VISITING EXPERTSʼPAPERSM INDWARE:UNDERSTANDING STRESS & CRITICAL STRESS:LEARNING TO UTILIZE, REGULATE & DOWN-REGULATE
Dr. Rupali Jeswal

I. M INDWARE:UNDERSTANDING STRESS & CRITICAL STRESS:LEARNING TO UTILIZE, REGULATE & DOWN-REGULATE
A. Introduction
Volatile, Uncertain, Complex & Ambiguous (VUCA) ― is the global environment. Professional
efficacy of Security Forces must be cognizant of:
Instinct, Intuition and Intelligence ― in this strategic environment.
Reformative Trainings should be incorporated in standard correctional trainings to “toughen-up”
the internal framework of a correctional officer, through structure of innovative readiness capsuledelivering:
Resiliency:Empowerment, Self-counsel, Situational awareness
Strategic leadership:high definition design uses cognitive and emotional behaviour markers ascompetencies by empowering individuals to use:
Critical thinking learning systems
Understanding their own operational capabilities to perform with confidence,Improve attention to levels of details,Regulate and down-regulate emotional responses under high stress anddeadly encounters.
nPSYPESt components (nPSYPESt: Neuropsychological Performance Enhancement Skills
Trainings)
Producing an individual who is asset based, operating with optimum effectiveness throughpremeditated minds.
The mind is comprised of beliefs,desires,emotions,perceptions,and intentions.WE M ANIPULATE THE BRAIN!
Police and prison official trainings must continue to evolve in many crucial ways. The paperbulls-eye has been replaced by mannequins and computerized targets;rubber knives by shock knives;
plastic guns by simulations:classroom lecture by reality-based scenario training.
But one thing which remains the same, is the human element. The area which needs focus anddevelopment is training the officers in psychological performance skills.
To maximize on physical skills, psychological skills training is a MUST for correctional and law
enforcement officers, the real emphasis of which is not learning about weapons or gaining technicalskills;itʼ
s about strengthening people.
Simulation training and reality-based training (when it occurs)helps develop psychological skills.

CEO, Xiphos ISS (Intelligence and Security Solutions).

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M ethods on thinking, “how to think”, when in the stress or critical stress zone. “Get it over with”
or “deal with it”must be replaced by “
how to deal with it”(Everyone goes through physical and/or
emotional trauma, post-incident briefing and critical incident briefing are significant)
1. nPSYPESt (Neuro-Psychological Performance Enhancement Skills Trainings)
M ental Agility and M ental Toughness does not develop with physical training;if mental toughness
is not acquired, it can actually interrupt and delay the learning quality of physical and technicaltrainings because we need mental toughness to learn and perform difficult tasks.
Sub-optimal mental toughness undermines operational effectivenessM ental toughness is utilizing a set of psychological performance skills that will initiate
effective and maximum execution of apt action, adaptation and persistence of decisionmaking. This enhances the confidence in the officer and creates self-leadership qualities.
Specific psychological training accelerates the performance and armours the standard trained
skills of the officers.
And above all ― psychological performance training reduces critical incident stress reaction,aids
in self-care of the officer preventing PTSD, depressive disorders, sleep problems and other various
physiological and psychological problems.
Psychological performance skills programmes are meant to be integrated with other trainings
to provide a truly comprehensive approach to the preparation and performance of police andprison officers. Each officer, individual or unit responding to a situation is unique despite
common characteristics; therefore nPSYPESt should be designed for use in two ways ―individual make-up and the unit make-up of which they are a part, this should be evaluatedfurther and adapted or modified.
(nPSYPESt is not gender specific but individual specific in my professional and personal experience.)
2. Traits of a High Functioning Trained Professional
Self-belief -belief in ability to achieve goals. This promotes “thought-confidence”.
M otivation (desire/determination)
Intrinsic motivation and using adversity as a source of determination.(Stress becomes a drive
to be utilized for achieving high performance)
Ability to accept competition anxiety, but have a plan on how to deal with it
Ability to maintain focus -ability to “balance”
Ability to maintains technique/effort in face of fatigue/pain.
In my view a facility must have a focus on culture of recovery, a sturdy framework, which
incorporates philosophical, strategic, and operational frameworks, and is flexible enough to be effective during a crisis situation.
In simple terms:
3. Corrections
A correction which aims to address the offending behaviour of sentenced persons.
4. Security
Security which aims at addressing the safety of inmates, officials and members of the public.

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5. Facilities
Facilities to ensure that the Department has a long-term strategy to ensure conditions consistent
with human dignity for offenders.
6. CareCare intended to address the well-being needs of inmates of various classification and mental,
cultural make-up including access to social and psychological services.
7. Development
Development aims to provide for skills development in line with departmental needs plus requirements and national human resource needs.
8. After Care
After Care intended to ensure successful re-integration through appropriate intervention methods
directed at both the inmate and relevant societal institutions.
To ensure the outcome of this, it depends on the correctional environment, a flexible design thatallows and creates tools for command, control and coordination of resources. The staff having theknow-how on quick assessment of incident objective required to be used in both emergent andnon-emergent incidents.Professionals must lead with situational awareness and knowing the management tools and how to use them consisting of SOPʼs;corrections staff are the most important asset in
the organization.
Hence, staff performance training in the areas of corrections and management is crucial for the
successful delivery of correctional services through the trained high definition of the human design.
Prison is a component of homeland security, and along with police, prison professionals must be
trained to be ofhigh standards,functioning with efficiencynot just on the job but internallyas a person.
The catchers and the watchers are the vanguard of our society;they are the beacons and the sensors
and at the same time preciously fragile to the wear and tear of the highly stressful environments they
operate in.

