Are You Hypervigilant?

Hypervigilance is commonly associated with combat veterans or survivors of acute trauma, but Patrick Teahan, MSW expands this definition to include a much larger group: adults who grew up in toxic family systems. For childhood trauma survivors, hypervigilance isn't just about scanning for physical danger — it's a deeply ingrained pattern of monitoring ourselves and others for signs of rejection, disapproval, or emotional threat that runs constantly in the background like a phone's data connection.

Patrick uses a relatable analogy to illustrate how childhood hypervigilance works. Like a cell phone constantly scanning for Wi-Fi signals and exchanging data, our inner child is perpetually scanning for information about whether we're safe, lovable, or in trouble. The key difference is that while a phone transmits data accurately, the inner child often misreads situations — interpreting a partner's bad mood as personal rejection or reading a neutral email from a boss as evidence that we're about to be fired.

The video breaks hypervigilance into three categories that help viewers identify their own patterns. The first is hypervigilance about self — constantly worrying about causing feelings in others, making mistakes, or coming across wrong. The second is hypervigilance about others — reading into whether people like us, are angry with us, or are about to abandon us. The third and most common category is a combination of both, where survivors are simultaneously monitoring their own behavior and scanning others for signs of danger.

Patrick connects these patterns directly to childhood experiences, encouraging viewers to trace their hypervigilant responses back to specific dynamics in their family of origin. A parent who personalized everything and made the child responsible for adult emotions may produce hypervigilance about self. A parent whose mood swings were unpredictable may create hypervigilance about others. Understanding the roots of these patterns is the first step toward recognizing them in daily life and beginning the process of recovery.

The video includes a 20-question self-assessment questionnaire designed to help viewers measure the frequency and focus of their hypervigilant tendencies. Rather than serving as a clinical diagnosis, the questionnaire is a reflective tool that invites childhood trauma survivors to explore their own reactivity and begin connecting present-day responses to past experiences in their family system.