Psychology section lacks critical information

[andrei-akopian]

I noticed that the US Army Survival Manual doesn't provide much useful information in the Psychology section. I understand that for some people "Remember what's at stake" might help, but lets assume you quickly downloaded the app not even expecting to ever use it ("just so you know how to tie a knot at your summer house".) And then suddenly you find yourself in a survival situation. You remember you have the app so you know you will walk out alive eventually, in this case the Psychology section doesn't provide much useful information, all the information in Psychology is designed to prevent a person from giving up, but if you are not giving up, the section does nothing to improve your efficiency, although it has a lot of potential for that.

A pattern I notice, is that after an issue is identified the "solution" is to "prepare beforehand" by learning "one of the many stress management techniques," after which the manual proceeds to not even list the name of a single one, much less teach one in case the person didn't learn one beforehand and probably really needs it. It is the same as if the guide said "To keep yourself warm, use any of the various easy fire starting methods to start a fire" without even providing one. I think that at least a few (meditation) techniques should be added and described:

Here are techniques I know off, I am by no means an expert (I am a student) and these techniques were taken from "Super Reading Secrets" by Howard Stephen Berg designed to improve learning efficiency. I have tried them and they are quite effective, if someone serious was to walk in, I am sure they could take this to a whole other level. Currently I edited my own bit into the wiki:

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BAISIC STRESS MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

1. Belly Breathing: Instead of breathing by expanding your chest, breathe in while expanding your belly. This breathing technique is known for being very relaxing.

2. Double Inhale: Breathe in twice. Breathe in as much as you can, wait for about a second, then try to breathe in some more before breathing out. Adding delay between the steps and inhaling/exhaling slowly might increase the effectiveness of the exercise. Some versions of the exercise suggest breathing in a third time. This breathing technique has a calming effect and is cited to be used by professionals in stressful working environments.

3. Effects of Color: Green and blue tend to have a calming effect on the mind, while red stimulates it (for best effects choose a natural green/blue color tone, and intense red for stimulation). One of the ways to utilize this is to imagine breathing in "colored air." Imagine the air being green (being filled with very dense green particles,) as you breathe in and out imagine those particles move back and forth. You can do the same with red air if you are feeling tired or distracted but need to stay focused.

4. Meditation for Mind clearing/Pain Toleration: This is specifically for meditation, your task is to clear your mind and calm down even if you are concerned, worried or feeling uncomfortable. It is similar to sheep counting, start continuously reciting a number: 1 1 1 1 1 every time a thought comes in, increase the number by one every time that happens 2 2 2 2 2 it is normal to get into thousands on your first tries, you will improve over time. Alternatively you can recite a prayer or lyric, preferably a short one.

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There is a lot of editing that has to be done here to make this actually understandable (I am terrible at writing) and I think someone should actually go ahead and do so for the sake of improving the manual.

Another technique that I think should be added is the Military 2-minute Sleeping technique, that allows you to fall asleep quickly in an uncomfortable environment. Having gotten enough sleep is critical in a survival situation, so I suggest someone finds a proper and efficient guide on how to do it and adds that into the Psychology section as well.

[inferno986return]

Feel free to incorporate this information into the wiki: https://github.com/ligi/SurvivalManual/wiki

Once that's done, I am happy to add it to my e-book version of the Survival Manual. 😊

[ligi]

Yea - please add it to the wiki - will this way also end up in the app at some point

[andrei-akopian]

I edited it into the wiki back in June, I guess you can close the issue if are fine with the spelling and presentation, I have nothing else to add.

Have a great day!