II. STRESS ― A DYNAMIC STATE OF LIFE

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In neuroscientific language:
One type of neurotrophin,is a growth factor that affects neurons in particular.Research has shownthat BDNF plays a role in memory formation and in the connection between stress and depression.
Exposure to stress leads to decrease in the expression of BDNF leading to atrophy of the hippocampus.
It belongs to the limbic system and plays important roles in the consolidation of information fromshort-term to long-term and spatial navigation.
BDNF is active in the hippocampus,cortex and basal forebrain ― areas vital to learning,memory
and higher thinking.
A. What Is Stress? Why Does It Occur? Do We Need It?
Two things cause stress. Primarily it is down to whether you think situations around you areworthy of anxiety. And then itʼs down to how your body reacts to your thought processes. Thisinstinctive stress response to unexpected events is known as “fight or flight”.Stress happens when we
feel that we canʼt cope with pressure,and this pressure comes in many shapes and forms,and triggers
physiological responses.These changes are best described as the fight or flight response,a hard-wired
reaction to perceived threats to our survival.
Stress is a biological response controlled by the brain as a reaction to a challenging stimulation ofa physical or emotional nature.
From the brainʼ
s viewpoint,everything can be perceived as stress.From walking down the street tohanding a difficult report in on time, it is all a question of the degree of stimulation and the level of
threat perceived during that stimulation.
A great step to a healthy attitude to stress is to realize our ownership over our brain and learn toengage our brain intentionally to manage the consequences of the fight or flight response.
Self-Efficacy:is a necessity for coping behavior. (Bandura A. Self-efficacy:The exercise of control.
New York:W. H. Freeman;1997)
Primary appraisal of a stressful situation requires that the process employ self-esteem and self-efficacy
making the “person-environment”efficient at deploying coping strategies.
Coping is defined as behavioral or cognitive efforts to manage situations that are appraised as
stressful. (Lazarus RS, Folkman S. Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York:Springer;1984.)
Emotion-focused coping is which focuses on managing emotional responses to stressful events andproblem-focused coping is where a person responds in a structured manner to overcome the problem
and change the problematic aspects of the situation.
Self Efficacy is thus a specific form of self-confidence and perception of oneʼs ability to perform atask successfully using emotional and cognitive coping processes to explain the cause, origin and“sensemaking”of the events and behaviors thus affecting self-confidence and influencing expectationsof future success or failure
M odern humans rarely encounter many of the stimuli that commonly evoked fight-or-flight responses
for their ancestors, such as predation or inclement weather without protection. Human physiologicalresponse continues to reflect the demands of earlier environments;however we are a psychologicalphenomenon first and then a physiological one.
Personality is a dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that
determine his unique adjustment to the world.
1. Personality is made up of Certain Elements(i) temperament ― which is of biological and physiological nature.
(ii) character trait ― which represents a continual form of behaviour.
(iii) mood ― which is the state of mind.

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s tendency to behave in a certain manner.
(v) habit ― a sort of a conditioned response.
(vi) attitude ― a personʼ
s point of view that represents a general set of values towards matters.
Personality to some extent is determined by the individualʼ
s genetic and cultural make-up.Humanbehaviour does change as the individual develops and the environment which the individual encounters.
Prison environments are replete with aggressive behaviours,and people learn from watching others
acting aggressively to get what they want. Applying behaviour modification, mirroring and social
learning principles can work in corrections by using systematic reinforcement ofpro-social behaviours.
This is a powerful and effective way to change behaviour and stress response.
But behaviour is hard to change if not supported by emotional meaning.We have to remember:wefeel first and then think!
Every correctional facility has its subculture, and every prison subculture has its system of norms
that influence staff and prisonersʼbehaviour, typically to a far greater extent than the institutionʼsformally prescribed rules. These sub-cultural norms are informal and unwritten rules, but theirviolation can evoke sanctions from fellow inmates ranging from simple ostracism to physical violenceand death.In these subcultures how efficiently the staff performs and manages themselves is of utmost
importance, as they can set the “climate”of the sub-culture.
M any of the rules revolve around relations among inmates and interactions with prison staff.The
first step is to train the staff to be of high definition.
Sustainment trainings focus on human high performance and use of brain-behaviour pathways for
asset (natural＋ learned)based optimization.Our goal should be to instil effective behavioural markers
through knowledge and application and to recognize traits of a high functioning professional.
The sociology of the prison and the imprisoned represents the vanguard and undercurrent of
discontent and malcontent in a society. It also reflects the disorientation, dysfunction, despair, andflaws of society. The breakdown of our institutions and government authority may also be given the“microscopic laboratory”treatment via insight found in the classification criteria of inmates.We mustseek more creative, rather than reactive, interactions.
Wide-ranging acts of corruption are to be expected in prisons,ifonlybecause prisons are depressing
places frequently afflicted with stress, low morale, and lack of job satisfaction.
A high performing professional in the prison and correction environment must have three factors
going for himself/herself ―Situational AwarenessKnowing oneʼs internal mechanism (response action,cognitive maps and overt behaviour)andawareness and ability to decipher anotherʼs internal and external mechanisms ― this includes
peers as well as the population and social movement within the prisons and correction
facilities.
Emotional and mental balance in stressful environments along with knowledge of health andself-care in these settings
These factors are learned skills combining with an individualʼs natural attributes, which arebrought out by various trainings on performance.
Constant need to upgrade the training methods is seeking the mental edge for success in perfor-

