Hypervigilance & Its Relevance To Combat PTSD

[Ned]

Hyper-vigilance is a symptom of PTSD but its severity is what your talking about. And that has to do with the duration in a combat zone, and the severity of combat.

Whereas, PTSD can take years to take affect or it can happen straight away.

Am I on the right track now???????

Reckon...:)

 

[anthony]

Don't get me wrong above though... in that all fears can still be removed / eliminated, though due to the specifics of duration in urban warfare... I would imagine it may take more time than most, but still very achievable.

 

[Ned]

Cheers Anthony. That makes sense. I know there's some things that are too ingrained to excise, and most of them are, anyway, harmless and just a bit of OCD to the average civvy (never park nose in, always sit back to wall so you can see the door, rooftop & side street scans, blah blah blah) but it would be nice to reduce the threat state a bit! (Except when visiting Essex, of course).

 

[Jimmy1]

Hey Ned, I don't think any of us will change in that way. I think we will always scan the surrounding area, and always sit where we can see the exits. That is a lot to do with military training on top of hypervigelence.
Yeah we can back off a bit, but I think it will always be there. And in this ever changing society, its probably a good idea.
Its also why us vets are starting to move to secure gated communities, or out in the country.

 

[Ned]

Hey Ned, I don't think any of us will change in that way. I think we will always scan the surrounding area, and always sit where we can see the exits. That is a lot to do with military training on top of hypervigelence.
Yeah we can back off a bit, but I think it will always be there. And in this ever changing society, its probably a good idea.
Its also why us vets are starting to move to secure gated communities, or out in the country.

Quite, and right. Never felt more secure than on top of an isolated hill. And you are right, the more noise that can be removed, the less to process. I put a reply to Kafdog pointing out that there's very little point in trying to lose what you've learnt, why would you?

She nags me about my 6th sense/ESP but every now and then there's a 'thank f##k' incident, even in dainty Cheltenham. And thats only the stuff she notices....

And yes, urban is getting crap. They all seem to be introverted selfish children. I am on the edge of town, all my mates are rural and it's two different communities. None of my farmer mates have served but by heck I've got more in common with them than the peple next door.

FOBs and ROBs for desirable residents only?

 

[anthony]

You can change the constant scanning, requiring to sit near exits, or see exits, etc... you can change all these behaviours. Because the military put them within us, and then combat reinforced there validity that saved us, in essence, as we came home, the difference is now through the very same repetitive training we undertook in the first place to get drilled with these aspects, to undo them. I will say though, because they have been reinforced by combat, they are harder to change....

Will you ever completely remove them 100%? No... and the reason is because it will depend on your mood. If you get yourself to the point where you're going to the shops, feel good going in, good coming out, then you can absolutely change your behaviour with scanning and being alert. When habits will come back though is when you enter a shopping center or such, and your anxiety is already heightened... then your brain tells you that your combat training is required, even though its not... but anxiety dictates differently.

Change the anxiety and stress levels period, you also change the other negative behaviours of scanning and being hypervigilant.

How do you do that? Through exposure and practice, practice, practice, repetition, repetition, repetition in actual locations. Literally, focus on being completely blase within a shopping center, walk through, bump in people in crowds, etc... apologise, reinforce the difference of civilian environment to combat. Bumping into someone here is an accident, not a threat... even though you are intentionally doing it as part of self retraining... they don't know that. But it works...

Work at the core of the issues... lower overall anxiety, back it up with exposure, and lots of it. You suddenly find yourself within a crowded shopping center for hours, without coming out all worn out from constant scanning and alertness... you just relax and browse / shop.

Use logic... when someone is frustrating you, logic dictates, you may just as well be frustrating them, either walking too fast, or not fast enough. Crowded shops.... others are just as frustrated as you are, use that logic to keep calm, keep anxiety down, and look around whilst in lines, or say, excuse me, to get past someone... lots and lots of practice makes perfect mentally.

