You can also carry mace/pepper spray or a knife if a gun isn't available.
Sounds like you need some fighting experience. A good MMA school is intimidating I admit, but once you have some decent skill you can get in a few sparring fights. Once you know how a fight goes down and what you can do, you can start looking at improving yourself and your abilities.
As for arts that don't require a sparring partner, forget about it. Martial arts are about interacting with people (sometimes by introducing their face to concrete), and are taught by people and practiced with people. Even the arts that don't spar have their techniques explained in person, and believe me you absolutely need to spar. Learning an art without ever speaking to someone is like building a house on sand. It's just wasted effort.
In relation with this, since you said verbal....
Some of the self-defense verbal tactics that are taught often, are the exact opposite from what you might be expecting. They are more about de-escalating the situation rather than anything else.
Verbal self-defense as it is taught often.....
Attacker shouts, defender smiles...
Attacker shouts, defender explains in a friendly way,
Attacker changes feelings, defender shakes hands with the attacker
=Verbal self-defense as it is taught often.
Real verbal self-defense, many times....
Attacker is not someone that can be reasoned like that, or in a state that can be reasoned like that,....
Attacker shouts, defender shouts back
Attacker backs off, due to defender shouting back,
Attacker explains, stop or leaves, defender calms down and may change feelings,
They may shake hands, or speak better after a while.
=Real verbal self-defense many times....:)
I don't really think you could learn a martial art at home, sorry, there are plenty of "academies" (mcdojos) which will sell "online self defense classes", but this is utter bullshit, without an instructor to correct your form or explain things that might not be in the book, you'll simply accomplish nothing.
I recommend Krav Maga (I've been doing it for some time), it's real self defense and it looks like it suits your needs because aside from defending yourself you'll receive some info about battleground (and dangerous situations) psychology.
You can find a certified KM instructor who will give you private classes at home, or you can find an academy.
Whatever your choice is, make sure that the instructor or the academy is certified by an official Israeli KM federation (Like the IKMF for example) because otherwise it could be a mcdojo.
Hello, I'm a 20 year old guy, 5'9'' tall, 160 pound, I faced many tough situations (psychological ones actually) most of the fights I had (or the opponent actually had) were verbal fights, those fights actually leave me shaking, I have a crush and I want to be able to defend her, I want to be able to face the world, to defend my family, and my rights, so I thought of licensing a gun but the process in my country is hard and a few people are authorized to get a gun, so I thought of learning a martial art, I don't want it to give me strength but to give me courage, I want it to get me strong (mentally) more than physically, because actually it's not my weakness that holds me back, but my fear...
So can you recommend a "mental" martial art, a martial art with a mental training, preferably to be learnt mostly at home, without a sparring partner.