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mance as officers and staff working in this environment,have the need for the mental-toughness aspectof performance and also addressing issues when in some cases where performance problems manifest
themselves as clinical issues.
B. Strengthening Cognitive Foundation
Understanding high performance and knowing how the mind works which will allow performers togain confidence and operate in the most effective manner. Attention control includes selectively
attending to important cues,shifting oneʼs field of awareness,and developing simple standard operating procedures and routines that streamline the execution of repetitive tasks to attain optimum focus
and concentration.
C. Stress Utilization and Emotional Health
When appropriately applied, stress utilization training can reduce the degree and intensity of thecurrent stress reactions and help you develop skills for preventing additional,harmful stress reactions.
The overall goal of stress utilization training is the re-orientation of peopleʼ
s typical stress reaction
habits into new,more rational and assertive patterns ofproblem solving.Participants gain new insights
into what stress is and how it affects them.They learn skills,which reduce stress to regulatory levels.
1. The Components of Stress Utilization Will Lead to:Stress styles, self-image and teaming ― self-discovery
Identifying oneʼs personal effectiveness pattern ― self-confidence
Personalizing strengths ― self-management
Inviting others from “distress”― self-effectivenessChange, transition and stress management ― self-balance
A wellness modality must be created and set in the correctional doctrine. In order to create apositive experience, everyone in the organization must be responsive to cross-transference feelings.
2. High Performance Development Training is Engaging & Practically M otivating Participants to:
Develop a balanced, effective personal and professional core.
Assimilate key dynamics of coherent personal interactions into their work habits
Apply the content to their jobs, the needs of the organization and its goals.
Using effective interpersonal behavioural model in the trainings through,which the stafflearns how
stress affects action-behaviour ― of their own,of co-workers,and with inmates.This understanding is
the key to professionalism and exceptional service.
The treatment of offenders can be stressful. Prison and probation officers who engage in thetreatment of offenders experience stress on the job.On the other hand,offenders also experience stressthroughout their incarceration.If correctional institutions fail to manage this stress,serious problems,
including violent behaviour,might occur within the correctional setting.For the purpose of preventing
such serious problems, mid-level staff specially, must improve their capacity for stress management.
The prison environment is characterized by factors, which can have adverse effects on those whowork in this environment and individual inmates.In the prison setting some common factors around theworld can be summed:
Chronic crowded conditions

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Anti-social behaviour
Absence of personal control
Idleness and boredom can be prevalent
Achievement of purpose due to the presence of others
But do note:crowding is only indirectly related to mere numbers or density of people.It is possible
to feel crowded in the presence of few people, or not crowded in the presence of many.It all depends
on the “Climate of Culture of Recovery”and how the staff at all levels carry out their duties.
3. Psychometric Assessment Tools
This will enable you to understand your strengths and weakness and how to make the best use ofboth these dimensions. Optimizing assets also includes using weakness as force multipliers to achieve
the goal.
M M PI-2 can identify psychopathology, behaviour problems, emotional instability
Inward Personality Inventory (IPI) predicts variety of job-relevant criteria among police (e.g.,absences, lateness, disciplinary actions and anti-social attitudes).
Colour Trails Test ― A quick measure ofsustained visual attention,visual scanning and sequencing
in adults
M emory Assessment Scales (M AS)
Quality of Life (QOL) that is a self-reporting measure to understand oneʼs lifestyle and coping
mechanisms with inevitable changes and stress levels.
Stress directly affects staff performance and low performance affects security,which is like oxygen:once you realize it is decreasing, it may already be too late.
The person approach focuses on the errors of individuals, blaming them for forgetfulness,inattention, or moral weakness
The system approach concentrates on the conditions under which individuals work and tries
to build defences to avert errors or mitigate their effects.
When looked at objectively, stress is not the external events that happen to us.In reality,stress isthe experience of our own emotions in response to those events.In essence,stress is being out of sync.
But hereʼs something worth keeping in mind. Even though we canʼt control the external triggers,it ispossible to take charge of our emotions and get back in sync.As you become skilled at this,you will
feel better on the inside and become more self-confident in what you do.
M any of the parameters of affective style,such as the threshold to response,magnitude of response,
latency to peak of response and recovery functions, are features that are often opaque to conscious
reports, though they may influence the subjective experience of emotion.
Frequent exposure to negative events over a sustained period of time,leads to over activation ofthe
hypothalamus-pituitary axis (HPA). The failure to recover adequately would result in sustained
elevations in multiple systems that are activated in response to negative events. By contrast, thecapacity for rapid recovery following negative events may define an important ingredient of resilience.
Resiliency is the maintenance of high levels of positive affect and well being in the face of significant
adversity. It is not that resilient individuals never experience negative effects, but rather that thenegative affect does not persist. Such individuals are able to profit from the information provided by
the negative affect and their capacity for “meaning making”in response to such events,and this leads

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to their abilityto show rapid decrements in various biological systems following exposure to a negativeor stressful event. Emotions guide our actions and organize behaviour towards the acquisition of
motivationally significant goals;this process requires that the organism have some means to decipher
positive affect in the absence of immediately present rewards and punishments and other affective
incentives.
A certain amount of optimum stimulation is necessary for peak performance. Forensic evidence
suggests that stressful situations that are challenging but not overwhelming may actually contribute tobetter physical and psychological health.
Challenging situations require emotional intelligence, active coping,problem-solving and solutionfocused skills.
Both in humans and animals evidence from various research conveys that those who learn to adapt
and work their way out of stressful situations show a distinct psychobiological pattern.
If inexperienced or untrained,subjects in stressful situations will over activate their nervous system
leading to a variety of maladaptive effects, which include:
High blood pressure
Sleep disorders
M ood disorders
Gastrointestinal problems
Chronic anxiety
Depressive disorders
Body aches and headaches
Hives
Skin disorders
However, stress can be mastered and manipulated and those who “toughen up”their system show
a more efficient and adaptive nervous system response that is appropriate to the specific episode ofstress and returns promptly to normal baseline when the crisis is over.
Psychological body armour:As an individual learns to cope with challenges in an adaptive way,apositive spiral develops. More effective coping leads to a smoother psychobiological stress response;the more this happens,the more the person learns to have faith in his or her own coping abilities,andso the stress response becomes even more adaptive and less disruptive. This is what the toughening
response is all about.M entally tough people ― in the sense of resilience,not resistance ― are able tocope adaptively with adverse situations and are therefore less likely to succumb to stress-related
illnesses.