 

[Wagon]

This is really a good thread guys. Explains allot about my hyper vigilance I'll say that. But I'm not sure if I'll ever get over my issues with ships.

I used to live on an Island of sorts in Oslo Fjord, so we had to take the ferry every day into town and back. I never sat inside. -20c and I'm on deck keeping watch. No way I could be in with the crowd trapped. The old sailors on board understood. Always smiled and said hello. Never ever tried to make me go in. Others they did, but not me. Then we got new ferries and they got rid of the old crew. They don't know it, but life boats came near to being launched a few times.

Practice practice. It's Friday. I like the idea Anthony. Think I'll try to engage in some practice today. Thanks and good weekend all.

Wagon

 

[Ned]

Literally, focus on being completely blase within a shopping center, walk through, bump in people in crowds, etc... apologise, reinforce the difference of civilian environment to combat. Bumping into someone here is an accident, not a threat... even though you are intentionally doing it as part of self retraining... they don't know that. But it works...

Well, on Saturday, I did that. And it was amazingly easy. OK, I cheated a bit. I thought before hand - 'someone has given me a good plan and I know the ground and I'm going to go in and, barring a freak-out, stick to the plan'.
It certainly does work, came out of the store (after two shopping sessions), totally calm. Went home, unpacked, spent a really nice three hours with my girl who was amazed at the difference in me.
Result.
An Apollo moment, one small step for a weekend, one giant leap over the years.

Practice Practice Practice. Thank you Anthony.

 

[anthony]

Well done Ned... exceptional work. Our mind really is our own control over fears. Rational fears are rational, irrational fears are the ones we have to change... such as the threat level we determine in going shopping within a civilian environment vs. what our brain tells us based on past military situations. We can change our brain fear response, it just takes practice and time. The more you do it... not over-doing it either so you fall over, then with time you just shift into that mode.

I actually found that if I am suddenly thrust upon going into a shopping center, ie. passing by one and someone wants to stop, my time span within is very very short, because my brain doesn't have the time to come to terms with establishing blase mode (I call it), and basically get myself into the right frame of mind before approaching.

When I know I'm going shopping in a big center, then I have time to prepare and get myself into blase mode, then I literally cruise through the place.... the missus actually has to slow down to me, because if I pace through, I get anxious, if I blase through at a snails pace, even becoming one of those slow, annoying people, then suddenly I can keep myself relaxed, browse, shop, eat, drink, etc, then exit, without consequence.

If I drop in on the center or find myself in it too long, then I can start to feel the consequences.

You will find the same thing Ned... you will identify a pattern of how you need to approach, how long you will be able to shop for, etc.

 

[Jimmy1]

Excellent way of explaining it Anthony. 'Blase mode'. Now I know why I the anxiety hits.
When I plan to go shopping all is well, unless I am pushed and shoved or have to line up for longer than two minutes. But if I have to go somewhere last minute I usually end up with my cup almost overflowing.

Thanks mate.

 

[Ned]

Our mind really is our own control over fears. Rational fears are rational, irrational fears are the ones we have to change...

That's probably the easiest way for me. I'm already scanning and prioritising anyway so all it'll take is one more bit of that:
'Is this a real threat or is this just pattern recognition?'. All too often I have the automatic reflex and then it's too late.
Totally agree about blase mode, with hindsight that's what I did and it worked. No kidding, on Saturday morning someone would've had to try quite hard to rile me and then I might just have laughed anyway. Really blase.
I'm going to work on this one, just hope I don't become an eighth dan flippant. Oh, errr...............

 

[Fargo1]

Arrgh Mateys! I thought I was prepared....

This weekend I went to the Vallejo Pirate Festival. Although it was a fun romp for most, the crowd had me going just approaching, so I begged off and went to my friend's house. As I was walking away, I noticed all the drunken revellers with fake muskets and cutlasses. Whew, good thing I was not in the crowd! Then about halfway to the house, they started firing the cannon. Jesus. I must have looked like an idiot.

Kinda bummed out I can't partake in even a fun romp.