What Is Hypervigilance and How Does It Relate to PTSD?

In the military, service members are taught: "Stay alert, stay alive!" But once home, says Lt. Col. Philip Holcombe, PhD, that feeling of being on high alert is hard to turn off.

[@truthmatters7755]

Can't put trust in anyone or anything, Feel sooo paranoid all the time.

[@snowingsart4568]

kzbin.info?search_query=THE+IRATE+FEMALE+VETERAN

[@Jamoni1]

You're not alone. You need to recognize that most of the time, you ARE safe. You just think you're not.

[@waffleMccoy]

@@Jamoni1 I've seen like over 100 videos of people thinking they're safe and then they immediately get run over by a semi because they weren't watching.

[@Jamoni1]

@@waffleMccoy and I've seen hundreds of thousands of videos of that NOT happening.

[@leroygordon9989]

May be describing paranoia, this comment. The video also doesn't really give it justice. It's torture, the dialogue isn't as blunt either. It's more just a like focus on everything all at once. But it's almost constant, I'm 27 and I don't remember a time in my life where I wasn't always focusing on every little thing that happened. The tiniest details, the tiniest facial expressions people give. And these days it's kinda just worked it's way into my life, everywhere. Even when I'm just trying to relax and garden, there's a constant torturous dialogue running thru my head, and honestly I couldn't tell you what it's all saying, but it makes me anxious as funk.

[@adam-bailey]

Great explanation of the trauma in 3 mins

[@charlottebarbour1540]

I have ptsd because I was in an abusive home my whole life and it’s really difficult !! I can spend days catastrophizing my memories instead of living my life. I always feel In danger from everyone in my life, even my siblings. I can’t tell you how relaxing it is to know why.

[@lordvenus7999]

same here

[@bridgetking4553]

I was emotionally abused for years and have ptsd. Hypervigilance ruins entire days and even weeks for me. I always feel like someone’s going to yell at me or insult me for something, doesn’t matter what. I can’t function.

[@bridgetking4553]

I flinch and grab something and my heart starts racing it’s so embarrassing

[@aress9521]

​@@bridgetking4553 people think iam a criminal or something because of it

[@snowingsart4568]

kzbin.info?search_query=THE+IRATE+FEMALE+VETERAN

[@lordvenus7999]

same here

[@hhrrkk6836]

Jesus loves you. I’m sorry.

[@achigurh88]

i'm a vet with diagnosed hypervigilance. being in crowded places makes me have panic attacks because i feel like I have to assess everyone in terms of being a possible threat. Having a dog helps because he hears and senses things before I can, so it lets me relax at home. If something is about to happen, like a knock at the door or god forbid, an intruder at night, he will alert me and then it's a matter of calming down, not going to 11 instantly and trying to actively maintain. The military trains you to flip that "switch" to on, but if you stay in the game long enough, it's second nature and never gets flipped off.

[@josephhoward4010]

That same switch is learned in monastic training through intense meditation and mindfulness/awareness exercises. Has taken my ptsd from childhood and made it turn to 11.

[@snowingsart4568]

kzbin.info?search_query=THE+IRATE+FEMALE+VETERAN

[@Jamoni1]

Part of the problem is that, in the military, you always had a team around you. You could relax because your buddy was on watch. We all need a team.

[@garygonzalez2774]

Well explained Brother.

[@beyondbackwater4933]

Dogs are beautiful

[@tomrodgers6629]

I live it and every time I think I can drop my shields for a minute something happens that re-enforces my belief to stay in tactical mode. 80 percent are false alarms but the 20 percent keep me vigilant 100 percent of the time.

[@captainhindsight8779]

I’m an Afghan Vet (British Op Herrick 16), this is exactly how I am day to day. We have no VA here in the UK and once you’re out of the forces, you’re forgotten about. For anyone suffering with this, take each day as it comes, accept the bad days and embrace the good days. Keep safe!

[@ZoubeirsWorld]

Imagine what Afghans have to live with because of you.😊

[@heathercloete7450]

Im a 63 year old gran from South Africa and this explains me to a T. Now i understand more. Living like this is exhausting. Thank you for sharing.