III. COGNITION AND PERCEPTION
1/100th of a second to form memory, 16 seconds for emotion-reaction and 24 seconds for cognitive
process initiation.
William Jamesʼs famous question:Do we run from the bear because we are afraid or are we afraid
because we run.

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The neural basis of emotions, the build-up, neural clogging and neural detoxification ― all thesefactors can be trained and an individual can learn to regulate and down-regulate emotions by being
equipped in emotional intelligence and its myriad applications in our daily existence.
Emotional proposal is made of 3 primary sources:
Verbal & Visual Conditioning
M odelling ― What we have witnessed
Specific meaningful incidents ― what we have experienced
1. Environment
Environment influences our thought process, so for optimum functioning, create changes in theenvironment or change the environment.
2. Cognition & Perception
Changing the belief behind a particular undesirable behaviour and reinvent a new view.
personal competence:self-awareness, self-managementsocial competence: social awareness, relationship & management (group emotional intelligence)
knowledge of concepts and behaviour systems.
Example:Our brain maps the sensory stimulus from the outside world against the concepts we hold(inner world). In the training the participants will learn to combine the concepts and experiences andemotions,which will result in effective situational awareness,high drive and motivation.(Our concepts
influence emotion and attention level.)
Some existing concepts, which we have when encountering a stimulus from the outer world needs
no conscious manoeuvres and a habitual behaviour is likely to follow.)

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We are designed to have more than one perception.A conscious act of looking at something keeps
the image on the retina constant and at the same time our visual cortex is playing a greater role behindthe scene, deciphering the details, relating the message and triggering a response all in a blink of aneye thus forming memory in 1/100th of a second.
Sub-conscious is a reservoir for everything learned and experienced;solutions to problems originate
from this area. Sub-conscious works in imagery, so if we have pictured a certain kind of a day or an
event we will ultimately achieve it.
3. Convergence
In the absence of more specific context,the approach is towards a definite value or a goal to reacha fixed state of mental equilibrium.If depression for example is the fixed state the client has reached,then the therapist has to make the client unlearn that fixed state and co-dependencies of“nothing goodever happens to me”to “something good will happen ifI relearn and adapt a new approach to overcome
my negative situation”.
4. Connectedness
Where incongruence within a person can be made congruent by connecting the points of conflict bya path so what the person feels and what the person wants to do is achievable (can be negative andpositive).
5. Continuity
Based on emotional meaning ― everyone manages life according to their emotional meaning.As life
is a continuous process due to feelings,thoughts and actions,which contain each other and morph into
each other.
For an individual to function in life which in itself is a systemic process, the individual relates tothe stimulus which it relates to through emotional meaning (following our biological make-up ― thebrain learns innately) and this emotional meaning is set into motion in the form of action throughemotional support received by the individual which helps in self-expansion. This systemic process
works either way, negatively and positively.
Depressed staff makes more negative appraisals of their surrounding,peers and inmate behaviours,
feel less confident in their efficacy and use maladaptive techniques more often.
Topology of our emotions can be changed through Convergence, Connectedness and Continuity.
Emotions are a systemic process ― they collectively represent the whole YOU. Emotional meaning,
Emotional Support and Self-Expansion are the 3 wheels of this process;imagine if one wheel freezes,
the process will be incomplete. To achieve continuous motion we personify our emotions by giving
them expressions; if not regulated, the channel acquired for the release will freeze the wheel. To
understand the emotional dimensions through resilient affective style leads to self-expansion bycreating an emotional resonance through the right channel once emotions are elicited. Clarity should
define YOU because at the end of the day all that matters is “How you felt”.
Develop an instant checklist. Assess, Alert, Attack & Adapt. V.I.M is used to attack ― vim andvigour is the force,I is increased sharing makes the negative emotion fragment and M ＝ you use theforce to motivate change and then manage the positive change you have injected.
6. Amygdala
Picks up, on all micro cues, which has obvious results physically: you start to perspire, saliva
secretion is decreased, hunger diminished, pupils dilated, and your heart rate increases.
7. Proxemics
Proxemics is what brings us together today. The term “proxemics”was coined by researcher
Edward Hall during the 1950ʼs and 1960ʼs and has to do with the study of our use of space and how
various differences in that use can make us feel more relaxed or anxious.

