How Verbal Self-Defense Works

The Basics of Verbal Self-Defense

Verbal self-defense has three basic parts:

• understanding what's really going on
• listening instead of leaping to conclusions
• knowing how to respond.

Understanding what's really going on
First and foremost, you need to educate your amygdala. When somebody comes at you with hostile language, your amygdala typically says, "DANGER! RED ALERT!", and off you go. You need to be able to change the criteria your amygdala has for defining a threat.

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