Hypervigilance and How to Overcome It

Hypervigilance is a term psychologists use to refer to those among us who are locked into a state of almost continuous wariness, rumination and compulsive anxiety. By understanding more about the condition, we can take steps to mitigate its worst effects, gradually moving ourselves from hyper to more ordinary varieties of vigilance.

FURTHER READING

“We would not have been able to survive so long if we were not able, at points, to get very worried indeed; if we didn’t possess a native genius for flooding our minds, at astonishing speed, with a cocktail of the most intense and panicky hormones our bodies can secrete...”

MORE SCHOOL OF LIFE

Watch more films on SELF in our playlist:

SOCIAL MEDIA

Feel free to follow us at the links below:

CREDITS

Produced in collaboration with:
Tomás Pichardo-Espaillat

[sho.me.spring]

I have PTSD and one of the symptoms is hypervigilance. The best way I could explain it to people is like when you see a spider in your room and then it disappears and you have no idea where it is, so you have that extremely uneasy feeling and are super jumpy and unable to relax/feel safe. Hypervigilance is like that, but all the time over everything.

[BethanyHarbaugh]

I have super high hypervigilance, more than my therapist has really seen in a lot of people. It came from having to grow up in a home where I had to think of everyone else before myself. We were a stressed out family due to one child having mental illness early on, and I became the 'good child' to ease the strain. I became hypervigilant in detecting people's emotions and doing whatever possible to prevent hurt and ensure happiness...to the point that I now feel guilt over resting or needing help because of my physical disabilities. I'm working with a therapist to learn how to actually relax, and it's slowly getting there. It'll take a while to undo a lifetime's worth of trauma.

[Jesus_is_Lord]

"We can worry when we need to, not just because we exist"

-School of life

[joelarama]

I’m crying. It’s me, all about me and now I have answers. I feel hopeful again. Thank you, thank you.

[ripplecatproductions]

Please thank the animators that was amazing. It enhanced what was being said beautifully and was so fluid and perpetual. To even come up with a concept to show "worry" visually let alone execute, and for it to look sooo simple. Hats off xxxx

[Outlawsrevenge]

I was emotionally abused as a child, by one of my parents. The other parent was extremely kind and loving and made me feel safe. I have PTSD and I still get flashbacks. For me hypervigilence is waking up in a panic from a deep sleep because I heard a loud noise outside, and I can't stop shaking. I'm 35 years old and I don't feel safe ever. I feel like something is always going to come along and pull the rug out from under me and tear my life apart. But I'm beginning to have the confidence that whatever comes along I can handle. Goodluck and sleep well.

[supervincent_]

Hypervigilance gets the best of me. I live alone in my unit, and whenever I hear a strange noise like a scratch or thump, I feel like someone's gonna murder me. another case is when I hear people laughing or talking loudly, I feel like it's about me being up to no good. Also, I have a compulsive habit of checking the outside of my house from the windows, esp. at night to check if there's a terrorist or something. funny, right? but it's true.

[LaTaeviaTanae]

I literally called my fiancé home from work because I thought someone was breaking in our apartment. I’m 19 and i was abused almost my whole life. I just found this video and it made me cry. Thank you so much for making me feel like I’m not alone.

[Luxbecca]

It is so incredible. School of Life always manages to put my deepest feelings into words. I didn't know hypervigilancy even existed, but it sounds so much how I feel. Especially the first part. Waking up terrified, spending the whole day in toned down dread and it being so exhausting you wish for all of it to just be... Over. Thank you, School of Life. Finally I at least have a name. And giving the monster a face helps in the first steps of getting better...

[ChristianBillionaireKanye]

I have lived with hypervigilance for the past five years of my life and I can say that it is both a blessing and a curse, a curse in the sense that my exaggerated awareness helps me be more attentive in my professional domain as I tend to grasp upon every detail of my work, but in the destructive sense, I am in constant evaluation of my behavior and speech, the thing which restrains me from being totally natural. I think that hypervigilance as ptsd is one of the worst traumatic repercussions possible because when nothing feels worse than having your own self and nature repressed!

[shaeholden]

This was so helpful. I'm learning to be kind to myself after a diagnosis of CPTSD from narcissistic abuse. Thank you for this information.

[eliskawilliams]

i would love a video about a fear of “growing up.” your target audience is most likely made up of adults, but this would help any teenagers like me. i have intense fears about living a life which i sustain for myself, and giving away my already minimal autonomy in an endless persuit of working until i die.

[nishanabul]

This man who is narrating has no idea how soothing his words wisdom and voice are !!

[MrMochiDochi]

love it, this speaks to me on a personal level. “we can worry when we need to, not just because we exist”

[unleashingpotential-psycho]

Great point about our need to forgive ourselves! I think one of the hardest things to do in life is to forgive ourself and to forgive others for what has been done. The thing though is that we must forgive in order to be able to move on with our own lives.

[avalonmist]

Being hypervigelant at this time on the planet add society isolating and me being alone constantly. That is a normal stance to take I'm not paranoid I'm cautious. Point: anyone feeling this way don't shame yourself instead managing the potential for danger and attempting to basically fend for yourself with disciplining oneself to at least sleep! Is a worthy goal

[frankwess]

I had extreme hypervigilance but now it's mild 90% of the time because I've been taking medication. I tried everything from extreme exercise, eatting well sleeping well and nothing worked, but now I'm taking Zoloft. It's melow and I love it.

[cynthiajohnson]

I guess at some point I just broke. And from that point on I said, fuck it! Come what may it can't be worse than living in perpetual fear. So I just decided, as an experiment, to just give up the fear. Live the way I want to live and deal with whatever comes as best I can. So far so good. As I said, realizing that nothing is worse than constant, gnawing, soul-sucking anxiety is very freeing!

[salazars.]

Many people joke about this, or misunderstand this as "anxiety". Hypervigilance is a bit more dreadful as it is often linked to certain mental disorders and is only a symptom of something far more complex and hard to understand.

[Brenda-ufpk]

Something in need to work on. This hypervigilence is exhausting I ever knew I was panicked all the time but now I can least be aware of it. So helpful