[quote]AlphaDragon wrote:
Blondeguy,
Would it be possible to give some appropriate examples of this kind of psych conditioning methods? Are there any appropriate in this kind of class situation?
If you are uncomfortable sharing on a public forum, would you please consider PM’ing them to me?
On a side note, I just got off the phone (not too long ago) with a friend who is a 25 year experienced clinical psychologist with experience (within the last few years) with these kinds of women (primarily from treating a few of them here in this city in China). He said that most of them that he knows/treated/heard of are primarily stuck in “freeze mode” during attacks.
An example, (toned down for the public) is a girl who was sexually assaulted by a man she thought she knew (she “knew” him from the internet and he “loved” her and tried to have sex with her (make her lose her virginity) so she would have no choice but to marry him…). Basically, he pinned her down and tried to do it. Now, she pleaded and struggled, and avoided the…uhhh…“thrust” of it. But she was still assaulted and “entered” a little. Apparently, if she did some simple things like bite, for example, she could have escaped.
He (my friend, the Psych Doctor) says that even to train them in any basic way would ingrain more of a pro-active mindset that would get these girls out of these situations instead of freezing in confusion and disbelief.
Any thoughts on this?
Oh, and I’m going to ingrain the “Don’t plead or beg unless you plan to use it to launch a surprise attack” method. In my experience, attackers get more violent and empowered if they know they are in control…but if you get them thinking that way and then use the situation to your benefit (quickly changing and launching a devestating surprise attack), the effects can be very satisfactory.
Again, you all have my deepest thanks and respect.
AD[/quote]
Here’s are a few of the more well known, rudimentary, and less- involved methods derived from the military you might be able to use, as well as the history behind them:
In his book, “On Killing” Psych Prof David Grossman relays the facts that in WWII approx 15-20% of all U.S. riflemen were willing to fire their weapons in a lethal manner. In the Korean War, the number was 50%. When Vietnam came around, the U.S. Army had the number of riflemen willing to discharge their weapons in a lethal fashion at over 90%. These increases are attributed to the military’s use of human shaped silhouettes for marksmanship training.
Evidently, by using a “life-like” target for training, the soldier is more likely to become accustomed to the idea of shooting at a human shape, and thus, a human. In a chat I had with a former SF marksman, he stated that his first kills were, “just like shooting popups man. Same fuckin thing. Ain’t no different than the range.”
How do you incorporate this into Self-defense? One idea is to utilize a human shaped training bag like the BOB, which can be found through many retailers like this one: (http://www.onlinesports.com/pages/I,CEN-101691.html?cm_mmc=Froogle-_-Products-_-PPC-_-CEN-101691)
What I like to do is color code various strike points and have your students thump on that. This builds muscle memory, gets them used to finding the target, AND striking a human form. Another thing to do is to get a REDMAN suit if possible.
- In Boot Camp (at least the old kind) trainees were yelled at. A lot. This, in addition to the sleep deprivation, food deprivation, and sore from pushups muscles, accustomed the soldiers to working in high stress environments. Forced beyond their old limits of pain and stress tolerance, soldiers are still required to perform certain functions to absolute perfection. This way, when the shit hit the fan and instead of shouts, there were bullets flying by, a soldier could-for instance- remedy a malfunctioning weapon without thought. It became rote memorization and muscle memory at that point. BTW, the purpose of muscle memory in all of these cases is not to function blindly, but to free your mind from the task at hand to concentrate on things like your surroundings.
To incorporate this into training, try(it’s tough) having your ladies mentally place themselves in the mindset they’ll have while under attack. Then start making TONS of noise and make them use their techniques against an opponent or a bag. This builds instinctual responses to given scenarios tht overcome the deadly “freeze”. To shock them further, you can throw ice water on them, blind fold them…the list goes on.
Obviously, training safety is paramount so limit the more severe techniques, or at least the power behind them. No killing in the classroom 
Another drill, which also builds situational awareness, is to instruct the women to constantly think about being attacked while they’re on the street. Then, after they’ve contemplated an attack, they mentally work through an effective response and evacuation plan. And do this over and over, thinking of different scenarios each time. This tunes them to locating exits, potential threats, and gets their minds working on a proper response. Since their mind is also already in “fight mode” they’ll hopefully be less likely to freeze. Furthermore, I’ve heard that a person who mentally drills their lessons, even with no additional physical training, can retain approximately 75% of what they learned (if I remember correctly). This is far better than somebody who does nothing.
Those are just a few ideas to get your mind going. There are obviously lots of things you can do with the abovementioned concepts, so try those out. They’re fairly simple and go a long way.
To touch on some other stuff you brought up:
First, as you discussed the whole “give in as a surprise attack”, have them practice talking as part of their defense. Maintaining the motor mouth keeps the brain functioning and active and allows the “shock” to dissipate quickly.
Second, your story is spot on. As a Sexual Assault Victim Advocate (pseudo counselor) I’ve heard women state over and over how they couldn’t believe they were actually being assaulted. Or, they shut their minds off to be someplace else and thereby not have to be mentally present during the attack. And any number of other lines on the same thought. So, it is PARAMOUNT that you get these women to understand that in these circumstances, they are being assaulted and must respond. They must know what an assault is, and recognize that it is happening to them. If this does not occur, they will not fight back.
Also, in the U.S., over 80% of all sexual assaults are committed by somebody the victim knows. In this, you must teach your girls that once somebody does something not right (touching, attacking, verbal assault etc) that person is no longer they’re friend, and they must respond as they see fit.
I could go on for pages and pages, but I’ll stop here for now. Hope some of this helps. Let me know if I can be of further assistance. Lots of good stuff on this thread.
-B