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Proxemics comes in two flavours:
physical territory, such as why desks face the front of a classroom rather than towards acentre aisle, andpersonal territory that we carry with us,the“bubble”of space that you keep between yourself
and the person ahead of you in a line.
Frequent exposure to negative events over a sustained period of time,leads to over activation ofthe
hypothalamus-pituitary axis (HPA). The failure to recover adequately would result in sustained
elevations in multiple systems that are activated in response to negative events. By contrast, thecapacity for rapid recovery following negative events may define an important ingredient of resilience.
Resiliency is the maintenance of high levels of positive affect and well being in the face of significant
adversity. It is not that resilient individuals never experience negative effect, but rather that thenegative affect does not persist. Such individuals are able to profit from the information provided by
the negative affect and their capacity for “meaning making”in response to such events,and this leads
to their abilityto show rapid decrements in various biological systems following exposure to a negativeor stressful event. Emotions guide our actions and organize behaviour towards the acquisition of
motivationally significant goals;this process requires that the organism have some means to decipher
positive affect in the absence of immediately present rewards and punishments and other affective
incentives. Example of bidirectional molecular communication in the case of anxiety and stress:
Fear
Breathlessness
Choking Sensation
Palpitations of the heart
Increased muscle tension
Both pleasant and unpleasant stress affects the body and mind in similar physiological ways. For
example,winning a large sum of money may result in pleasant stress producing a happy response,thephysiological aspects may include increased heart rate,blood pressure,energy,and mental activity,toname a few.Encountering loss of a loved one,however,can also cause an increase in heart rate,bloodpressure, mental activity, and other similar biological reactions.
Effects of chronic stress in the brain:Chronic stress creates excessive levels of cortisol in the brain,
impairing the function of the hippocampus, leading to neuronal atrophy and destruction of neurons,
decreased short term and contextual memory,and poor regulation of the endocrine response to stress.
8. Conceptualization of Stress
A certain amount of stress is needed to assist our design for motivation,to achieve a goal but whenstress becomes an obstacle instead of a motivator,one experiences negative by-products which hamper
our performance of a task and throw us off-balance emotionally.Somatisation may be noticed if stressis of chronic nature.This is a term that describes the expression of psychological or mental difficulties
through physical symptoms.
To overcome negative patterns we have to train neural substrates of our emotions. The processneeded involves:
Experimentation of your emotions
Acquiring new knowledge, and allowing new experiences to comeThis wayone broadens their horizons and at the same time mitigates risk ofnegative emotion.Have

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your awareness increase of yourself by analyzing your joint concepts, for example:“I hate M ondays― because...”(Analyze the why?)instead of “I hate M ondays just like that”.
Have a good idea about your capabilities so you can facilitate and utilize your internal resources,
eliminating the feeling of helplessness.Have a clear idea about your capabilities and strengths,so you
facilitate and utilize your internal resources, eliminating the feeling of helplessness.
Stress-induced cardiomyopathy is known as “broken heart syndrome”. It is a condition inwhich intense emotional or physical stress can cause rapid and severe heart muscle weakness.
It is often found in patients who have been through a major crisis such as a tragic loss,accident
or unexpected turnaround in life.
Conversely,happy people have stronger hearts.There was a study in which people were asked
to think positively for 30 minutes. It was found that during that time their blood pressure
lowered and the heart rate declined to normal,just as how a well-trained athlete has a slower
pulse. Optimistic people could be likened to an athlete without the need for bodily effort.
When strong emotions generate fear, anger or rage and these are not expressed in a healthy way
then the bodyʼs natural response is that of the sympathetic nervous system as demonstrated in the fightor flight syndrome.
Stress should not be portrayed as something, which can be avoided at all cost; stress is a prerequisite to deal with challenges.What is needed is learning of adaptive,coping and utilization skills.

IV. OPTIM AL AROUSAL CONTROL (OAL)OAL is knowledge of self, individual emotional make-up, natural coping skills and then how toincrease the level of arousal and control the psycho-physiological effect, having the ability to beflexible, which requires positive cognitive make-up and maintain the inner harmony in the external
environment of stress or critical stress,efficiently so that the individual experiences peak performance.
Paying attention to refine and strengthen your mental radar
In psychological terminology, attention is what allows you to focus on a critical task while
maintaining situational awareness (Levels of Situational Awareness (SA):Awareness of information,
Comprehension of its meaning, Projection of future status) so that sensory input is processed in ameaningful pattern. Concentration is the ability to consciously and purposefully direct and maintainyour attention to a particular object or activity. At the same time,itʼs important to be able to switch
attention to another subject when necessary, and even maintain different types, levels, and targets ofattention and concentration as needed at any given time,such as focusing on a suspect while broadly
scanning the environment for possible danger.Mindlessness arises from “automatic behaviour.”Here,
professionals rely on automatic responses as the basis for their behaviour.
Both fixation and relaxation contribute to intelligence failures. For intelligence practitioners,
focusing on the wrong factors and failing to recognize the significance ofnovel indicators are examplesof fixation. Looking wrong basically.
The antithesis of mindlessness is mindfulness
A mindful state corresponds with:situational awareness,basic assumption consideration andcreation of new categories
Openness to new information and knowing what can be utilized
Awareness of more than one perspective (the most important factor)

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A. M etacognition
M etacognition is, with what you are thinking about.
1. Awareness:where an individual is in their personal and professional development process.
2. Evaluation:Evaluating their own capacities, limitations, thinking and feeling styles.
3. Regulation:when an individual can draw upon their own knowledge and skills and direct theirinternal force multipliers for planning, self-correcting and setting the goals.
M indfulness is, with how you think as you go about what you are doing. Noticing involves
remaining open to both internal and external stimuli.Through much research we know that ultimately,
situational information is conveyed from external sources through sight,sound,touch,smell,and taste.
People can think consciously about these but they tend to process them using more autonomic brain
structures,often without noticing they are doing so.The unease one feels about getting into a taxi or
onto an elevator in an unfamiliar setting are examples of such input.
Guided imagery technique using self-hypnosis (which can be easily trained to an individual, it is“self-talk”with focus)and metaphorical speech helps to channel energy in the imagination to follow
the individualʼ
s intentions.This when applied to a treatment not only helps the patient and self-image
but it changes them through their own map thus making the learning ingrained.
Using guided imagery, visualization may also reduce stress, thereby boosting the immune systemand helping the body to fight disease.Relaxation response and cognitive restructuring have been shownto effectively reduce stress and relieve symptoms associated with it.
Guided imagery helps us to mentally project and create mindsets for specific situations, thistechnique is used by athletes,and professionals of performing arts and now even law enforcement havestarted to use this technique.
M ultisensory imagery exercises can be used to simulate training scenarios, enhance real-world
skills,analyze and correct errors,mentallyprepare for action,and enhance overall confidence.Imagery
trainings then must be combined with real-life mock-up trainings to enhance performance in the field.
B. The Art of Reflection
Thinking and language, mutually reinforces words into plans and on to actions. If trained we canmotivate ourselves during critical-stress incidents and or the untrained mind will succumb to delusional
despair. Thought-stopping, cognitive restructuring, positive affirmations and self-instruction leads toself-management of the human design in the face of stress.
Reflection is:
Looking back for reference, comparison and evaluation of the present experience
Pulling apart ideas for deeper understanding and methods of contribution
Addressing omission and ambiguities
Considering alternative perspectives and making connections
Drawing conclusions and unravelling questions

