Veterans Find Solutions to PTSD-Driven Hypervigilance
3 minute read
Veterans Find Solutions to PTSD-Driven Hypervigilance
3 minute read
Connor wasn’t the same when he came back from his deployment as an Air Force combat controller in Afghanistan. Experiencing symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), he found it hard to relax. He became short-tempered. Loud noises triggered his sense of danger.
“Definitely, I had some mental scars,” Connor says. But the feelings he was experiencing are not uncommon for Veterans. These feelings often are described as “feeling on edge.”
What does it mean to feel on edge?
Feeling on edge is also called hypervigilance, a symptom frequently connected to PTSD and experienced by some Veterans who have returned from a combat zone or experienced other traumatic events during service. The symptom is defined as a state of being on very high alert to possible risks or threats.
Sometimes certain sights or sounds can trigger these feelings, like they did for Connor.
“If I was, like, driving down the street and I heard a big bang, it kind of brought me back to that feeling of either getting shot at or an IED going off,” Connor says.
But there isn’t always a trigger. The feeling can be nearly constant. Here’s how some other Veterans describe the feeling and how it affected them in daily life:
“I’m walking through campus, and I just can’t stop looking at everyone around me,” says Fernando, an Army Veteran who served in Iraq and often fought off ambushes in Fallujah. “I want to see their hands. I want to see their facial expressions. I’m looking at windows and rooftops. I just did not feel safe.”
“When I would go to a restaurant or someplace, I’m always watching a door. I would never let anyone walk behind me,” says Brennae, an Air Force Veteran who survived numerous rocket attacks during her service in Afghanistan.
“I would go through a crowd in any city. I would list everybody that I saw in order of who’s the most dangerous. I would figure out ways how to kill people if they got too close to me,” says Sean, an Army Veteran who endured daily attacks in Iraq.
How can Veterans ease their hypervigilance and other symptoms of PTSD?
Fortunately, there are ways for Veterans to feel less on edge and cope with other symptoms of their trauma. These treatments include, but are not limited to, the following:
Cognitive behavioral therapy. CBT helps you identify negative thoughts associated with your trauma, like thinking that the world is very dangerous. Changing how you think about the trauma can help change how you feel.
Prolonged exposure therapy. In PE therapy, you repeatedly expose yourself to the thoughts, feelings, and situations that remind you of the trauma, and you learn ways to control your response.
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy. EMDR helps you process upsetting memories, thoughts, and feelings by focusing on specific sounds or movements while talking about the trauma. Over time, you can change how you react to the memories.
There is no one-size-fits-all option. Sean, for example, discovered art therapy through a Vet Center visit and credits it for his turnaround. Medications also can help. But no matter what treatment a Veteran uses, seeking help is the critical first step, as Connor recounts:
“I needed to just go to somebody to talk to, to help, to find out what direction I can go to, to not hurt people that are around me,” Connor says. Now he’s learned breathing techniques, meditation, and other coping mechanisms to manage his reactions.
“I go back to those whenever I start feeling high sets of stress just to calm myself down,” he says. “I still use these tools all the time.”
