thedeafavenger:

Let’s talk about hypervigilance!

So after I wrote my post about writing characters with PTSD who experience flashbacks, I kept thinking about portrayals of PTSD and things I often find lacking or underdeveloped, and on the list is hypervigilance. This is based on my own experiences, the experiences of people with PTSD I’ve talked to, and things my therapists (and their many many flyers) have told me.

Hypervigilance is a state of being some people with PTSD experience which is primarily based around the need to stay aware of your surroundings in an attempt to notice threats and prevent your trauma from reoccurring.

If you’re experiencing hypervigilance, you might:

• Have a very noticeable startle response, which may make people intentionally try to startle you because they think it’s funny to watch you flinch and/or panic. (tip: if someone startles easily or flinches when you touch them, maybe try not doing that)
• Need to orient yourself with your back to a wall so you can see the entire room. People with hypervigilance often need to know what’s going on around them, and will pick the best vantage point they can.
• Be near an exit/have multiple exit strategies. The hallmark of a traumatic event is being stuck in an extremely painful or life threatening situation and not being able to leave. Therefore, people who are hypervigilant especially, who are actively trying to avoid repeating traumatic situations, will often make sure they have at least one escape plan. Often, contingency plans have contingencies.
• Frequently physically be in fight-flight-freeze mode, people with hypervigilance often exist in a state of arousal, with elevated heartbeats, sweat, and anxiety. This is especially noticeable when put in a new environment and can make it hard to focus on anything but trying to stay safe.
• Have trouble sleeping, hypervigilant folk often have trouble shutting down their minds enough to sleep, especially if they have nightmares because that makes sleep feel threatening too.
• Have shifting eyes/split concentration, when you’re hypervigilant, you are constantly looking for danger. As such, I’ve found at least that my concentration is always split between what’s going on and the hunt for threats. I have trouble looking at people sometimes because I need to be looking for the danger. People therefore have told me I look like I’m lying because we associate “shifty” eyes with lying in popular culture. It also can make it harder for you to stay on task or participate in conversations.

But there’s good news! Hypervigilance can be improved by treating PTSD, but specifically through mediation and yoga! Now, I know we have that “telling me to exercise is bullshit, this will never help” mentality sometimes, but it actually has been shown to help, even though it’s very hard especially at first. In fact, heart math, which is sort of a type of mediation, is the very first thing my therapist had me try for PTSD. So for characters, especially with hypervigilance, who are in therapy, mentioning that would be a good little sidenote to add realism instead of just going with talk therapy as the only kind of therapy they receive!

I have several more of these that I’m going to write, because a couple people messaged that they found the first one helpful, and I see a lot of characters with PTSD. However, if you have questions, I’m always here to talk about it! I love seeing portrayals of PTSD, but I worry a lot about potential consequences of under-researched PTSD written by people who don’t have PTSD.