Reducing your fear response / instinct

This will be handy to master, to think rationally and not be swayed by possible calamities leading up to 2012.

I know this technique exists but my question is what is the best and more productive way of accomplishing this. I would like to hear from you chaps especially those who have done this maybe armed forces personel etc.

This is a very difficult question to answer, a good one, but nevertheless hard to address.

I say this because everyone reacts different to situations. Some freeze, panic and breakdown, some get on with it as though it was an everyday thing.

I think a lot of this has to do with the frequency that you are subjected to fearfull/traumatic/stressfull incidents. I know the first time i dealt with a dead body, i was a little numb and almost unsure what to do, even though i'd been trained to carry out set proceedure. After a while though, you get used to it and become desensitised. Endure enough stressfull scenarios and it kind of becomes the norm. Same with exchanges of fire, you can practise all you want, but i promise you people can act differently under real gunfire.

Thats not to say though that it's as easy as that. There are still things that crop up that can effect you, no matter how much you've done or seen.

When you talk about 2012, no-one knows what will happen then. If it's what the rumours say it is, then none of us, no matter how fearless we may be will be able to say whether we'd handle it well or fill our pants!

Personally, i'd say don't worry about it. There are some things that we are able to do something about, and theres things like 2012 (if you believe all that). That my friend, is beyond anyones control and very likely an event that will scare the life out of the whole world.

CX.

Its good to exersize this to get trough normal life alot easyer too imho.

I personaly might get starteld(sp?) by something sometimes, for instance, I'm not scared of spiders and played with plenty of tarantula's, but, I'm highly alergic to certain types that are generaly considered home and garden varietys, because of that I have rather strong reflexes to withdraw when near a spider, but that only last a split second when my mind takes over again, identifies the spider and if its a kind I'm not alergic to, and its insider the house, I usualy pick it up and put it outside.

Another example shows how keeping your head cool will save your life in everyday events, like once I lost control over my car on the highway, I was driving around 90mph in pritty heavy traffic, I spinned 3 or 4 times trying to get the car back under control, saw a truck was about to slam into me so I pulled the handbrake and gave full gas so I started spinning again, out of the path of the truck.

You need your instincts to save you from instant danger, instincts are your split second reactions to events so that you pull back your hand, jump out of the way, freeze in place so you don't run in front of a car, start running like hell for cover etc.

But you should only let your instincts dictate your action for the split second reaction that takes you out of danger, but right after that you have to be able to start thinking so that you can activly stay out of danger and steer away from it.

First, no one has a clue what 2012 is all about. It's basically another Y2K phenomenon. There are indicators that 'something' may happen but no one has any real idea about what it might be. Lots of theories/guesses but no real itelligence.

That said, fear and panic in any survval situation are major problems. They cloud judgement and interfere with good decision making --- which in a survival situation can have the most severe consequences. There are a couple of things you can do now that will help mitigate that in a Sit-X situation:

1. Have a Plan --- A written plan that is specific to your actual situation. The plan should contain to-do checklists for a variety of possible scenarios as well as situation assessment benchmarks to allow you to track an escalating situation. This keeps your mind focused in a stressful situation and that focus will help to keep you calm. The plan should also contain the location of all important assets (so they can be quickly located without searching for them), important reference information, etc.

2. Intelligence --- Another key contributor to fear and panic is the unknown. We are living in an information-saturated society. ATS = case-in-point. In a Sit-X, normal communications (TV, internet, commercial radio, phone service, electricity) are almost certainly going to be disrupted. Without accurate knowledge of what is happening 'out there' how can you plan or make decisions? The uncertainty and imaginings that information void will create will cause fear and panic. Take steps now to acquire battery-powered communications equipment and the means to recharge it. In the very least this should be a multi-band receiver. Having the ability to actively communicate is better still (i.e., a transmitter/transceiver).

These address only two contributors to fear/panic in a Sit-X scenario but they are key. A plan has no cost so there's no excuse for not having one. Think hard about the second one. If you decide you need to 'bug-out' how are you going to know what you're walking into without the ability to gather intelligence?

I don't know if conditioning yourself to ignore your instincts is such a good idea. Wouldent you need your instincts to help you? I know you shouldent panic in a crisis situation. This is hard to accomplish but it is possible.

Take a deep breath. First and formost for any emergency this recenters your prespective and allows you a second to think. (although if someone has a gun pointed at you a second could be your last)

Your instincts should be trusted in an emergency and not second guessed most of the time your first thought is the correct one and when you rationalise something it can compramise your situation.

Originally posted by whatukno
I don't know if conditioning yourself to ignore your instincts is such a good idea. Wouldent you need your instincts to help you? I know you shouldent panic in a crisis situation. This is hard to accomplish but it is possible.

Take a deep breath. First and formost for any emergency this recenters your prespective and allows you a second to think. (although if someone has a gun pointed at you a second could be your last)

Your instincts should be trusted in an emergency and not second guessed most of the time your first thought is the correct one and when you rationalise something it can compramise your situation.

Yes thats a good point, but I don't want to de sensitize myself completely. I want to find a good level were my reflexes kick in and straight after I am cool and calm and collected...........You know like Special Forces type conditioning.

Instincts are there for a reason. If your hindbrain is saying something is bad...it probably is. Don't ignore it. You can learn to work through the fight or flight responce by practising. But to ignore your instincts is to in all likelihood land yourself in trouble.