGED.”


How do you get from a “threatened” mindset to a “challenged” mindset? By consciously saying the word “BUT.” In the elevator, when the door opens and you are faced with the attacker armed with the knife, what should be going through your mind is, “I’m in a bad situation, BUT if he takes another step, I will …….”

The powerful word “BUT” challenges the brain and allows it to work and think. When I give lectures on this topic, I always lead my audience up to the point where I ask them this question: “ There is one little three letter word that will change your mindset from threatened to challenged, do you want to know what that word is?” At this point I pause for about three seconds, and then I say the word “BUT”. It is amazing to see the expressions on people’s faces. I then share with them that as soon as I said the word “BUT” most of the audiences brains asked themselves, “BUT what ?” As soon as the brain goes “But What”, the brain now begins to work. It can now find answers to the questions it is being faced with, such as, “How am I going to get out of this situation as quickly and safely as possible.” Once the brain is allowed to work, the physical training and experiences you may have can now be applied. In other words, instead of freezing into a complete standstill, you begin to take some action to protect yourself.


A good self-protection program with “realistic”” scenario based training is beneficial not only in teaching you physical strategies, but in helping you realize that you CAN use fear to your advantage. However, even if you do not have the self-protection training or life experiences to deal with a specific threat, the “CHALLENGED” brain will begin to adapt, overcome, and improvise to find a way for you to stay safe. There are hundreds of instances in which men and women with no prior self-protection training, have physically resisted their attackers and “won.” Why? They CHALLENGED themselves.


As previously stated, in 80% of attacks on women, the predator used only verbal intimidation to scare his victim into a submissive state of hypervigilance. To overcome this, you must allow the brain to work, challenge it to mentally figure a way out of the dangerous situation, and to physically release the “internal warrior” that the emotion of fear can stimulate. Decide to focus and direct the mental and physical forces into a powerful attack of your own, and allow the full impact of the fear response to propel your mind, body, and soul against the your attacker. Fear can be your greatest ally in a dangerous situation, but it can also be your worst enemy. THE CHOICE IS ULTIMATELY YOURS TO MAKE !!!!!!



What I have just shared with you, you can practice in your everyday life. I share with you, this personal experience to demonstrate this fact:


I was one of the youngest sergeants ever to be promoted in my police department. While in the promotional process, the last stage was an interview in front of a panel consisting of the Chief of police, the Deputy Chief, a Police Board member, and a City Counselor. My interview was set for 2pm, so I was there at 1:45pm. The panel knowing of my early arrival, waited until 2:30pm to call me in. Why? They wanted to sweat me !!!! As I was waiting for my interview, I noted that my heart rate and breathing had increased, I was sweating, my mind was racing a mile a minute, at which time I asked my self; “Am I threatened or am I challenged.” I immediately identified the fact that I was “THREATENED” Upon comprehending this fact, I knew that if I went into this interview in this mindset, I would choke (go into a state of hypervigilance) !!!! How many of you have heard of this happening to someone, or experienced this yourself. Immediately upon recognizing my state of mind, I said that magical, but very powerful word, “BUT”. As soon as I said “but”, I stopped sweating, my mind slowed, and my heart rate and respirations decreased. I went into my interview in a now “CHALLENGED” mindset and as a result, did very well, and got myself promoted.

Why did I share the above noted experience with you the reader?, because in my 15 year career as a police officer, I have been attacked with an edged weapon on four separate occasions. In each one of these edged weapon encounters, the biological effects of fear that I felt were no different than those I experienced during my sergeant interview. Remember, fear is strictly an emotion, IT DOES NOT DIFEERENTIATE. What you choose to do with the emotion of fear, is left up to you to decide and to practice !!!!!!!!


Strength and Honor

Darren Laur
Integrated Street Combatives

meat
5th February 2002, 10:15
Thanx heaps for that Darren. Fear is a topic I've thought alot about, and having never been in a combat situation myself I've always worried about the fear factor and what it would do to me. Your post has helped alot, keep them coming!

Charlie Kondek
6th February 2002, 13:39
Yes! Another great one, Darren. Say, could you elaborate on techniques used in the training hall to develop a better emotional response to fear? The BUT factor? Kit and others have mentioned training under stressful conditions so you sort of "get used to it."

daniel fields
6th February 2002, 22:47
Thanks for the great information Darren. Once again valuable information.
Daniel Fields

Darren Laur
7th February 2002, 06:52
Charlie:

Thanks for your review. Yes, Kit was right on the mark. The best way to both experience and practise your response to the emotion of FEAR, is through "realistic" (verbal and physical) scenerio based simmulation training.

Strength and Honor

Darren Laur

Mike Williams
7th February 2002, 10:10
Thanks for another excellent and thought provoking post, Darren.

This is slightly off topic, but I would be interested to hear your views on whether regularly exposing yourself to adrenaline dump (say by doing extreme sports) can be beneficial in fear management in combative situations.

I'm thinking specifically of activities where, if you get yourself into trouble, it is vital that you control panic and think your way out of the situation (I'm thinking of things like, I don't know, free-climbing, cave-diving, etc.)

Would that same ability to think your way through the adrenaline dump help you in a fight?

Reading your post, I realise that I go through a similar mental process (the "BUT" process) when riding motorcycles - which is by far the most dangerous activity I do. (Classic example - going in to a turn too fast, freeze up, jam the throttle closed, bad mistake! Instead - breathe, relax, THINK!)

I have now got to the point where 9 times out of ten, I can think my way through a panic situation on the bike, even though the adrenaline is kicking in hard. I haven't had chance (thankfully) to test whether this fear management would carry me through a street encounter - but I would be extremely interested to hear other peoples' experience of coping with adrenaline.

