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Marcus_1
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Controlling the adrenal cocktail in a self protection situation

I have been in numerous situations at work where I have had to either protect myself/others or use force to make an intervention to quell a riot or insurection.  Everytime I am in a situation such as this, the old adrenaline kicks in no matter how often I do it.

Obviously, adrenaline has several positives, the ability to perform for longer, increase in strength, higher pain threshold etc etc, these are great and should be allowed to flow.  My question is this, is there any training anyone can recommend to help control the negative aspects of adrenaline, in particular the tunnel vision and the loss of fine motor skills?

Having trained in karate for several years, there is nothing I have come across that helps people get used to this adrenaline rush, kumite doesn't cut it that is for certain.

I do feel that controlling the adrenaline rush is something that should be looked at if we are to be prepared for it when/if we do end up having to use force to protect ourselves, for most people in your average office job it isn't something that you feel the effect of every day or even most days of the week, so if/when you do get it, it's alien to you.

Nezumi
Nezumi's picture

The best stuff I've read on the subject of the effects of adrenaline in stress-inducing situations and techniques for contolling and channeling them are the works of correctional officer SGT Rory Miller.  His books include Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected; Meditations on Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence; and Scaling Force: Dynamic Decision making Under Threat of Violence which he co-wrote with Lawrence Kane.   All three have very decent treatments of the subject.  He also has a video entitled Facing Violence which is not identical in content to the book of the same title but does cover much of the same material.  Also, there is an excellent chapter on adrenaline management in Geoff Thompson's Dead of Alive: The Choice is Yours.

Hope this helps.

Frank

Marcus_1
Marcus_1's picture

Cheers, I have read scaling force and am part way into facing violence.  I am definitely looking into that Geoff Thompson title you mentioned, off to Amazon to find it now.