[@tjr9457]

He explains it with military precision: "Another symptom of PTSD is hypervigillence.... at a deeper level, it has to with having that world view of how the world ought to be, shaken.... stay alert, stay alive.... how do you help someone.... take your fear my the horns and take it on and start to let go of avoidance so you can live live again." 100%

[@Lena-cz6re]

how can you let go of not being able to sleep each night because your heart starts racing at every noise you hear?

[@tjr9457]

@@Lena-cz6re You must never let go because you must hold on to what you learnt. But you must take it on so it does not hold on to you. If you get knocked down, you must never stay down. Keep marching and so you can live life again.

[@thinkforyourself518]

You can also experience this after betrayal trauma in relationships. I hope we all bring compassion to the table.

[@AnnaLVajda]

Calm like a bomb.

[@edenbaylilatour6316]

I relate to this. Had a very traumatic childhood and a pretty traumatic career. I never struggled with much more than severe trouble with sleeping. But recently a bar I was in had a shooter inside that opened fire and I was stuck hiding under the bar until he stopped. Ever since then any loud sound makes me jump on my insides and my heart races and continues to race for hours. Any little noise triggers me.

[@nathalieduverna6963]

I wasn't a veteran however I literally have PTSD due to my childhood and this is extremely informative for me

[@DungeonMasterR20]

Yeah, fuck that saying. Literally hear someone up stairs banging around and im clinching to my firearm thinking im underattack. Scanning the room looking for barricades and cover. Heart pumping. Even though I know it's my wifes sister who is upstairs with her fucking boyfriend. I dont know him but im cautious....everyone is my enemy when I dont know them. Hate nights like this

[@insanesioux9656]

I have PTSD from childhood trauma, I am on edge all the time, I’ve fallen heavily into addiction and struggle to hold down a job and relationships. Y’all stay safe and get help if you can🤟🏽

[@ferzinhaN]

Thank you for being so articulate. 🔥

[@MG123abc1]

This explains how I felt December 2020

[@hollynagy8078]

Absolutely nailed it couldnt describe it beter

[@unbindingfloyd]

As soon as he mentioned not having your back to the door in a restaurant. That hit me hard. I think I'm going to go to the VA and talk to my uncle about this. Everything he said was it. Its fucking it. I didn't know what to call it.

[@MrSouthvalley]

i am not a war vet but a civilian that surfers ptsd sometimes hyper vigilance is annoying

[@humanelements2]

The speaker is right...Ending avoidance is the only way out of the trap of hypervigilance. I was physically and sexually abused as a child and have spent most of my life in this state. It only shuts off when I'm alone in a quiet apartment. It's ruined countless relationships, jobs, and my dreams. Yet I've finally found the key out and it's this: stop attending to it and do literally anything else. I remain mindful enough to notice that I am hypervigilant and/or having an emotional flashback. Yes, you can't help but get grabbed by it as it's so overwhelming. But the optional part is to fight with it, tell mental stories about it, hate yourself for having it, or examine it for some way out. Instead, I simply thank the part of my brain that's freaking out trying to protect me - and then I start paying attention to something else. Walking, breathing, birds singing, people talking, feet on the ground, the sun, or whatever task I was doing before. There are actually a billion things going on around you despite the tunnel vision of hypervigilance. You can't win the fight against your amygdala - so don't bother fighting with it. I used to stay locked in hypervigilance, flashbacks, and dissociation the moment I leave my home until I got home. It was so fucking exhausting. But now it (usually) fades in a few minutes or moments. Usually. It's not 100% gone and there are still situations I find overwhelming. It's also taken me years of consistently doing this to get even this far with a few doses of psychedelics to grease the gears some. But I'm far better than where I was - in fact, I'm about to start my first in-person job in over 5 years! It's proof that even a middle-aged brain severely abused in early childhood can still heal with consistent effort. Hopefully this is of help to someone.

