NCJ Number
169627
Date Published
1996
Length
224 pages
Annotation
The author -- a clinical psychologist who specializes in treatment and education in the areas of violence, abuse, victimization, and crime prevention -- discusses the value and development of increased confidence, decreased anxiety, emotional preparedness, finely tuned intuition, and sensory awareness as the psychological foundation for self-defense.
Abstract
One chapter develops the concept of the mind/body connection as an important factor in effective self-defense. Topics discussed include how belief can cause physical change, how the mind/body imbalance affects achievement, and facing a life- threatening assault. Another chapter instructs readers in how to control the circumstance that lead to victimization by learning to alter possible risk-producing behavior and by understanding how becoming a victim of crime may not always be just a matter of bad luck or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A chapter on reducing victimization risk focuses on threats both while inside and outside the home. Three chapters focus on issues pertinent to self-defense under the threat of rape, including gang rape and date/acquaintance rape. Other chapters address the self-defense rewards of relaxation, the use of guided imagery in preparing for self-defense under various threats, techniques for disabling an assailant, self-defense techniques appropriate for the disabled and the elderly, and survival techniques in specific threatening situations. Appended supplementary information, 112 references, and a subject index