Recently I’ve been struggling with my anxiety. I have been diagnosed wi I think it is due to stress from a new job/lack of sleep from a new work schedule. But there’s more to it than what I initially realized. I’ve started researching a lot lately about my feelings and reactions to certain situations. For example when I’m in the public, I feel on edge, not that I don’t feel comfortable being around a large number of people, but that I am always scanning the area for a threat or bad situation. So I dug into paranoia, because I believe there are times I get a little paranoid, like if I see a unusual car pass by my house several times in a short period of time at night. Or if I think I catch someone looking at me in public. But the more I have researched i came across hypervigilance. And it almost fits me to a tee. Im always scanning my surroundings for per say “threats” and am always looking for an out in a situation I deem possibly “dangerous.” It has been so bad to the point where if I see someone doing something I think is suspicious and I am with my family, I keep to myself and seriously almost have a panic attack, because I want to get out of harms way. I mean it is BAD, I am scanning cars around me in traffic at stoplights, people walking on sidewalks etc. 

My thing is where did this come from, I have no source of PTSD that I know of. I also have no trauma I deal with. Can anxiety feed being hypervigilance or vice versa? Any advice is greatly appreciated.