Is hypervigilance a mental disorder?

Hypervigilance can be a mental disorder, although most certainly not always.

Hyperawareness is related to anxiety. And anxiety is an emotion that’s a natural occurrence in some situations without affecting our daily lives. Think of situations such as feeling anxious before giving a presentation in front of a big crowd, or before playing an important match.

In those instances, I would say it’s normal to experience some degree of anxiety and nervousness, seeing as most folks feel like the stakes are high and experience some jitteriness as a result.

But in other instances, hypervigilance can be a mental disorder if the anxiety and thoughts you experience are so intense that they negatively impact your daily functioning.

Some individuals experience extreme anxiety and intrusive thoughts in every new situation they’re in. Think of popular examples, such as meeting new people at work, or in a social setting.

What triggers hypervigilance?

What causes hypervigilance is often, although not always, some form of trauma.

Think of people who have seen (and sometimes done) terrible things in combat, survived abuse, or suffer from PTSD. It’s possible that being in a stressful situation, or perceived nerve-wracking circumstance, triggers a strong, and out-of-control fight or flight response that’s out of proportion to the perceived threat.

Overanalyzing things and living too much in your own head rather than focusing your attention outwardly can also lead to hyperawareness. That’s why introverted personalities are probably more at risk of developing hyper-awareness compared to extroverts.

It’s thought that being hyper-aware is the result of a miscommunication between the amygdala and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, which are both located in the brain.

Hypervigilance can also be a symptom of other underlying health conditions such as fibromyalgia, sleep deprivation, anxiety, and schizophrenia.

How do you know if you have hypervigilance?

It can be hard to know if you have hypervigilance or not. Nevertheless, there are a multitude of symptoms that can help to diagnose hypervigilance.

Even though some of these symptoms such as anger, and being distracted from essential tasks can naturally occur on their own without ever suffering from hyperawareness, they can help to make a diagnosis.

But, for people to be diagnosed with this disorder, it needs to inhibit their daily functioning, while experiencing a great amount of anxiety that’s disproportionate to the perceived threat.

Possible hypervigilance symptoms include:

• Anxiety
• Intrusive thoughts
• Jumpiness
• Being preoccupied with the environment and constantly scanning the surroundings
• Being distracted from important tasks
• Anger
• Being annoyed
• The proclivity to argue with others
• Paranoia
• Feelings of helplessness
• Depression
• Isolation
• Dependence on others
• Changes in appetite
• Sleep disturbance
• Exhaustion

Does hypervigilance ever go away?

Your hypervigilance may go away with the right treatment, but in some instances, it can also be realistic that you will have to learn to deal with and live with it.

I would say that in most cases, it’s treatable and curable if you’re willing to put in the time, work hard, and be smart.

If being hyper-aware was the result of another underlying issue, such as being sleep-deprived, or schizophrenia, then solving these issues entirely or getting them under control will probably eliminate or greatly reduce your hyperawareness.

Other ways to get rid of hypervigilance include:

1. Distracting yourself
2. Focusing extrinsically
3. Learning to control your thoughts
4. Exposure therapy to the things you’re afraid of

Distracting yourself

Distracting yourself prevents you from having ample time that you’d probably end up spending thinking about those things you’re hypervigilant about.

It staves off the intrusive thoughts that can be so detrimental to your daily functioning by preventing you from being stuck in your head.

Focusing extrinsically

Focus extrinsically rather than intrinsically to prevent intrusive thoughts.

What I mean by that is that you should give more attention to the outside world, what other people are doing and saying, instead of being too much in your head and constantly analyzing things.

Ultimately, hyper-awareness is the result of thinking too much. And you can’t think too much if you’re busy truly listening to those around you and living in the moment.

Controlling your thoughts

Learning to control the thoughts that enter your mind is important as well.

If you try to focus on the positives in life, then chances are large you’ll see the positives rather than all the negatives. This means that more optimistic thinking will enter your mind rather than pessimistic ones.

Of course, negative thoughts such as the things you’re overly aware of will still enter your mind from time to time. But instead of giving those negative thoughts attention, which allows them to grow larger and stronger, disregard them as meaningless imaginations to make them powerless or at least less influential.

Exposure therapy

Exposure therapy can make you less likely to suffer from being hyper-aware since you become braver, and the things you were afraid about lose their power over time since you notice that you can handle said nerve-racking situations.

Let’s use being hypervigilant about elevators, for example. Exposure therapy would gradually build up the exposure to the elevator to prevent you from getting overwhelmed.

A possible exposure therapy could look like the following:

• Look at a picture of an elevator
• Look at an elevator from a 5-meter distance
• Look at an elevator from a 1-meter distance
• Step inside an elevator, but don’t use it
• Step inside an elevator, and use it

As we can see, the process is gradual. This lets the person get used to exposing themselves step by step to what they’re overly conscious about without going over their limit.

Exposure therapy is adjusted to each person individually. An appropriate exposure therapy that works for you might not be efficient for me.

How are hypervigilance and PTSD related?

Enduring chronic hypervigilance is a common occurrence in those suffering from PTSD. That’s because being hypervigilant is closely related to trauma in addition to a perceived threat.

Let me give an example to clear things up. Soldiers who have been at war, and who have done and seen terrible things have suffered intense psychological pain.

They’re probably also very perceptive and on high alert regarding external threats, so they don’t get hurt, or killed in the war.

That’s how trauma and threats can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder.

How are hypervigilance and ADHD related?

Individuals who are diagnosed with ADHD are typically inclined to scan situations and their environment very rapidly. They search for clues to draw their conclusions.

However, they frequently reach their assumptions based on a few details rather than looking at the big picture and gathering more evidence. This can cause them to wrongly perceive, and judge, the situation.

Their capacity to engage in problem-solving behavior, think logically, and respond fittingly is frequently decreased since they’re constantly looking for information and searching for threats.

Hypervigilance and OCD

People who are suffering from OCD possess an extravagant sensation of paranoia and danger to perceived threats.

They tend to have unwanted neurotic thoughts, in addition to repetitive behaviors over their obsession. This can be over just one particular thing, and sometimes regarding multiple obsessions.

That means that their mind is constantly working in overdrive. They’re constantly scanning their environment for potential threats all the time. This often creates a continuous sense of fear and anxiety.

Hypervigilance in relationships