Chapter 7 Stress Inoculation Training
Stress Inoculation Training Stress Inoculation Training as it is applied to combative training is best described as a training environment that introduces stressors to the student in an incremental manner, in an effort to "inoculate" individuals to future, similar stressors.
Stress Inoculation Training originally was born from clinical psychology s cognitivebehavioral therapy and was adapted to assist combative professionals to deal with stressful situations. Meichenbaum, D. (1996). Stress inoculation training for coping with stressors. The Clinical Psychologist, 49, 4-7.
Dynamic Training vs Stress Inoculation Training
Dynamic Training vs Stress Inoculation Training Unfortunately because misunderstanding terminology, dynamic training and stress inoculation training have become interchangeable terms in some training circles. It is important that trainers understand the difference between the two and how they relate to one another. The easiest way to understand the difference between the two is to think of dynamic training as specific type of training and stress inoculation training as a specific method of training. This means that when conducting dynamic training you may employ the method of stress inoculation training at the same time.
In fact, if you utilize all levels of training, static, stimulus-response, dynamic, you are already performing a form of stress inoculation. This is because when you move up through these different levels of training you slightly increase the stress being placed on the student.
When you observe a student being over stressed during training, you should turn down the level on the Shock Adjustment Screw and utilize a less stressful scenario until they no longer display being overstressed.
Utilization of all levels of training is the most complete and comprehensive method of Survival Training.
Survival Training 1) Static Training 2) Stimulus - Response Training 3) Presaged Dynamic Scenarios 4) Coached Dynamic Scenarios 5) Stress Inoculation Dynamic Scenarios 6) Stress Exposure Dynamic Scenarios
Progression Static Training: Is relatively stress free as no attack is occurring. The student is acquiring and practicing the motor skill being taught. Stimulus Response Training: The stress level is slightly elevated as the student now has to react to a predetermined attack. If they are using the Shocknife there is even a little more arousal. Dynamic Training: As they progress through Presaged and Coached Scenarios the stress increases as they experience performance anxiety and their brain searches for stimulus in the new environment.
Progression Stress Inoculation Training: This is where the trainer consciously creates scenarios with increasing stressors to inoculate the student. Stress Exposure Training: This is actually the highest level of training and is typically used as an evaluation tool.
When you utilize Stress Inoculation Training you must ensure that there is an incremental element to the training. This means that you want the scenarios to be less stressful then become increasingly more stressful.
How to Use Shocknife for Stress Inoculation Training
To ensure this incremental process the Shocknife Academy advises that you expose students to the Shocknife during dynamic training in the following manner: 1) Prior knowledge, Long range exposure. 2) No prior knowledge, Long range exposure. 3) Prior knowledge, Long range exposure, with attack. 4) No prior knowledge, Long range exposure, with attack. 5) Prior knowledge, short range exposure. 6) No prior knowledge, short range exposure. 7) Prior knowledge, sudden spontaneous attack. 8) No prior knowledge, spontaneous attack.
Prior Knowledge, Long Range Exposure. Give the student information that the subject will be in possession of a knife. For example, tell them they have been dispatched to a suicidal male who is threatening to cut himself with a knife. The physical environment will be constructed in a manner that will allow for at least 21 feet of distance between the suicidal male and the officer when they first come into contact with the subject. The subject will not attempt to close this distance.
Officers should attend with their firearms at the ready and find barricades if available. This is a great scenario for crisis intervention, tactical communication, weapons readiness and use of barricades.
No Prior Knowledge, Long Range Exposure. Do not give the student information that the subject will be in possession of a knife. For example, tell them they have been dispatched to a suicidal male who has taken an overdose of medication. The physical environment will be constructed in a manner that will allow for at least 21 feet of distance between the suicidal male and the officer when they first come into contact with the subject. The subject will not attempt to close this distance but will immediately be displaying the knife.
Officers should immediately get their firearms at the ready and find barricades if available. This is a great scenario for crisis intervention, tactical communication, weapons readiness and use of barricades.
Prior Knowledge, Long Range Exposure, with Attack. Give the student information that the subject will be in possession of a knife. For example, tell them they have been dispatched to a male in possession of a knife threatening to kill anyone who comes near him. The physical environment will be constructed in a manner that will allow for at least 21 feet of distance between the male and the officer when they first come into contact with the subject. After a designated time of contact, the subject will attempt to close this distance and attack the officers.