[@imlatinoguy]

I'm a civilian but I have hypervigilance, not sure why. Not all the time. But yes when I sit down somewhere I never have my back to the door just in case. If I forget something in my car I have a rifle slinged on my shoulder. Especially since last time I didn't do that and these random kids were shooting air guns at houses and they shot at my direction as well. Every time I go out of a building I scan my surroundings for danger. Sometimes I carry my pepper spray if I can't carry a gun in there. A lot of times I imagine a dangerous scenario and I think of what to do if that happened. Even my friend noticed one time, there was a commotion at a bar and I just started thinking what might happen and she was talking to me and I just looked into space in my thoughts. I don't trust people at open spaces but I feel more safe inside of a building. My co-workers always startle me especially if they are around the corner and they kind of come up on me. They thought it was funny and started startling me for fun. I didn't think it was bad I thought it was funny but now that I see I may have ptsd I'm not so sure anymore.

[@sadiaarman363]

Summation, with gratitude. A person with PTSD develops hypervigilant which means feeling aroused, keyed, on edge. They have their world view of safety and how the world ought to be shaken. They feel they have to be overly vigilant, alert all the time. You are always on your guard, therefore you cannot function properly. It impacts your ability to enjoy life. So you get exposure treatments. The exposure treatment tells you that it is time to get hold of fear by the horns so you may let go of avoidance and live your life again.

[@GribbleD]

I take it as a blessing

[@colc9973]

In the statement above, the author misquotes Lt. Col. Philip Holcombe, PhD, the saying is "Stay Alert, Stay Alive", not "Say Later, stay alive". Big difference.

[@andysmith5997]

I have this,it plays havoc with your golf game too

[@eatyourvegetables1449]

17 years old, not really sure what sparked my hypervigilance but I have dealt with it for as long as I can remember. Both my parents treat me well, and I don’t have any “trauma”. I want to say it all started when I got really bad thoughts about what was going on in my house. For example, wondering if my parents are ok right now while they are sleeping, I always thought what if someone were to rob and shoot them while they slept and I just didn’t hear it, this really stressed me out for a lot of years. During that time and still now, whenever I enter a place, I am instantly assessing all the possible exits and what to do when a certain scenario comes. I’m telling myself, so if someone were to come in here and shoot, I would run exactly that direction towards that exit. Every time I am moving I am constantly reassessing a new route because the old one is too far gone. Anytime someone reaches into their backpack or duffel bag, my heart drops, and my flight or fight kicks in, and I’m immediately ready to jump and run if it’s a gun or a weapon. I also have extreme intrusive thoughts (luckily I can see past these and they aren’t a huge disruption in my life, although they can be pretty stressing sometimes). I am constantly assessing body language, hand movement, tone of voice, any signs of twitching or aggression, any lumps on a persons jacket or pants that indicate they have a weapon somewhere. It’s a really bad thing to live with and it’s definitely made my life very stressful, it’s a huge reason why I hate going out in public, because I’m instantly stressed.

[@calmdown5944]

This. Me too to a T for many years now. Can’t go in movie theaters anymore. Hoping to find out how to turn it off lol. It’s a good trait to have to always be aware of your surroundings, but I feel I start spiraling in a way. Going down rabbit holes of “what if”. It sucks.

[@eatyourvegetables1449]

@@calmdown5944 it does. But now that I have it, I don't want to be relaxed. Being aware of my surroundings in a weird way gives me assurance that I will be able to escape a deadly situation. I've been good at it now and it isn't so debilitating, especially when I'm in places I know, then I barely get that feeling. But going to places that I don't know like out of my area or in a restaurant/movie etc makes me very on my toes.

[@StraightOuttaMoney]

I think I might have this

[@jingerhaley5886]

I just wrote that ❤alert to both good or bad and do ptsd people have a low tolerance for small talk ?? Just wondering ??

[@FrankJOswald]

100% true. Thank you.......

[@johnnyangel1759]

It's not fear it's ANGER 😡😡😡 with my situation, I was a mental health enforcer of 19 years highly trained, anger as in military strict to find out what you are doing and you better have a answer

[@Vel_Plays_2.0]

Meditation helps a lot.