Cheers,

Mike

PS: Actually there are a few other lessons from biking that I have carried over into my MA training, but that's for a different thread.

Charlie Kondek
7th February 2002, 15:17
I've never had the privilege of scenario training, and have always wondered what it would be like. I mean, for LEOs it would be stuff like uke plays a perp and tori tries to arrest the perp? The perp(s) goes through all the piss and vinegar and gets aggressive with the LEO, who tries to control the situation? It escalates into violence? For other, you would try to simulate a street encounter?

Any further advice on trying to implement this?

Stephenjudoka
19th February 2002, 12:00
Charlie,

Scenario training is very useful however, this type of training should be conducted carefully.
When people are in the scenario it becomes very real for them.

Everyone taking part should be fully briefed as to what their roles are and how far they should go.

The scenario should be as real as possible - sometimes you can recreate real life situations that have occurred to others.

Most importantly the scenario should be debriefed.
Everyone in the scenario should go through their thoughts and feelings, why they did what they did, could they have done it better and if they were to be faced with the same circumstances again - how would they deal with it now.

The debriefing of the scenario in my opinion is the most important part of the process.

To deal with the fear factor I use the colour code system 'Coopers colour code'
This system was developed to give LEO an immediate and visual system of reflecting the changes of threat in their enviroment.

It was realised that officers being skilled in particular areas were of little use if the same officers were still trying to make decisions about what level the threat had reached, and what the correct response would be.

Cooper called the colours 'Conditions' and sought to 'visually trigger' and condition the officer to a particular state of mind.

The conditions and colour code is similar to a traffic light system.

Condition White: Switched Off. Looking but not seeing. Unable to recover from a supprise attack. I can't believe this is happening to me.

Condition Yellow: Should be in this condition 100% of the time. It is not a state of paranoia but merely seeks to get the radar switched on and effectively gain good situational awareness. Looking and seeing.

Condition Orange: Evaluate and decide action.

Condition Red: Engage or disengage the situation. This is commonly known as flight or fight response.

So when you are in the lift you should be in condition yellow, when the lift door opens go to condition orange (have a plan of what to do everytime the lift door opens). When you are confronted by the knife man go to condition red. (Action)

Using this system you should never be supprised - easier said than done.

I have been using the colour system myself for about 5 years.
I find it very helpful and often talk the situation through in my head before it happens. This gives an opportunity to react sooner.
I do find it hard to remain in condition yellow and often find myself in condition white. However, when my enviroment changes or something triggers my suspicions I do go to condition yellow and so on.

Obviously you would need more information to understand what I am talking about and I would recommend further reading. Good books are;

1 The Penguin Dictionary of Psycology ISBN 0-14-005280-1
2 Streetwise ISBN 1-873475-527
3 The Gift of Fear Survival Signals that Protect us from Violence
ISBN 0-7475-3691-0
4 Attentional Control of Canoeing Internet Publication www.brunel.ac.uk
5 Sharepenning the Warriors Edge ISBN 0-9649205-0-6
6 Col Applegate Recognised authority CQC Techniques. Infantry Lournal March 1943

Good reading

Stephen Sweetlove

Kit LeBlanc
19th February 2002, 13:29
Force on Force scenarios DO respresent a way of "stress inoculating" the participants.

For a variety of safety concerns, as well as to maximize the training benefit, the role players and participants need to be briefed before hand ; the role players are expected to strictly conform to a set of guidelines in what they are expected to do, though the participants are mainly briefed for safety.

The role players should be experienced in drawing out the proper survival/dominating behaviors from the students, and not trying to "beat" them.

Simmunition F/X firearms training is what really seems to jack people up. That and weapon retention scenarios.

We experimented with this on our last Defensive Tactics block by suiting everyone up in Sim safety gear...all thought they were going to be in a shooting, and the stress level noticeably spiked, even though the scenarios were not shooting scenarios. We are working to the point where ALL scenarios could possibly involve a shooting and thus the participants will not know if it will be DT, a shooting, or both! We have started to integrate it with SWAT and hope to eventually do so with patrol.

Some people do "re-live" events. I remember running a guy through a scenario during a Simulation Instructor class which involved confronting a gunman, but not a shoot scenario, and he was noticeably more jacked up than he probably would have been in the same situation on the street. He performed professionally and appropriately, and then confided that this class was his return to duty after being on mandatory admin leave from a shooting! In a way the training was a good way to get his feet wet before going back on the road.

I have seen scenarios lead to stress melt down, bad shootings or not shooting when it was appropriate or would save life, etc. They do get very stressful, though with all the safety gear and parameters they are not totally indicative of reality.

I have also seen people fail to perform, be coached, then thrown into a similar scenario and perform well.....and the difference in how they carry themselves, level of perceived confidence, etc. is marked. Building trust with the instructor block is key...if you set up no-win scenarios, or if you set up things so that the hotshot firearms instructors are constantly defeating the students, you aren't training anyone and in fact hardening them against training, so you have to walk a line between being realistic and drawing out the behaviors you are trying to instill.

Stephenjudoka
19th February 2002, 15:34
I fully agree with everything Kit has stated.

I to have seen people get stress melt down and on one occasion even before the scenario had started I witnessed an officer 'lose it'.
The thought of the scenario scared him so much that after the incident he was medically discharged suffering with stress.(He never did take part in the scenario).

This is why it is very important to plan and run scenarios carefully.
The idea is not to beat the participant but to instill confidence in their training and performance.
It does take a lot of skill to be able to run realistic but safe scenario training as I stated earlier the debrief is very important.
A good constructive debrief will help everyone learn and understand.
Always finish the debrief with a good point.

Stephen Sweetlove

Charlie Kondek
20th February 2002, 15:11
Wow, thanks, guys, for your comments!