Officers should attend with their firearms at the ready, find barricades if available and defend themselves with their firearms when attacked. This is a great scenario for identifying a complete deadly force threat, identifying safe physical distance and follow up control after the shooting.
No Prior Knowledge, Long Range Exposure, with Attack. Do not give the student information that the subject will be in possession of a knife. For example, tell them they have been dispatched to a female displaying bizarre and irrational behavior. The physical environment will be constructed in a manner that will allow for at least 21 feet of distance between the female and the officer when they first come into contact with the subject. After a designated time of contact, the subject will produce the knife, then attempt to close this distance and attack the officers.
Officers should immediately get their firearms at the ready when the knife is produced, find barricades if available and defend themselves with their firearms when attacked. This is a great scenario for recognizing the need to get firearms readiness, identifying a complete deadly force threat, identifying safe physical distance and follow up control after the shooting.
Prior Knowledge, Short Range Exposure. Give the student information that the subject will be in possession of a knife. For example, tell them they have been dispatched to a male in an apartment block acting irrational and carrying a knife. The physical environment will be constructed in a manner that will allow for at least 10 feet of distance between the male and the officer when they first come into contact with the subject. After a designated time of contact, the subject will attempt to close this distance and attack the officers.
Officers should attend with their firearms at the ready, conduct a safe, slow, methodical search for the male, find barricades if available and defend themselves with their firearms if they believe a complete deadly force threat exists. This is a great scenario for teaching safe building search tactics, identifying a complete deadly force threat, identifying unsafe physical distance and follow up control after the shooting.
No Prior Knowledge, Short Range Exposure. Do not give the student information that the subject will be in possession of a knife. For example, tell them they have been dispatched to a male in an apartment block acting suspicious. The physical environment will be constructed in a manner that will allow for at least 10 feet of distance between the male and the officer when they first come into contact with the subject. After a designated time of contact, the subject will produce a knife and attempt to close the distance and attack the officers.
Officers should conduct a safe, slow, methodical search for the male, when the knife is produced they should create distance, draw their firearms, find barricades if available and defend themselves with their firearms if they believe a complete deadly force threat exists. This is a great scenario for teaching safe building search tactics, identifying a complete deadly force threat, identifying unsafe physical distance and follow up control after the shooting.
Prior Knowledge, Sudden Spontaneous Attack. Give the student information that the subject will be in possession of a knife. For example, tell them they have been dispatched to a school for a male who has a knife and is threatening to kill anyone who comes near him. The physical environment will be constructed in a manner that will allow for a minimum of 3 feet of distance between the male and the officer when they first come into contact with the subject. After a designated time of contact, the subject will attempt to close this distance and attack the officers.
Officers should attend with their firearms at the ready, conduct a safe, slow, methodical search for the male, find barricades if available and defend themselves with their firearms if they believe a complete deadly force threat exists. This is a great scenario for teaching safe building search tactics, identifying a complete deadly force threat, identifying unsafe physical distance and follow up control after the shooting.
No Prior Knowledge, Spontaneous Attack. Do not give the student information that the subject will be in possession of a knife. For example, tell them they have been dispatched to a parking lot to spotcheck a male acting suspiciously. The physical environment will be constructed in a manner that will allow for a minimum of 3 feet of distance between the male and the officer when they first come into contact with the subject. After a designated time of contact, the subject will attempt to close this distance and attack the officers.
Officers should attend with their firearms at the ready, conduct a safe, slow, methodical search for the male, find barricades if available and defend themselves with their firearms if they believe a complete deadly force threat exists. This is a great scenario for teaching safe building search tactics, identifying a complete deadly force threat, identifying unsafe physical distance and follow up control after the shooting.
As you can see, each scenario is designed to incrementally increase stress by limiting the time and distance the student has to react. These are only an example of incremental training with the Shocknife. Using your experiences and creativity, monitors can develop an infinite number of examples.
You are now ready for the Chapter 7 quiz. Right click on this programs button on your computer s task bar and select close to end this lesson.