"Tachypsychia"

R

ragwd

New member
This term was brought up in another thread, and I wanted to continue with it but it really was tread drifting, sorry "Son Of Vlad Tepes ". So I brought it here.

"Tachypsychia" Thanks for putting a term on it, I always thought of it as crapping my pants. Seriously is there any way to combat Tachypsychia ???? Besides train train and train so more. Are there any particular drills to prepare oneself for Tachypsychia. I have gone as far as to run 2 miles, at a fairly fast pace enough to get my heart rate to 150. My hand shakes and aim is off but not to the point of missing the center mass.

I have heard of in a real life situation that one can tunnel vision on the opposing weapon to the point of shooting at the weapon rather than center mass! Tunnel vision, no auditory perceptions, loss of fine motor skills, profuse sweating and hand shakes. What can you do to combat these symptoms? The only answer I have heard so far is training, training and more training so that when you are in a real life situation and "Tachypsychia" starts to set in you naturally revert back to your training, hopefully. But are there any drills in particular that actually help with the "Tachypsychia". So guys with the military and or law enforcement I was hoping you would add here.
Thanks
 
There are many "non-firearm" related tasks that assist in this regard.
My father was a cross country trucker for many decades and always stopped for auto accidents. He often had me along. I was red cross first aid trained at 11 YO he often counted on me to assist at different degrees thru my teen years. I also had a few buddies that suffered motorcycle wrecks while i was there alongside... Assisting in these events helped me to keep my head and ACT rather than REACT! Also I feel hunting regularly helps if you are fully aware of repercussions of poor shot placement and conscientiously being aware of the results helps a human handle a human vs. human situation.
Another option I am able to use and so is "junior" is hog hunting with dogs and NO GUNS... When we hear our curr/bay dogs bayed on a hog we know that they could be facing a mean adversary and we have to release bulldogs to catch and hold the hog. Once the bulldogs are loose, iot is very important to act fast and maintain composure as these hogs will devastate dogs in no time at all. it is no time for second guessing the decision to be a hog dogger! We have to rely on our bulldog/s to hold ANY hog no matter how big or bad he is or how long his razor sharp tusks are, It is the job of the human to grab the back legs and tip it over so the dogs can be pulled off. We than tie up the hog and remove it alive. These heat of the moment moments really help to teach a person of any age the ability and importance of clearheaded behavior before, during and after the heat of battle. I am SUPER glad junior has had these experiences from pretty young to add to his "life lessons" for moments in the future when he may have to make split second decisions to defend himself with a gun and his need to be TOTALLY rationale after the event...
Brent
 
Ragwd, no problem at all. But instead of having the more experienced in here telling us about tachypsychia, why not have these people tell us about the effects of the whole sympathetic nervous system induced "fight or flight" phenomenon as it relates to decreasing defense performance. In other words, maybe we can discuss tunnel vision, reduced auditory sense, and seeing things in slow motion, the last of which I think is directly caused by tachpsychia, and about any strategies to combat these things other than, I know training :). But specifically in training are there specific techniques to address some of these things so that if necessary to defend ourselves, we can do it more safely and efficiently?
 
Another term for Body Alarm Response (BAR). It's a natural occurence during an adrenaline rush designed to help the body concentrate on important factors. Unfortunately, it can be deadly. We had an off-duty LEO get killed up here, officially due to this phenomenon. He had his weapon out, directed at a BG. When the uniforms came, he didn't "hear" them ordering him to drop his weapon. He turned to look at them (gross body movement - loss of fine motor skills), and ended up facing them with his gun pointed at them, so they shot him.
I heard thumping noises one windy night and investigated. I saw a man in a blue & white jacket so clearly I could have ID'd him, but it wasn't a man at all. The wind was thumping the screen door, and the blue &white "happy Holidays" flag was waving past the door. I darn near shot an innocent flag!
 
HogDog, Dang if that doesn't sound like a good time. I am sure that if I have a tendency to freeze under pressure that would bring it about. I have always wanted to hunt hogs but never considered unarmed.

Son Of Vlad Tepes and Tanzer, we are on the same page on this and I am hoping that we get some suggestions. We certainly don't get the training we need in a ccw class. So I have tried a few pistol classes that teach shooting while moving to cover and from a car and from other cover and the more I learn the more I realize how much I dont know.
 
I have had the slow-motion vision experience a few times, always while something terrible was coming at me in a very direct way.

I don't know that you could really train for it but training sure as hell can't hurt. If you are particularly afraid of snakes you could have a buddy throw snakes at you, but I'm not sure that's a great idea.:D
 
Here's a good explanation I came across years ago:

Tachypsychia (literally: the speed of the mind): the distortion of perceived time. In a life-or-death situation, the mind kicks into overdrive and transfers into the sub-conscious (which operates much faster than the conscious) so your perception of time becomes altered. This causes the observation that things are happening in slow motion (a.k.a "Bullet Time"), even though you (and your opponent) are probably moving faster than you ever have. Tachypsychia can also work in reverse ("It all happened so fast"). Observations have been made that the more experienced and highly trained a person is, the more likely that person is to experience tachypsychia. That is, a person who knows that "trouble happens" is less likely to be surprised by it, and more likely to respond with super-heightened awareness.
 
