Why is hypervigilance bad?

[Muttly]

Ok, I hear people talking about getting rid of hypervigilance and it's listed as a symptom of PTSD. And I get that when it gets to the extreme levels, it can be a problem. But in general, it's not something I want to lose. Yes, I would probably sleep better and startle less, if I weren't so hypervigilant but it's also really good to be ... prepared to deal with potential threats. Or am I just paranoid.

Does everyone see it as a problem? Am I missing something?

 

[Friday]

IMO.

Vigilance? Situational awareness, accurately & quickly assessing environments? Good.
Hypervigilance? Jumping at shadows, f*cked up judgment, & misreading situations? Bad.

 

[anthony]

it's also really good to be ... prepared to deal with potential threats.

That is the extreme you mention. In normal society you should not be prepared to deal with potential threats as an always on mode.

 

[Gs172003]

Ok, I hear people talking about getting rid of hypervigilance and it's listed as a symptom of PTSD. And...

In the society I live in I don't.

 

[shatter eyes]

Its exhausting trying to simmer down the circuits... I didnt know being startled was part of hyperVig.

What @Friday said is true.

It protects us but when i misread and respond... it is bad. Its hard to be well spoken and diplomatic when activated.

I dont think its possible to get rid of it but it may be possible to break the bad patterns with CBT

 

[MyWillow]

Physiologically (and therefore health wise) it's not great either...it amounts to chronic stress and that's one of my areas of professional expertise in animals.

I saw my GP last week and was extremely symptomatic due to some overwhelming issues. I am used to having perfect blood pressure. It was through the roof. Imagine how much effect that has on your body day in, day out.

 

[Freida]

@Friday pretty much nailed it

As it was explained to me.....
In hyper vigilance you really can't see the threat because you can't focus on one thing long enough to notice it. You are constantly scanning but not really paying attention to what you are looking at. You are kind of like a squirrel on crack and that is really hard on your body because your adrenalin is always up

In regular vigilance the squirrel calms down. It can look around and asses a situation practically, then make a plan to fight or flee. Your adrenalin spikes momentarily but doesn't stay up

 

[Muttly]

Ok, thank you all for your replies and it does give me something to work on. I can certainly ponder the idea of separating vigilance from hypervigilance. And yes, I can understand that it is exhausting and probably not good on the nervous system. I want to find a way to argue this, but I will grant that so far I can't find an argument that stands up to the light day. I guess, I mean, if you have are "hypervigilant" for a long time, wouldn't your nervous system adjust?

In normal society you should not be prepared to deal with potential threats as an always on mode.

But is that true? I am not saying it's likely that someone is going to break into my house, try to mug me, or come into the store I work and commit some act of violence but it can and does happen. The idea that it won't happen to me, that so many people carry around is a false sense of safety. And it's unlikely that anyone from my family is going to show up to do violence but... but... they are freaking crazy. Even if they don't show up to do violence, I want to be prepared for them to show up. They have no freaking boundaries and have cyberstalked me, called my old job and tried to get info about me, etc.

 

[Friday]

But is that true? I am not saying it's likely that someone is going to break into my house, try to mug me, or come into the store I work and commit some act of violence but it can and does happen. The idea that it won't happen to me, that so many people carry around is a false sense of safety.

Always On vs Never On = Black and white thinking.

In normal life, you’re only acting as if it’s an emergency, when it’s an emergency. It turns on as needed, instead of on all the time.

At that point the hyper-awareness = actually useful.

The rest of the time it obscures things we should actually be doing / paying attention to. Like a fire alarm blaring when there’s no fire. As opposed to only turning on when there’s smoke/fire. Always on. On when it needs to on. Always off. That middle one is vigilance.

Spoiler: Blah blah blah

***.
One of the reasons I really looooove being in the middle of a disaster, or emergency, or conflict? When my instincts PING! They’re right, and dead on, every time. It’s incrediably relaxing being able to simply rely on your instincts to tell you when to pay attention, something is off -or- dive for the floor, Ie alerting at different levels ... vs ... those same instincts screaming the wrong info all the damn time. Like a motherf*cking fire alarm which will not shut off. :banghead: It means that people can be shooting 2 blocks away and I’m able to calmly buy groceries just sort of keeping one ear on what’s going on (because you can tell from the sound echoing it’s not headed this way, it starts moving this way? Go go go), but here I’m FREAKING OUT buying groceries, where the biggest danger is I might miss the 2 for 1 special in the cereal aisle, or they could be out of “my” brand of coffee. >.< OH NO! A scuff on my car??? The horrors. :bored:

 

[Deleted member 43454]

Gotta hone that shit in and ride the edge.

 

[Gs172003]

@Friday pretty much nailed it

As it was explained to me.....
In hyper vigilance you...

Lol squirrel on crack

 

[Gs172003]

Ok, thank you all for your replies and it does give me something to work on. I can certainly ponder the...

That crap happens in this town every freaking day. The Walmart closest to me was robbed in the middle of the day. It's getting really bad here.