Not either or
I look at my martial arts training as a distribution of worries, awareness, etc.
I may have to think about unpleasant things when I train. I put myself into high pressure (even if simulated) situations on a fairly regular basis. So, stress in the immediate is present. However, I learn a new set of coping skills for that stress and therefore, its long term emotional impact has been decreased when real situations have presented themselves. I have found myself less irrationally preoccupied with such events (attempted muggings, serious car wrecks where I have had to give aid, giving CPR, etc.).
As an example, just about a month ago the wife and I were driving to Casper, WY and came upon a Yukon and a snowmobile trailer flipped in the median. We got out, and I found myself in seiza holding up a guys legs who had gone into shock for about 35 minutes. The wife was rendering medical aid as well. Ambulances roll in, we help them get people on the back boards, and 15 minutes later we are at the next town getting McDonald's. Sure we were talking about it, assessing our performance, but we were also trying to decide what to put in the CD player. Some people who were helping were clearly shocked by the scene and the event. While it made us sad and concerned for the people, we were not dismayed by it in some sort of deep visceral manner.
So, the person who says that I am paranoid may indeed experience a little more day to day bliss, but when the SHTF, they tend to fold, particularly in the face of violence. My experience has been that I have not suffered from any PTSD or continued severe emotional stress. Students who I have trained in simulation self-defense have also reported that their ability to recover from stress is improved.
Also, untrained people tend to get paranoid by ludicrous things and downright myths. They will freak out to see a person of another ethnic minority on the street, when 95% of the crime is caused by somebody that looks exactly like them. They worry about strangers raping their daughters, girlfriends, wives, mothers (ethnic strangers to boot). However, at least here in Wyoming, many still drive without seat belts and drive while drinking, not driving drunk, I mean drinking WHILE driving. I won't even get into the smoking thing.
So, I think my worries are much more rational and as a result of my training I can handle it when SHTF in many situations (haven't been shot at, thank God).
So, it is a distribution, I experience some lower stress up front so that serious stress down the road is (hopefully) not so detrimental. Now, if it would just allow me to stop flipping out when I lose my keys or wallet in the house.
As Gavin DeBecker says in "The Gift of Fear" "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt."
Glenn R. Manry
---Iaijutsu, don't forget the doorman.