How much would you like to achieve personal growth and fulfillment? How much do you value your self-esteem? How much do you value your love and belongingness necessities? And what does all that have to do with TASER weapons, stun guns, pepper sprays and self defense products in general?

A great deal, actually. Read on and you will find all the proof your need.

According to Abraham Maslow (a chief exponent of the humanistic school of human behavior), each individual has a five-levels "pyramid of needs" that motivates his/her behavior. How well you do in life will depend on your ability to manage the demands of each one of your inferior, most dominant levels of the hierarchy, as you move up to fulfill the demands of the higher stages. The same process keeps going on and on, one level after the other, until the highest stage is reached at and a healthy state of "self-actualization" (mental wellbeing) is produced.

You must be asking yourself by now: what are those particular needs to be fulfilled on each particular stage of your own hierarchy? And what does all that have to do with self defense products in general? Let's take a quick look at each stage of Maslow's "pyramid of needs", before we bring in self defense weapons into the whole mental health picture:

Level 5: "Self-Actualization" (Highest level)

Level 4: "Esteem & Self Esteem"

Level 3: "Love & Belonging"

Level 2: "Safety and Security"

Level 1: "Biological/Physiological Needs" (Lowest level)

As you can appreciate, the lowest level of the hierarchy (Level 1) is that of "Biological/Physiological Demands". Here you must fulfill your most basic human drives, including getting sufficient food, water, air, sleep, sex, etc. Many crimes are actually motivated by a difficulty to fulfill these motives through socially accepted channels (be ready to defend yourself with non lethal TASER weapons, stun guns, pepper sprays and other reliable security products such as surveillance equipments).

Once the physiological drives of this first stage are accomplished, the second level of Maslow's Hierarchy ("Safety and Security") comes into play, its specific needs again motivating your conduct until completely satisfied. This is precisely where self defense products fit into the whole psychological picture. Without these licit self defense weapons, your "Safety and Security" needs might not be properly met, and your opportunity to satisfy those important needs of the remaining next three stages ("Love & Belonging", "Esteem & Self Esteem", & "Self-Actualization") would be thwarted (no one can develop those higher level aspirations of human development under life-threatening conditions, as pointed out in Maslow's psychological theory).

Even so… Is it possible to achieve your full potentiality as an individual without using any self defense product at all? Of course it is. Maslow himself never discussed self defense products. However, the important question you must ask yourself is: What are your prospects of retaining your self-actualization status (once achieved) if you become a victim of crime?

Statistical studies have shown that the average American has an 80% chance of becoming the victim of fierce crime over the course of a lifetime (by logic, someone’s chances of losing his/her self-actualization status is exactly the same). If you become a victim of crime, you will most probably regress to a previous "deficit oriented" (not self-actualized) stage of the hierarchy of needs (levels 1-4), and the quality of your life (and that of your loved ones) would be painfully affected. In other words, there is an enormous chance that you will lose your self-actualized status (fifth level of the hierarchy), after having worked so hard to achieve it.

Moreover, you will also lose your sense of esteem & self esteem (fourth level), as well as your sense of "love & belonging" (third level: you would find it hard to trust others)...even reverting to your second level of your own psychological hierarchy: "Safety and Security". That's a lot to lose in terms of mental, emotional, and even physical health, isn't it?

Pepper sprays, stun guns, TASER weapons, instructional fighting DVDs, surveillance equipments…these licit self defense products and non lethal weapons represent so much more than just your physical security: these are important instruments to help you secure all the mental and emotional wellbeing you and your loved ones may accomplish in life. They stand for your human right to defend your peace of mind and your emotional wellbeing, and that of your dear family members.

Who would dare to affirm that psychology doesn't have anything to do with prevention? And crime prevention begins with getting yourself reliable self defense weapons and products. If you protect yourself today, you might even spare yourself (and your family) years of psychotherapy aimed at rebuilding a shattered psychological pyramid of needs that could have stood intact if only you had chosen to listen to a good advice…while still in time.