V. PSYCHOLOGICAL SURVIVAL TRAINING
This is specific to deadly-force encounters,and the ability to perform in this scenario requires thatthe individual is able to regulate and down-regulate the emotional context and still adhere to criticalthinking strategies to maintain situational awareness and avoid confusion.

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Psychological survival prepares you to anticipate danger (this is described in depth in the Leadership manual), capture the initiative, size up the situation, respond and recover quickly and efficiently
and at the same time maintain peak physical and mental power to survive and overcome.
As we shift our attention to something our mind will direct senses to give it the information it needsin the speed it needs, if whatever we are focusing on creates an emotional reaction such as fear ― awhole new set of physiological and psychological response will be in motion and which will amplifythesenses, thoughts and behavioural processes.
If trained in nPsyPESt we will refrain from brain-sabotage;if not trained we will suffer psychological pathologies in the future,or worse,we might perish.This sort ofresponse has to do more with “
how
we think”of our “situational awareness”and “perceptual pas memory”than just what eyes and ears
are experiencing in the present.
Do remember:
Components of a stress situation:Itʼs objectiveItʼs your perception of itItʼs your emotional response towards it
This is inevitable human mechanics;this employs your past experience,evaluation and judgementof a similar situation and last your behaviour response for action which uses your physiological andpsychological response which will determine the consequences.
Reduced awareness of environmental cues (Loss of task awareness and situational awareness)
Increased awareness to signs of anxiety
Decreased tolerance for pain and frustration
Decreased efficiency in mental processing
Increased mistakes and injury
This is our innate way of our brain telling us something is wrong, to protect us, evolutionary
survival but in our jobs we have to overcome all these traits and move forwards,and we can only do
it if we know what they are,why these traits are there and how we can down-regulate them so it does
not bring us to a “freeze”state. You must be able to replace fear in situations by seeing them aschallenges. For this we must be psychologically trained.
Knowing in brief about TMT (Terror M anagement Theory)is salient for correctional professionals
because they must rise above their innate behaviour during critical crisis and be able to regulate andfunction with high self-esteem.According to TM T,all humans are motivated to suppress the potential
for innate terror of non-existence due to the human awareness of vulnerability and mortality by
investing in cultural belief systems (or worldviews)that instil life with meaning.
People who are threatened with death and the fear or issues of marginalization (which is occurring
more in todayʼs time due to globalization and acculturation) that relates to it are more ready toembrace cultural values and belief systems which give them a sense of security,identity and camaraderie. They are more likely to cling on to that which affirms and provides meaning to their existence.
This is known as the mortality salience hypothesis. The fear of death is rooted in an instinct for
self-preservation that humans share with other species. Although we share this instinct with otherspecies, only we are aware that death is inevitable ― that is, that our self-preservation instinct will

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inevitably be thwarted. This combination of an instinctive drive for self-preservation with an awareness of the inevitability of death creates the potential for paralyzing terror.
A cultural anxiety buffer, consisting of the cultural worldview and self-esteem, manages thispotential for terror. The cultural worldview is defined as a set of beliefs about the nature of reality
shared by groups of individuals that provides meaning, order, permanence, stability, and the promiseof literal and/or symbolic immortality to those who live up to the standards of value set by theworldview.
Self-esteem is defined as oneʼs belief regarding how well one is living up to the standards of value
prescribed by the worldview.Because the cultural anxiety buffer is a social creation (humanly created,transmitted, and maintained), individuals are highly dependent on others for its validation andmaintenance.
The anxiety-buffer hypothesis states that if a psychological structure (worldview, faith or selfesteem) provides protection against anxiety, then strengthening that structure should make one lessprone to exhibit anxiety or anxiety-related behaviour in response to threats, and weakening thatstructure should make one more prone to exhibit anxiety or anxiety-related behaviour in response tothreats.
Self-esteem is negatively correlated with general anxiety, death anxiety, and physical and mental
health problems associated with anxiety.
Further support for the anxiety-buffer hypothesis is provided by experiments that have demonstrated that self-esteem threats cause anxiety (e.g., Bennett & Holmes, 1975), that defensive responses toself-esteem threats are mediated by anxiety(e.g.,Gollwitzer,Earle,& Stephan,1982),and that the useof self-esteem defences reduces anxiety (e.g., Mehlman & Snyder, 1985).
(Terror M anagement Theory and Self-Esteem: Evidence That Increased Self-Esteem Reduces
M ortality Salience Effects. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology; Copyright 1997 by theAmerican Psychological Association, Inc. 1997, Vol. 72, No. 1.24-36-0022-3514/97/53.00)
A. Integrative Design of Mind & Body Synchronization
M olecular communication is the interrelationships between the biological,psychological,social andbehavioural factors of health and illness. Human beings may be physiological entities,but fundamentally we are a psychological phenomenon,and being aware of this inter-relationship forms a roadmap
to facilitate a positive change in another and down-regulate the impact and understanding of negative
emotions.
The concept is based on psychoneuroimmunology(PNI),a controversial topic of the past,but withsuccessful findings we have learnt that there is bi-directional communication among the nervous
system,the endocrine(hormone)system,and the immune system,and the implications of these linkages
for physical health.PNI is not a therapy but a science,which gives us the blueprint for understanding
the internal communication and how we may manipulate it to aid healing from within by using toolsof hypnosis,psychotherapies,biofeedback emotional intelligence and interpretative phenomenologicalanalysis.
B. Culture-responsive Design
Cultural mapping is a significant marker also to be considered due to the reason that culture is:A body of learned behaviours perceived as state of nature
Cultural templates shape behaviour & consciousness
C. Cultural Context
Social process and dynamics, interpersonal and interaction. Culture is for society what memory is
for individuals. It is a set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of a

