Simulating Stress

Interesting dichotomy.

In training, we're striving to artificially create a genuine fight or flight response, to a level that degrades performance and cognitive function.

But through training, we try to also give ourselves the tools to handle stressful situations, so that response is moderated, allowing good judgement and physical performance as if the external stressors were not present.

Two efforts that are diametrically opposed on the one hand, yet intimately related on the other.
 
You don't want stress in your training, you want to train your mind to deal with stress.

Stress will not make you faster or more accurate. Stress will make you a functionally retarded version of yourself.

In the military we have had some success using "hollywood explosions" during training to provide stressors to participants. I don't know how much of an option that is for you. But the goal for that training is to "up armor" the brain to avoid PTSD, not to increase performance under stressful situations. By making training look and feel like combat, Soldiers and Marines have a reference point in their brain to place combat when it actually happens, in theory lowering the rates of PTSD among veterans.

http://vox.fastcompany.com/1696703/...d-effects-amputated-actors-robots-laser-explo

http://www.military.com/entertainment/offbeat/hollywood-effects-aid-marine-training

Your best bet is to practice relaxation techniques and visualize the successful outcome of your training. It is free, and will help you calm yourself when you DO get an adrenaline dump from stress. Trust me, when the fecal matter hits the oscillating cooling device your body will default to it's lowest level of training, so if you train to be calm, deliberate, and smooth, that is how you will perform.

Jimro
 
In training, we're striving to artificially create a genuine fight or flight response, to a level that degrades performance and cognitive function.
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No, in training we are trying to master skills that we can use in "fight/flight/freeze" situation. Because fighting and fleeing are two good options when it comes to conflict, the option that we don't want to happen is "freeze". We want to AVOID losing cognitive function.

Running away is a completely legitimate option. I mean really, who WANTS to get in a gunfight? Training is just building the tools into your toolbag to respond to bad situation.

But what if the bad situation is coming across a stabbing victim on your walk home from work? Freezing in that instance is a normal reaction for most people, if you remain calm you can call 911 on your cellphone, begin to deliver first aid, etc.

Training to deal with stress isn't just about guns.

Jimro
 
I think we are talking at slight cross purposes.

1. The idea of stress training is to bring people up to a point that can induce a freeze or panic flight. But folks can learn abilities that can automatically switch in to avoid these nonproductive responses. Not that a rationally decided freeze or run isn't useful. It's the nonrational ones that are not useful.

Repetition of such allows the person to know that they can function and get through or avoid the automatic nonuseful response. Techniques to reduce stress during the incident can be taught.

2. About PTSD, that takes a bit of time to develop and diagnose, so if someone uses it for an immediate response, that's incorrect. It's not the immediate response if that was meant. However, there is evidence that training in stress reduction can aid in processing the event successfully and reducing the later onset of PTSD. Dealing with actual PTSD takes some form of therapy - usually in the cognitive behavioral paradigms. Interestingly, the popular immediate Critical Incident Stress Debriefing isn't that useful
 
Don P
"" I think paint ball would not be the best choice for training. ""

Because why? I'd think it would offer good training or at least some fun. ( I've never tried it though )


On another note, while shooting isn't involved, how about auto racing to give yourself some stressful situations?( sports car or oval track not drag ) On a smaller scale there is something called Autocross / Solo 2. This is where a small road race course is set up in a large parking lot and cars run one at a time. Speeds are sub 60 mph so all you need is any safe car and a helmet. What is important here is that you must go from sitting in the line to full on for about a minute then back to waiting you turn, no warm up laps, you must go bang right now. This rapid transition to full on seems what you are looking for.

Or if that isn't possible, some sports car tracks offer driving classes from basic high end street driving ( no not how to use a turn signal but how to_realy_ drive a car ) to full on under pressure anti terrorism barrier crashing / evasive maneuvers / PITing the car in front of you. ( I did this one )

Or how about a video game that gets things going?
 
There is another issue here. While I never was involved in an actual officer involved shooting, (except for the time me and my partner shot up a 1978 Pinto) when we did make building searches, felony arrests and other high risk endeavors, I never felt all that stressed out. Why? Good training before hand, that's why.

After handgun skills training, recieving tactical training which teaches how to solve the types of threats that one might face will go further than simply doing jumping jacks until the heart rate is above 160.

Also, if you want to experience stress when life or death is on the line, take up hunting. I have felt more stress immediately after taking a shot than I ever felt in LE. In fact, just the other day, took a shot at a nice buck about 30 yards away with a bow. As soon as I made the shot, I felt my heart beating in my neck, and smiled to myself about the elevated heart rate, (purely from mental stress, not physical stress). I told myself, that even if I missed, I got my money's worth out of this hunting season, just experiencing the stalk and shot.
 
There are several points brought up that bring your adrenaline up for sure, but not useful when applied to firearms training.

I'm fairly familiar with SCCA Autocross, raced a AWD 400hp monster in SCCA road course for two years, but I can't exactly run a lap in autocross, jump out the car and run up to the range and fire some rounds.


Marty,
I haven't been hunting a few years, but the rush before taking your shot is very distinct, but there is no real way to repeat that multiple times in one day. Unless you have a REALLY hot game trail. haha

Also, I understand how having good training can make stuff go smoother and not give you as much of a rush, but I'm talking about for use in a random, out of the blue, self defense situation where the sheer surprise of the situation cause a "Fight, flight or freeze" reaction.