I experienced this when I was a rookie firefighter. My first structure fire, I had tunnel vision so bad my Lt. had to slap me on the helmet more than once to turn my attention elsewhere. After the fire, I couldn't recount what had happened during the initial attack. It takes repeated envolvments in stressful situations before one can combat the effects of this phenomenon.
 
I doubt if sparring would help... to me, more a conditioning of things out of your element... I would think exposure to trama like voleneering on the local fire dept. 1st respnders, etc. would go a long ways towards helping, field dressing deer in the dark, by flashlight ( if thats out of your element ), visiting the local meat packing plant, & witnessing an active hog or beef kill process could help, even volenteering or working a high stress situation ( even McDonalds at lunch rush, with a bus in the parking lot ), could go long ways towards teaching or training you to see the full picture, & help you work through the situation...
 
magnum..., That is why I mentioned the hog doggin'... We are NEVER in "our" element. It is usually done in the dark of night, the hogs usually run to the worst possible cover/swamp etc. to turn and engage the dogs. We are wearing little ol' headlights and NEVER know if other hogs are going to come to the defense of a squealing pack mate! In this situation it is never wise to drop your complete guard. If it just me and junior it requires both of us to literally watch the other's back. Once the hog is tossed (sometimes takes 2 people), one person Is kneeling on a mad hog tying it's legs while the other is busy getting dogs off and leashed to trees. It is a really good way to teach the brain to multitask under pressure!
Brent
 
Not to hijack but...

Hogdogs, that really sounds like a blast man. I have been wanting to hunt hogs for a long time now but there are little or no hogs around here. Mind if I look you up if I'm in FL?
 
Sure don't mind! Actually you don't have to have a hunting license to be with us on privately owned land. You will simply be assisting a state nuisance wildlife trapper. BTW I don't trap but that is the words on the permit;) It really is a blast! Don't worry if you suffer tachypsychia... it happens to many first timers as well as some with experience... But if I or Junior tap you and/or tell you to "hit a tree"... CLIMB NOW don't ask "HUH???":eek:
Brent
 
Why do you thing the Marines are so harsh during training?? To get the recruit adapt at working through stress and being able to function. I know i was scared as hell when i got off of the bus at Paris Island. It was one wild ride the first few weeks untill you got used to working under extreme stress. People question their training methods but they work!! People think all the yelling and what not serve no purpose but how little they know. when it comes time for combat and you have to function under stress you have been there and you can do your job. only way to train for stress is to be under stress when you train. the physical part is easy its not getting vapor lock of the brain that is the hardest!
 
kgpcr, I was pondering many years ago... What if us citizens could pay to go to bootcamp... Stay as long as the person could tolerate it, leave if they can't hang tuff... I would love to have the professional, HIGH STRESS training. I know it would make me a better person, give me invaluable survival skills, but most of all elevate my ability to appraise a situation to determine risk/threat and act accordingly...
Brent
 
Stress is hard to adjust to. Combat troops learn it and adjust for quickly for the short term 1-2 years. Firefighter and police officers have the same stress over their careers that last 20-30 years

Combat is very intense; learning the so called ability to keep up in advents is a survival response. The PD and Fire service will take a longer time to be at the same mental level but it will occur. It usually lasts much longer in this service. There will be many combat vets who fit in later service join the PD and FD services.

You should thank God for these folks as they are unsung heroes. We who have been in any service can appreciate our duty to protect those who cannot protect themselves or family.
 
I know I'll catch crap for this, but go work as a security officer. I worked as a supervisor at on of the bigger malls in Charlotte for three years. You get to deal with all kinds of stuff, people on drugs, drunk, shoplifters, fights, wrecks, robberies, etc, and all you have to defend yourself is oc spray and handcuffs
 
pepe1,

Tachypsychia is neither good nor bad. It simply happens.

Tachypsychia can be bad if you do not expect it and do not know how to deal with it, because it can be a serious distraction that keeps you from focusing on doing whatever you need to do in order to survive.

On the other hand, tachypsychia can save your life, because it is the perceptual manifestation of the fact that you're thinking very, very quickly. It is often helpful to be able to think quickly when bad stuff is happening!

Tachypsychia, the speeded-up mind and its associated perceptual time distortion, is only part of the body alarm reaction ("adrenalin dump"), a survival response common to all mammals. Other aspects of the same phenomena include increased strength, increased speed, increased heart rate and breathing rate, blood rushing to the core of the body and leaving the extremities ("his face just went white with fear"), and so on. Tunnel vision and auditory exclusion can happen too -- both of which focus your mind and your senses very sharply on the perceived threat as your brain tunes out all other possible distractions. Each of these specific aspects of the body alarm reaction can help people survive in extreme situations.

These same reactions can also get you killed if you aren't prepared for them to happen, or don't know how to cope with them, causing you to get distracted by them or even spend your energy fighting against them instead of focusing on doing what you need to do. But your body is designed to respond that way under life-threatening stress simply because the increased speed, increased strength, attentional focus and so on all help people to survive in such situations.

Although these reactions don't happen to everyone, a significant percentage of people who've been through life-threatening events report experiencing one of the above symptoms or some other response which is closely related to them.

Bottom line? They might not happen to you, but it's a good idea to know that they could happen. Being aware of the possibility means you are less likely to be dangeorusly distracted by them if they do happen to you.

pax
 
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