Benefits of cPTSD and hyper vigilance?

[OM_™]

Just thought I'd ask a question to see if anyone thinks they have had any benefits from having PTSD.

I'll start with one of my benefits. As a result of CSA, I became both hyper-sexualised and hyper-vigilant. I believe that my hyper vigilance of all things sexual helped me avoid the AIDS pandemic and STDs in general.

 

[Sweetpea76]

Hello @OM_™. I’ve moved your post from the Supporter area so you may have better responses to your question.

 

[Movingforward10]

I'm very glad you survived the aids era.

I think there are some benefits too.

The hyper viligence has been a benefit for my job. I can start a project and understand the dynamics of the people, the situation, what is needed, how to formulate the project plan, how to bring people along the journey, where the pressure points will be, more or less instantly. And I put that down to hyper viligence.

I also think the total facade of control helps others to feel safe and contained. Which is also down to hyper viligence, and needing to fix things, and being unable to express emotions. So it makes people seemingly want to be around me and they find it helpful. Often at work people say I am calming.
Think that's a double edged sword though as it's not usually reciprocated.

 

[OM_™]

Often at work people say I am calming.
Think that's a double edged sword though as it's not usually reciprocated.

Funny that, because I have been told similar, like, "You were like Buddha. I'd seek you out for advice and when I needed to calm down." Most old friends are shocked by my CSA revelations.

BTW: You are right about the double edged sword, but in my case, my facade was impossible to penetrate. There's no need to help anyone that convincingly pretends that nothing's wrong. When I was twenty-ish I contemplated taking acting lessons, that's how good I was at hiding the hurt.

 

[Teamwork]

It helps in the sense that I can read the room, the atmosphere, the mood or motive of people with astounding acuracies. That type of hyper vigilant radar helps more than it hinders if I act accordingly. For me it is more than a gut feeling.

 

[arfie]

my case was extreme, but i believe the "hyper" greatly clouded my natural vigilance to destructive extremes.

however, healing the infections behind the "hyper" helped me move beyond that facade and find peace with the inner truths of who and what i am. take it or leave it, socially distant one. i am what i am and i ain't what i ain't. your opinion of god's handiwork is yours to cherish as you please.

 

[Rose White]

To cope with my adverse childhood experiences I threw my efforts into perfectionism and that way of thinking/behaving can be pretty fun sometimes when it comes to cooking and crafty projects.

 

[OM_™]

benefit for my job. I can start a project and understand the dynamics of the people, the situation, what is needed, how to formulate the project plan, how to bring people along the journey, where the pressure points will be, more or less instantly.

can read the room, the atmosphere, the mood or motive of people

find peace with the inner truths

perfectionism

Thanks for all the replies. It might be worth making a list of POSITIVES and NEGATIVES of CPTSD and hypervigilance so that we can both celebrate and be mindful of the ways we can prevent further damage from the events that have hurt us.

clouded my natural vigilance to destructive extremes

Thanks arfie for this extra info. I'm relatively new here and probably don't know you as well as some of the other members; I know I asked for benefits, but it would probably help to know about your "...destructive extremes" so that we can watch out for / identify them in ourselves.

 

[Midnightmoon]

Oh I'm liking these :)

I was an RN and I believe my hyper vigilance made me a better nurse. I was so very very aware of every patients need, at any time. I could tell you where any drug in the trolley was by memory, and knew what each tablet looked like (and when we changed supplier!)

I knew every machine/ stock take/ my patients last set of vitals etc etc. I was so so aware to NOT be anything other than 'nurse mode'. Bloody exhausting but I was the youngest manager they ever had...so clearly something worked

 

[Friday]

As every job (and recreation/passion/pursuit) I’ve ever loved or been good at? Required vigilance, situational awareness, & trusting my instincts, training, and judgement? Being alert and adaptable to swiftly changing circumstance? And having others lives -as well as my own- depend swift and immediate action based on those assessments?

= ZERO benefit to HYPERvigilance, and infinite potential for harm. Not just in accidentally assaulting or killing someone, or getting others killed… or the circles of devastation left in the wake of those losses in the lives of those people’s family, friends, fields that have lost them to it… but also in my own life, and the effects on my family & friends, as I’ve had to spend years homeless/jobless, or underemployed, because my judgment simply could not be trusted.

Same as there is zero benefit to paranoia, but tremendous …possible, depending on the realities of one’s life… benefit to various levels of personal security.

Big damn difference to seeing/reacting to threats that are NOT real…vs …exquisite awareness and immediate/appropriate response to very real threats.

Maybe people’s whose lives and livelihoods don’t depend on them being trustworthy, or whose hypervig is limited to the jump-squeel? Find some benefit to it. Don’t get me wrong, I can find humor &/or benefit in symptoms that don’t wreck my life (Panic Attacks? Exercise for lazy people!). But hypervig wrecks my life so fast I have to pretty much stop-the-world to sort it… or I lose everything.

Just thought I'd ask a question to see if anyone thinks they have had any benefits from having PTSD.

I can see how PTSD can be evolutionarily adaptive, as having a small percentage of the population who adapts so thoroughly to crisis that they can no longer function in “normal” life? Keeps the species alive during catastrophic events. And their progeny “take over” once things quite down. That’s useful on the meta-scale. Just like having small sections of the population who excel/thrive in certain other conditions so well, that they’re virtually nonfunctional outside of them. Diversity is strength. On a species scale. I suspect whether or not an individual finds benefit? Depends largely on personality, preference, & desire.

 

[Teal]

I don’t think there are too many benefits to it. Though, I like to think it has made me less judgmental. I’m often told by others that they feel very comfortable around me and that they can be themselves with me.

 

[No More]

I’m with @Friday on this. Hyper vigilance has no benefit to me and generally causes a shit storm of chaos.

Sometimes when you are so overly hyper focused on the tiny things, you miss the big picture. *Everything* is a danger, rather than my brain filtering through and giving me the *actual* danger, it’s just coming up with nonsense.

Over reacting because ~headless chicken~ is just as dangerous as under reacting.