What I had in mind with the paintball guns was have a few people in the woods, hiding and one designated person walking a path. Sporadically have people pop out of hiding and walk past the person on the path, with one random person being the "bad guy." They draw and exchange fire, maybe having an innocent by, or having a scenario where it's just verbal threats that then escalate or something. You could even incorporate coming across a hold up and the bystander getting injured, you have to administer first aid after dealing with the attacker or whatnot.


Glenn E. Meyer,
Thanks for the links. TDI looks pretty nifty. I've driven by that place before and never knew what it was.
I agree with you in respects to training vs PTSD. I've never heard that training with life-like war games was to prevent PTSD, I just thought it was purely for preparation.
 
A few years back I got into paintball. Scenarios are endless and adrenalin dump is definate. Also trains you to cope with tunnel vision, because it will happen. Look into it.
 
I played paintball for a year or so and airsoft for like five years, and got really into airsoft. Like, REALLY into it. But haven't played in a while.
Now that I'm getting away from racing bikes, cars, and quads, and back into guns, I think I might start playing again.
 
Get up in front of a crowd of 1,000 people and give a speech. THAT should stress most of us out! :)

What about an IDPA match? Or cowboy action match? That might be a good place to go. I don't know, personally.

--Wag--
 
Get a tub large enough to comfortably stand in and shoot out of. Wear knee high boots.
When it's time to shoot drop a couple of medium sized snakes into the tub.

That should get your adrenalin running.
 
The problem with game paintball or airsoft is that they are not supervised with particular real world problems that are supposed to simulate deadly force encounters and set problems that can't always be solved by hosing away.

Wag is right about speeches. I got the greatest parasympathetic rebound and felt like a dish rag after an invited talk at a big deal department with big deal experts in my field. Wow! :eek:

That wiped me out.
 
"" I'm fairly familiar with SCCA Autocross, raced a AWD 400hp monster in SCCA road course for two years, but I can't exactly run a lap in autocross, jump out the car and run up to the range and fire some rounds. ""


That changes things. The original post had me thinking you haven't had many under pressure situations and needed to generate some. You could do a triathlon auto x type thing, change tires - drive the course - then shoot the cones you hit. . . .

I can run internally various scenarios on most any topic and get over the initial excitement. As a result I'm usually pretty emotionally flat in the race car and high pressure situations. Keeping mental clarity and planning in real time is critical.
 
I just tell my wife I'm going to be buying another firearm, after being yelled at for 15 mins. by a short English redhead who also carries a gun, I'm good to go on the stress-O-meter. :D
 
haha, sounds like a good plan there Egor.


WANT A LCR 22LR,
Oh I've had plenty of high-adrenaline, stressful situations. FTX3, especially the night infiltration course, is a perfect example. I would absolutely love to do it again.
 
Excellent thread, I’ve been in a few life and death situations over the years, what I remember the most is the lack of remembering anything during the event! I remember just before and just after with great sound and picture clarity, but the actual event is a haze, can someone explain that? :confused:
 
what I remember the most is the lack of remembering anything during the event! I remember just before and just after with great sound and picture clarity, but the actual event is a haze, can someone explain that?
Click to expand...

I have a theory as to what's going on. Same thing happens to me - at best I'll get a few single-image snapshots of what happened, enough to more or less piece it together.

We know for a fact that our memory comes in two types: a short-term "buffer" between 5 and 10 minutes long, and then a long-term memory storage area. We transfer stuff "that matters" (to us, depends on the person!) from short-term to long-term memory. In my kid brother's case, I know for a fact that at age 15 his "buffer" was about 7-and-a-bit minutes long. He suffered some temporary brain damage and for a while, you could pretty much set your clock by how fast he'd forget something and ask you what time it was. Again. Got downright annoying :). (Yes, he made a full recovery.)

My theory is that under the stress of a life-or-death emergency, our brains shut down or limit some functions, to speed up the processing of everything else. Memory recording seems to get deemed "non-critical", as does emotional responses, smell processing, hearing processing (to some degree) and God only knows what else ('cuz he forgot to write us a %$#^@&^@&% user manual!).

:)

Think about it - we do the same thing with a computer. Ever had to do something calculation-intensive like a huge database sort, or a monster of a video game, and you shut down your web browser or other stuff to make more memory and CPU cycles available?

Here's the good news. In one of my eight "overdrive" situations, it was "combat related" (didn't get all the way to a fight but came damned close, weapons out on both sides). I was able to make correct moral judgments which were then praised by cops, a deputy DA and the innocent victim I dragged out of a horrible mess. What happened was NOT "berzerker rage" at all.

Upshot: as long as you go into the situation without rage, you can trust what will happen next.

I cannot possibly overstress the "don't get angry" thing. ANY of us can go berzerker and it's a horrible and hideously unsafe place to be.

Did that once around age 12, some brat on a playground jumped me from behind and then ran off laughing, I chased, last thing I remember I was just about to catch him, next thing I remember is three two teachers screaming at me while pinning me down. Never EVER again am I going to let that happen!!! I'm almost 45 now and I'm just as committed to not going there as I was that night feeling sick to my stomach. (Fortunately I didn't hurt the little SOB.)
 
Your brain functions differently under stress. Your amygdala is responsible for "taking over" so to speak during times of high stress. Your amydgala is also key to memory formation. When you are using your amygdala to make fight/flight/freeze responses it isn't really working with the rest of your brain for memory formation.

Which is an extremely dumbed down explanation of what it really happening, but it explains the poor memory formation during stressful events.

Jimro
 
In fighting for your life, not with guns, but with other weapons, the speed of your body movements, the increase in your physical strength, and the most Incredable component. Do a few of them, you get better!

SLOWING DOWN OF THE FIGHT, like a slow motion movie.

When you are hit in the head, a zing noise is what I hear.
 
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