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society or a social group.It is further expanded by ways of living together,value systems and beliefs:
It relates to the essence of culture as a medium
Relates to the relationship between members of culture and their own culture
Relates to our competency to understand our own culture
Culture encourages people to sustain the symbolic view of security and life of themselves and of theworld by promoting a world-view,which conveys that the world is orderly,meaningful and permanent.
This symbolic immortality comes through identification with the ongoing culture and lasting symbols,
offspring and culturally valued achievements.A rich culture births a satisfied society that in turn fuels
the individualʼ
s sense of belonging and self-esteem.
What happens when the cultural values and symbols are shattered?Insecurity,conflicts,pain,stress,
anxiety, fear and aggression ― are the responses.
Cultural differences and our natural models of resiliency and recovery are embedded in the culture
we have been raised in, and it plays a significant role in how one verbalizes and cognitively andemotionally performs whether in their own culture or when immersed in another culture.
Stress and anxiety may befall when the two points of cultural map and world-view come into
conflict leading to some stress and anxiety or in some cases major impact is felt,and behaviour-action
might be formed. All holistic treatments must consider cultural mapping of the patient to create
wellness modalities.
The way emotions are verbalized and expressed or not is also culturally ingrained, for example:
speech is especially important in the Western cultural context as a means to express and clarify oneʼs
thoughts;in contrast,speech is not as valued in the Eastern cultural context.Rather,it is viewed as a
distraction to thinking.This suggests that a patient of different cultural background will have varying
responses to the way they address their issues to the practitioner.It is the practitionerʼ
s responsibility
to lead the patient with the goal of recovery beyond cultural factors.
Post-incident follow-up and critical stress debriefing. A truly comprehensive mental toughness
training programme includes post-incident follow-up and critical stress debriefing.
Critical incidents produce characteristic sets of psychological and physiological reactions or symptoms (thus the term syndrome)in all people,including emergency service personnel.Typical symptomsof Critical Incident Stress include:
Restlessness
Irritability
Excessive Fatigue
Sleep Disturbances
Anxiety
Startle Reactions
Depression
M oodinessM uscle Tremors

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Difficulties ConcentratingNightmares
Vomiting
Diarrhoea
Suspiciousness
The physical and emotional symptoms,which develop as part of a stress response,are normal but
have the potential to become dangerous to the responder if symptoms become prolonged.Researchers
have also concluded that future incidents (even those that are more“normal”)can be enough to triggera stress response. Prolonged stress saps energy and leaves the person vulnerable to illness. Undercertain conditions,they may have the potential for life-long after effects.They are especially destructive when a person denies their presence or misinterprets the stress responses as something goingwrong with him.
The ultimate goal of post-incident follow up is to build you up and make you stronger and vigilant
against any physiological symptoms of stress;any broader issues will have to be addressed separately.
Critical debriefing is a talk-through process,it does not involve any“note taking”,“
investigation ofthe
event”, “
giving operational critique”and “no blaming session”.
This frame requires a multi-component approach to manage traumatic events,it is integrated andsystematic.
It is resilience and not resistance,which makes a person “tough”― those individual who knows how
to deal with stressors of various base levels and critical levels,perform as high functioning individuals.
D. Biofeedback
These sensors allow persons to monitor their own muscle relaxation,heart rate,breathing patterns
and perspiration and concentrate on changing it through either the visual or auditory information
provided by the equipment.
How to create a healthy empowered relationship with anger?
The first step is to realize that itʼ
s a vital key to your inner strength. It is important to recognize
the value of your emotions and to understand that anger isnʼt a “bad”emotion.It is a messenger in yourlife telling you that change is needed.When you honestly feel and deal responsiblywith it youʼll quickly
express and release it from your heart and mind.Then,the energy trapped inside your anger becomesa constructive force offering you untold will power and renewal of your life force.Taking responsibility and allowing yourself to connect with a negative emotion to understand that part of you is the startof re-patterning of your thoughts.
Use your imagination to unhook the negativity from your mind.Research has shown us that within
the brain some parts are switched on whether in action or imagination. This is how the body-mindconnection works. It is powerful when you use it for personal growth.
Self-leadership is vital to the success of the therapeutic plan,to instil taking control of your life andhow to use critical thinking systems helps the patient to use correct form of thinking and feeling where
one is taught how to think and how to react to feelings with awareness and responsibility.
Using guided imagery, visualization may also reduce stress, thereby boosting the immune systemand helping the body to fight disease.Relaxation response and cognitive restructuring have been shownto effectively reduce stress and relieve symptoms associated with it.
At every step we are using our internal assets and optimizing itʼs potential, but doing with

