Imagine walking back home at night. You are in an alley, just a hundred metres away, and you will reach home. Suddenly, you slow down, there’s someone! Your heart paces faster, your palms sweat. Someone is behind you!
What should I do? Should I run or should I scream? Should I look back?
Your thoughts start blurring. In such a moment, people often believe they would choose to “fight” or “flee”. But in reality, their bodies freeze.
For decades, survivors of assault have reported having become frozen; they continue to carry the weight of failing to scream for help! They repeatedly ask themselves: Why did my body stop responding? In the 1970s in the United States, one of the most revolutionary trauma-based self-defence programmes was initiated, termed “Model Mugging”. The aim of the programme was to train women about self-defence and make them aware of their body’s responses under threatening scenarios.
The Aim of the Model Mugging Programme
The model mugging programme is designed to rewire the brain’s survival instinct itself. Participants are exposed to an environment of real violence; they train against heavily padded “attackers” who create a realistic assaulting environment. Thus, participants experience real fear, panic and adrenaline rush. However, the programme is conducted in controlled settings. The programme allows the individual to understand the changes in their breathing patterns, hormones, interpretation, and body’s reaction in threatening situations (Van der Kolk, 2014, Chapter 6).
Studies suggested that victims who failed to respond during assault were not always lacking courage; rather, their bodies froze, making them incapable of reacting. The model mugging programme specifically focuses on a scientific, trauma-informed approach where the body not only learns self-defence but also learns to control its brain to restrict the body from freezing in such situations.
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If Body Is School, Brain Is Principal
The amygdala in the human brain helps to recognise danger (LeDoux, 1996) and activates the body’s survival response, the fight-flight-freeze response (commonly known as the fight-or-flight response). When an individual experiences fear, their nervous system might temporarily freeze their body, making them numb and unable to react independently. Although historically it was recognised as a weakness, modern research recognises this as an automatic biological mechanism (Van der Kolk, 2014, Chapter 5).
Victims often describe being unable to make distinctive decisions when they feel unsafe or are in potentially dangerous situations. Modern studies have concluded that under stress, the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for thinking, becomes less active (Arnsten, 2009). The survival instinct temporarily overrules the control. It is important to be aware of the cause of feeling frozen while facing potential threats so that survivors do not blame themselves.
Stress Hormones Paralyse
In threatening scenarios, the body releases stress hormones such as adrenaline, which have an adverse effect on an individual’s coordinative and cognitive abilities (Sapolsky, 2004). Theoretically, it sounds filmic. However, the experience can feel terrifying. Survivors often describe experiencing blurred vision and trembling hands. Under intense stress, the brain shifts to survival mode, due to which people often forget the self-defence they learned in classrooms.
The model mugging programme especially addresses this issue through adrenaline stress training (AST). Repeated exposure to threat allows the individual to become familiar with stress, reduce panic, and improve efficiency and coordination under pressure.
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Rewiring the Brain: The Impact of Training
Traumatic experiences are not only stored in the form of thoughts but also physical sensations and survival patterns in the nervous system (Van der Kolk, 2014, Chapter 5). An individual who has frozen once during an assault is likely to experience an involuntary paralysis when exposed to threats in future. This is because the brain interprets helplessness as a survival strategy.
The “freeze response” experienced by victims is actually because their brain became so indulged in threat detection that simple actions such as screaming, running or walking faster became difficult. In the Model Mugging programme, this particular behaviour is taken into focus. Instructors create an environment that is interpreted as a “threat” by the brain. As a result, adrenaline levels rise, and the aim is to train the individual to produce effective responses under those scenarios. In real danger, an increase of adrenaline and fear disturbs the individual’s ability to effectively respond.
Over repeated training experiences, there are some notable changes, some of which have been listed below:
- The brain begins to associate threat with effective responses.
- The brain learns to not lose control of the body when there is an increase in heart rate or stress hormone levels.
- The individual’s belief is strengthened to be able to navigate through threats (Bandura, 1977).
The brain constantly undergoes modification based on experiences. Training programmes where individuals are exposed to threats, such as the Model Mugging programme, help in strengthening new neural pathways and weakening the older fear-based patterns.
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Simple Moves Are Superior to Complex Ones
The model mugging program allows individuals to understand the difference between classrooms and real threats. During overflow of stress hormones, classroom-learned self-defence techniques become difficult to execute (Grossman & Christensen, 2008).
Thus, the model mugging program prioritises simple, instinctive movements, such as striking vulnerable spots, shouting aggressively, escaping the scene and creating distance. Although repetition makes these a part of the muscle memory, when exposed to extreme stress (i.e., threatening situations), people might fail to execute similarly as they do in training.
Training Changes Perspective
Trauma-based self-defence has helped individuals become more confident and aware of their surroundings. (Hollander, 2014). Programmes like model mugging challenge the orthodox idea of victims responding to violence by screaming, fighting or escaping immediately. However, modern research illustrates survival to be way more complex. The freeze response is natural and not a failure or cowardice. It is important to understand this and break the myths to create a more understanding environment. This allows victims to be more accepting towards themselves and helps them overcome self-criticism.
Conclusion
Assaults do not harm individuals physically but leave a deep psychological impact. It is important to make people aware of their bodies so that they accept themselves. Trauma-based self-defence programmes such as the model mugging programme teach individuals about their body’s responses and hormones (like adrenaline and cortisol), which temporarily impair their cognitive and physical abilities. These programmes shift self-defence from mere techniques to an individual’s ability to have control over their nervous system (i.e., impulses, reflexes, thoughts, etc.) under stress.
References +
- LeDoux, J. (1996). The emotional brain: The mysterious underpinnings of emotional life. Simon & Schuster.
- Sapolsky, R. M. (2004). Why zebras don’t get ulcers (3rd ed.). Holt Paperbacks.
- McEwen, B. S. (2007). Physiology and neurobiology of stress and adaptation: Central role of the brain. Physiological Reviews, 87(3), 873–904.
- Grossman, D., & Christensen, L. W. (2008). On combat: The psychology and physiology of deadly conflict in war and peace (3rd ed.). Warrior Science Publications.
- Ratey, J. J. (2008). Spark: The revolutionary new science of exercise and the brain. Little, Brown and Company.
- Arnsten, A. F. T. (2009). Stress signalling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10(6), 410–422.
- Van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.
- Hollander, J. A. (2014). Does self-defence training prevent sexual violence against women? Violence Against Women, 20(3), 252–269.
