Hypervigilance
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Hypervigilance is an enhanced state of sensory sensitivity accompanied by an exaggerated intensity of behaviors whose purpose is to detect threats. For example, a driver who has previously been involved in a car accident may devote so much attention to road conditions and other cars on the road, that he or she does not hear an accompanying passenger while driving. Hypervigilance is a state of anxiety that often leads quickly to exhaustion.
Simply put, hypervigilance is a way to describe a person in a state of fight-or-flight.
It is a symptom of a number of stress-related disorders. See for example :
- Post-traumatic stress disorder,
- Combat stress reaction,
- Urban survival syndrome,
- Mean World Syndrome
It is manifested in victims of domestic violence and stalking. It is also seen as an aspect of the psychological condition of codependence, and as needing treatment in victims of torture.
Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
