Contents:
- Medical Video: 7 Tips to Stop Hypervigilence from PTSD
- What is hypervigilance?
- What is the difference between hypervigilance and paranoid?
- What is the cause until someone can be overly alert?
- What are the signs and symptoms of hypervirgilance?
- Physical symptoms:
- Behavioral symptoms
- Then, what is the treatment?
Medical Video: 7 Tips to Stop Hypervigilence from PTSD
Everyone should be more vigilant about the environment to anticipate potential hazards. Even so, caution that is still at a reasonable level must be distinguished from paranoia (paranoid) or hypervigilance. Both are characterized by excessive alertness or thoughts that make you always feel as if you are threatened, terrorized, and in great danger even though there is no evidence of a real threat. So, what's the difference between hypervigilance and paranoia? Check out more in the following review.
What is hypervigilance?
Hypervigilance is excessive alertness accompanied by a tendency to be prepared to prevent danger.
A subconscious person who experiences hypervigilance, called hypervigilant, constantly anticipates potential danger. Excessive caution makes hypervigilant people always feel and act as if there is always a threat around them.
This causes them to be very very sensitive to the environment and the people around them. As a result, their physical and mental conditions are always in high alert status, so they are ready to detect and respond to any danger situation.
Even though in fact, the danger is only in his mind or not real. They think it's real because their brains work overthinking aliases think of things excessively, so they overreact to any sensory signals that come from their senses.
So it is not impossible if this overly cautious attitude can cause a number of problems. Starting from emotional problems to oneself, it is difficult to interact with others, so it becomes difficult to think clearly.
What is the difference between hypervigilance and paranoid?
Looking at its definition at a glance, you might consider hypervigilance the same as paranoia. Someone who has hypervigilance may show some behavior that seems paranoid. Both are also accompanied by symptoms of excessive anxiety. This is because both paranoia and hypervigilance can be caused by the underlying PTSD trauma. Then, what's the difference?
The person who is hypervigilant is constantly alert and alert to potential hazards in the surrounding environment, but they are aware of their sensitivity and attitude. Someone who is hypervigilant can not be separated from reality and does not experience Flash back again experienced a traumatic event he experienced first.
Hypervigilants are very understanding and realize that there is actually no objective reason for them to feel scared or tense, but it is difficult to relax. They feel very excessive caution as a way of anticipating something bad happening in the future. That's why they are easily surprised when surprised by a loud noise or being poked by someone else.
Meanwhile, someone who is paranoid has a false and wrong belief (delusion) that there is something or people around him always intend to harm him. People who paranoia will not realize that they are experiencing paranoia and strongly believe that their imagination is real.
To conclude, paranoid people can show hypervigilant attitudes because they believe that something or someone out there intends to harm them at any time, especially now. While the person who is hypervigilant shows a high alert attitude because who knows there will be danger. They are not delusional, only have a higher alert in order to guard against something or someone who endangers you in the future.
What is the cause until someone can be overly alert?
Hypervigilance can be considered a relatively common experience, as a way of the brain to protect the body from danger. Most of the cases stem from mental health problems caused by past bad trauma, such as anxiety disorders, social phobia, and PTSD. Even so, hypervigilance can also accompany mental illnesses such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Apart from the various causes above, high alertness can also be triggered by:
- Having claustrophobia.
- The environment is too crowded.
- Startled by loud noises.
- Remember past trauma.
- Experiencing severe stress.
- Feel judged.
- Being physically hurt, etc.
In contrast, paranoid delusions can be a symptom in many mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and depression. Paranoia can also be present in people with dementia, delirium, and drugs.
What are the signs and symptoms of hypervirgilance?
There are several physical symptoms of hypervigilance, but most symptoms are signs of behavior.
Physical symptoms:
Physical symptoms are not always indicated by people with hypervirgilance. However, someone hypervigilant can experience:
- Enlarged pupils.
- Sweating profusely.
- Shallow and fast breathing; panting.
- Heart beat.
Behavioral symptoms
The excessive caution shown by hypervigilant people can be different from each other. But generally, hypervigilance causes a person to always feel anxious with signs:
- Check the environment around them often so it is difficult to focus on the conversation.
- Easy to be surprised and jump or scream at things they hear or see suddenly.
- Quickly react to things that are happening around them in ways that might seem excessive or unfriendly.
- Feeling an extraordinary noisy or noisy environment is very tiring.
- Always pay attention to the movements and characteristics of the people around as much as possible to see if they hold a weapon.
- Overthinking against one trivial situation.
- Like to overestimate the possibility of bad things, when in fact it is not as bad as imagined.
- Very sensitive / sensitive / easily offended by the tone of voice or expression of others; always put into the heart; consider it a personal issue
- It's hard to sleep well
A person who is hypervigilant is also easy to panic, full of fear, and always feels anxious. In addition, the mood of the sufferer is also easily changed and is enveloped in explosive emotions.
Gradually, this condition can make them feel very very tired.
Then, what is the treatment?
In general, the tendency for hypervigilance to recede itself over time. You can relieve this anxiety by trying to take a deep breath and throw it slowly until your body and mind are more relaxed. Doing the lightest things you like can also help manage stress so that you don't eat away at you.
But if your excessive alert attitude is so severe that it inhibits activity, it's good to consult a psychologist. Psychologists can encourage you to take behavioral and cognitive therapy (CBT therapy) to change your mindset to the trauma you have experienced before.
Doctors can also prescribe antidepressants; beta-blockers; anti-anxiety drugs, such as buspirone; or antipsychotic drugs for severe cases of hypervigilance.