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awareness instils three things:Knowing who you are today. What you can do today.
Colour:Colour antedates civilizations and is both a subjective experience (limbic)and an objective
feature of the world. Giving colour to your emotions makes a visual connection, and it is easier tore-pattern behaviour and thoughts when one can see and not just hold an abstract concept of change.
Change must be seen and felt for re-patterning brain behaviour and healing. This is done throughspecially designed modules.
We have a visceral emotive relationship with colour.Just imaging our world to be monochromatic,
like all shades of grey, would immediately instigate a dull, aching feeling. Colours transmit distinct
physiological, mental and energetic information throughout our system;it is tied to emotion and aphysical reality.Learning how to give colour to emotions and responses can serve as a tool,which canbe used for cognitive restructuring with the help of an experienced health practitioner.
The analysis of this short study emphasizes the fact that human design is constantly shaped andreshaped through experiential learning.When an individual encounters experiences through situations
and makes assessment due to the feelings which arise, this individual goes through a change process
but remains relatively unchanged till practice and experimentation of those feelings are challenged andexercised further. The outcome then is based on judgment, an aftermath of reasoning and thenassessment of the outcome of that judgment and reasoning set, due to memory tags reinforcing thechange within an individual. It is during practice and experimentation when the help of a facilitator
might be needed to induce wellness modalities, creating healthy memory tags for future use.
Habits and personality do not cause mental disturbances;however,itʼs the mental disturbances that
often cause unhealthy habits and disorders of personality.

VI. NUTRITION AND THE BRAIN
A. Imagination ＋ M otivation ＋ Action
To imagine is to execute an action in your thoughts.Imagination and action are integrated into eachother. You must have indulged in mental practice before a game of badminton, tennis or basketball.
From a neuroscientific viewpoint,and brilliantly expressed in the book “
Phantoms in the Brain”,it
has been explained that, when we close our eyes and imagine the letter “a”, the visual cortex in thebrain lights up as if we were actually looking at the letter “a”.Try it and you will know what I mean.
Brain Scans show that in action and imagination many of the same parts of the brain are activated.
Visualizing can improve performance of any task.
B. M otivational Neurotransmitters ＋ Nutrition
Neurotransmitters are made from amino acids obtained from the protein in the food you consume.
These are the brain chemicals that motivate/sedate/focus or frustrate. The complex interaction iswhat shifts your mood and changes your mind.
Examples:
1. Dopamine:is important for motivation and to give a sense of readiness to meet lifeʼs challenges.
Stress and poor sleep will deplete the levels of dopamine.
Dopamine results in:
Feelings of pleasure
Feelings of attachment/love
Food Source: Apples, Celery, Chicken, Cucumber, Fish, Green leafy vegetables, Honey, Cheese,
Watermelon
2. Noradrenalin:is the other neurotransmitter needed for motivation,alertness and concentration.

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Like a hormone it travels in the bloodstream to arouse brain activity.
Noradrenalin results in:
Arousal, Energy, Drive
Stimulation
Fight or Flight
Food Source:Bananas, Almonds, Avocado, Pineapple
3.Serotonin:Serotonin acts in a varietyofways and is involved in about one quarter ofall thebodyʼsbiological processes.
Serotonin results in:
Emotional stability
Reduces aggression
Sensory input
Regulation of sleep cycle
Appetite control
Food Source:Legumes, M ilk, Nuts, Pasta, Potatoes, Radishes, Spinach, Tomatoes
There is a vast variation in stress adjustment to adversity from severe incapacitation to resilienceto growth.Much research has shown that the brain is geared to grasp negative cues faster than positive
adhering to the innate make-up of human survival. So a systematic approach is needed for professionals in the field of corrections regarding emotional regulation, cognitive reappraisal of situations(re-evaluating a situation to change its emotional impact).Positivityis not thepursuit ofpleasureor evenwell-being, but rather involves the states and traits that promote broad thought and flexible action.

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The vehicle that the mind and body use to communicate with each other is the chemistryofemotion.
The chemicals in question are molecules,short chains of amino acids called peptides and receptors,the“biochemical correlate of emotion.”The peptides can be found in your brain,but also in your stomach,
your muscles, your glands and all your major organs, sending messages back and forth.

VII. APPENDIX
Asken, M ichael J. Mindsightings.
Cloud, J. Why your DNA isnʼt your destiny. Accessed 2012 Apr 15. http://www.time.com/time/
magazine/article/0,9171,1952313,00.html#ixzz1whY9htMB>.
Darwin, C. Origin of Species. New York:Gramercy, 1995.
Jeswal, R. Running title:“
M ind-body:M olecular communication and wellness modalities”. J. Altern.
Med. Res. 2013;5(3).
Jeswal, R. Military psychology. Accessed 2012 Apr 15. http://psrcentre.org/images/extraimages/270.
pdf>.
Jeswal,R.“
Neural role of emotions”.In:Emotional intelligence and leadership (FEIL).Mumbai:Excel
Books, 2010:221-31.
Kiecolt-Glaser, J.K., Glaser, R. “Psychoneuroimmunology:Past, present and future”. Health Psychol
1989;8(6):677-82.
Segerstrom,S.C.,Miller,G.E.A.“M eta-analytic study of 30 years of inquiry”.Psychol Bull 2004;130(4):601-30.
“Terror Management Theory and Self-Esteem:Evidence That Increased Self-Esteem Reduces Mortality Salience Effects”.Journal of Personality& Social Psychology;Copyright 1997 bythe American
Psychological Association, Inc. 1997, Vol. 72, No. 1.24-36-0022-3514/97/53.00.
Bandura A. Self-efficacy:The exercise of control. New York:W. H. Freeman;1997.
Lazarus RS, Folkman S. Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York:Springer;1984.

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