[@jeremyrude6883]

I had a family member seriously assaulted with a machete in his home by an ex step cousin. He was there to kill my sister and 9 year old nephew. Thank goodness my brother in law was home. This did not happen at my home, and its an hour drive to my sister's home it happened in. The guys /ex step cousin who did this is in jail, he was arrested the same day it happened. Hes been locked up for about 9 months. And took a ple deal and will be sentenced to 13 years. We are told the max sentence is 15 years here in ny for attempted murder in the 2nd. Not a morning or night goes by that i any longer feel safe in my own home. The terror i have, shadows make me jump. Constantly checking on my 7 year old son at night. Constantly looking at my cameras home security systems. I di not sleep well at night. Maybe 4 hrs a night i sleep now. I feel more rested after a nap during the middle of the day but can only really nap if my girlfriend is home and awake when i nap. The words i do not have fir what this guys done to us abd how our district attorney is a coward themselves and cannot lock this looser up fir 25+ years. It was 100% pre meditated for over 2 weeks. The investigation proves it. Im lost for words

[@goth_dude6874]

I am ex British Army , this is bang on accurate

[@beyondbackwater4933]

Afghanistan?

[@goth_dude6874]

@@beyondbackwater4933 no mate Northern Ireland, I have never gotten over hyper vigilance and used to have alot of flashbacks now more anxiety

[@goth_dude6874]

Northern Ireland looks no different to any part of the UK so many triggers

[@isaacsepanski6844]

I have compulsive disorder, hyper vigilance,hyper activity and so much more 😂😂

[@kathrinjohnson2582]

What is the difference between hypervigilance and paranoia? Or are they just different degrees of the same thing?

[@glormoparch5154]

In this case it seems to be a situational awareness issue. Like your immediate surroundings. Paranoia which i suffer from usually relates to other people's intentions. Of course there can be overlap.

[@TruthTeller-rh2bw]

Accurate.

[@GruesomePizza1992]

Stay alert stay alive Complacency kills

[@johop1496]

💯💯💯

[@vevamoody8922]

I have hyper thing from non dign other than 2 yrs by myself everyibe things im on drugss no its becaside i amba chronncaly ill pain patint 20 yrs oipiod crisis ny world was taken from me and i should have died i decided to find a way 2 live no natrics after 28 yrs

[@cherylwade264]

Fight or flight is a response people are born with and learning to assess a situation in order to respond accurately is important in everyday life. Assessing a situation can cause overwhelming anxiety due to Racing Thoughts because respond and react can immobilize a person. Respond and react are usually automatic, however, if you actively try to react to every variable in a scenario. you either overreact or you can't move. If you accurately identify the threat react accordingly.

[@macmanjimmy69]

ah, the "Walk it off" philosophy.. excellent

[@sophia_mt4]

I have this so bad but because of being ostracized and emotional abuse. If you look crazy, I won't be around you.

[@sophia_mt4]

I have a deep fear someone is going to make a joke or insult me, so I'm on edge.

[@HopeLives2012]

So relate

[@ericwright5455]

My hypervigilance is not a bad thing.

[@mayforme1394]

Pompas BS SGB treatment #SGB

[@snowingsart4568]

I gotta say for us with MST PSTD, the WORLD (US especially) you best be on alert as female... Two things going to happen, you will be grabbed for sex, or have your purse taken. That is my take. I have to live overseas because of this.

[@imlatinoguy]

I'm sorry to hear. Sometimes I think people will attack me or stuff like that and I'm a big 300 lb dude, I'm probably scaring other people by just existing.

[@HoldMyBeerWoman]

Not a veteran just grew up being mentally and physically mistreated for being in special ed and being a mixed race person. Today Im hyper sensitive and extremely violent, no friends and family hates me to the point one time my mom shouted to me I want you dead and I wish I could kill you with my own hands. To all parents or if you want to be one upon a day. Don't mentally or physically mistreat you kids. You'll just end up making another violent hated by all person who even hates themselves and everyone else.

[@brainline]

We are so sorry you experienced that. You are correct, PTSD is not just a veteran issue. Thank you for taking the time to comment.