Hypervigilance is an intense emotional and cognitive state. In this state, a person is scanning his or her environment and attempting to process information quickly.

Depending on the individual, a person may be more inclined to scan and be hyper-responsive to:

• visual cues or triggers in the environment
• sounds around them
• the emotional states of those around them (often referred to as an empath)

It is a highly enhanced state of sensory arousal that usually leads to sensitivity.

When a person develops a sensitivity, he or she will begin to change behaviors to adapt and cope with the exhaustion of hypervigilance. This may lead to avoidant coping strategies or an exaggerated emotional response to a facial expression, smell, sound, personality type, or communication style. Really, anything that unconsciously or consciously triggers a past fear or negative experience.

Hypervigilance develops as an adaptive cognitive strength in order to detect threatening activity in the environment. Co-existing conditions often include an anxiety disorder or a history of trauma.

Most people report uncertainty is the biggest trigger for hypervigilance.

We’d love to help you change this pattern.