web.archive.org (no paywall)
Every summer I repost this article on how to spot drowning. Please read it and pass on. In the last few years I’ve had SIX messages from people who saved a kid’s life after clicking on the link from my feed.
web.archive.org (no paywall)
Every summer I repost this article on how to spot drowning. Please read it and pass on. In the last few years I’ve had SIX messages from people who saved a kid’s life after clicking on the link from my feed.
Some people have more or less. I happen to have a LOT of it, at least in the context I work (inpatient psychiatry, violence deescalation). I’ve also noticed it occasionally happen at other times like one time my foot had the brake pedal flat on the floor for a full half second before I was able to consciously recognize the deer eyes on the side of the road. Sometimes the feeling just hits and I have to trust it or else.
From seeing which of my coworkers have or don’t have it here’s some observations. It’s partially innate / genetic, but very much affected by especially childhood environment (but other significant life experiences can sometimes strengthen it, few things actually weaken it but trauma can certainly make it more erratic). Overall, the kids who had to learn to hide for whatever reason as a kid have the strongest sense of it.
That said, the one important thing you can do to strengthen and more importantly tune that sense is to think about it and think about why you got that feeling. Even if you’re out of the immediate situation walk it back in your head. When you visualize it can you (mentally) point to a physical spot on the person or thing? You might realize you saw their fists clench or that you didn’t like their facial expression or that you saw them glance at the knife block. Was there a specific point in time you felt your adrenaline spike? Was everything fine but you got nervous when they mentioned going to a party? And the last question I like to ask is what was the worst case scenario you were picturing? When they talked about going to the party did you suddenly think about them drinking again?
Even if that moment seemed like a huge overreaction from your brain (and maybe it was!) but the human brain is a very powerful prediction engine and even if it was ultimately an overreaction / catastrophizing it’s worth examining what caused your brain to have a reaction at all because even if maybe it wasn’t worth all that maybe it’s still something you should still act on just in a more controlled manner.
Very interesting and credible. I recognise the hypervigilance part, and it sounds like there’s some practice/training as well as “instinct” in there too.