The Seven Components
of Self-defense
Building Blocks of an Effective Personal Safety Strategy
by Randy LaHaie
The study of self-defense cannot be easily defined with quick, easy, and over simplistic
solutions. Acquiring a legitimate sense of control over your personal safety requires knowledge and skills in seven key components. Neglect any of them, and you do not have a complete and effective safety strategy.
Component #1 Survival Psychology
The need to feel safe and secure is ingrained in all of us. Many psychologists consider the fear
of interpersonal violence to be a "universal human phobia." The thought of becoming the victim of a criminal or violent act is disturbing. Unmanaged fear or a sense of helplessness can erode our health and the quality of our lives. Being safety conscious does not mean being fearful, paranoid, or afraid to leave your house. Quite the contrary, self-defense knowledge and skills build a sense of control essential to a sense of security and well-being.
Survival psychology consists of three broad areas:
1. Understanding and managing FEAR
2. Motivating yourself to be "RESPONSE-ABLE" for your personal safety through study
and training, and...
3. Understanding the impact SELF ESTEEM has on emotional resilience, crisis performance
and victim selection.
Component #2 Survival Intelligence
Your most powerful weapon is your brain. Understanding the dynamics of confrontations will
have a big impact on your ability to recognize, avoid or respond effectively to violence.
Survival Intelligence is the cultivation of knowledge, intuition, awareness and assessment skills.
Every violent situation is preceded by pre incident clues. Knowing how to recognize and
respond to them is the essence of successful self-defense.
Component #3 Understanding Victim Selection
Psychologists showed a videotape to penitentiary inmates who were doing time for violent
crimes. The tape depicted several people going about their day-to-day activities. The inmates
were instructed to indicate which of the people on the tape they would select as victims.
The researchers were surprised at the consistency of the selections made. An analysis of the
results identified common traits unique to those who were selected and those who were passed over.
Not everyone will become the victim of a violent crime. In fact, for everyone who is victimized,
dozens more are evaluated and passed over. By understanding first of all that there is a
selection process, as well as the criteria of a "desirable target", you can influence that process.
People who are trained in self-defense are seldom confronted. Their awareness and skills
(movement, posture, etc.) project unconscious signals to a predator that they are not an easy target. The predator looks elsewhere.
Component #4 Recognizing Predatory Behavior
There are no unique physical characteristics that separate people who victimize others from
those who don't. Usually, they look just like anyone else. However, behavior is another matter.
Most communication is non-verbal. We transmit much of our intent in the way that we
communicate and behave.
There are essentially two types of "bad guys" to be aware of. The predator, who deliberately sets out to locate, select and attack a suitable victim and the ticking time bomb. The latter is emotionally unstable and prone to violent outbursts. Unlike the predator, who is more methodical in his approach, the time bomb will lash out at anyone who happens to get in his way.
By understanding predatory selection and attack methods, you are able to recognize and avoid them. This involves learning to detect and recognize behavior cues that identify a potential assailant before the selection process is complete.
Component #5 Response Option Theory
It is dangerous and negligent to imply that there is a single solution to ALL threatening
situations. There is, in fact, a range of responses available to you. The situation and
circumstances will dictate which of them is most appropriate.
When learning a response system, you must also consider the legal consequences of your
actions. We all have the legal right to defend ourselves. However, at what point does an effort
to defend yourself become excessive? How do we know how much force to use to defend
ourselves? Any self-defense program should discuss your legal right to defend yourself, how to
respond appropriately and how to justify your actions.
There are 5 categories of response options relevant to confrontational situations. They are:
· Compliance
· Escape
· De-escalation
· Assertiveness
· Fighting Back
Which one is the most appropriate depends on the circumstances and nature of the
confrontation. You should possess skills in each response category as well as the knowledge
about when each is applicable.
Component #6 Prevention Tips
Prevention tips are simple, precautionary steps you can take to reduce the likelihood that you
will become the victim of a crime. However, these lists of "do's and don'ts" could number in the
hundreds.
It is unlikely that you will remember them all. You don't need to. By understanding the
operative principles behind prevention tips, you can improvise safety tactics "on the fly".
Armed with this knowledge and your own common sense, you can incorporate those tips with
which you feel comfortable and which are conducive to your lifestyle.
Component #7 Training Methods
Competence is the result of your physical conditioning, skill and attitude. Effective self-defense
skills are the result of gradually and consistently incorporating safety habits into your life. For
those who do take the time to enroll in a self-defense class, realize that without review and
practice, 70% you learned will be forgotten.
There are many benefits to adopting the study and practice self-defense into your regimen. It
can be used to improve fitness, to manage stress and to create safer habits that can reduce the
potential of being accosted or attacked.
The most frequent questions I am asked by seminar candidates are: What can I do to follow-up
the training I received? What can I do to feel more confident and build on my skills? That is the
primary purpose of this web site.
Conclusion
In the future, I will provide more in-depth information within each of the seven components. I
will include articles, recommend good books, and highlight resources to improve your
self-defense knowledge and skills. If you have any feedback, suggestions or questions, please send me email. I'd like to hear from you.
In the meantime, be "response-able" and stay safe!
If you have any questions or comments please click on my name to email me:
Randy LaHaie
Protective Strategies
Resource Box:
Randy LaHaie is the owner of Protective Strategies, a training and
consulting company providing personal safety training to individuals, high-risk
professionals and law enforcement officers. He has an extensive self defense
and use-of-force background spanning almost 30 years. The Protective Strategies
Self Defense Resource Center is located at:
http://www.ProtectiveStrategies.com .
Randy can be contacted by email at:
Randy@protectivestrategies.com
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