Does anyone know what the term "vigilance" refers to as far as its precise medical definition?

I have read that there are two components to being awake, one being general wakefulness (the state of being awake and not sleeping), and the second being "vigilance", and that modafinil seems to increase "vigilance". I know the dictionary definitions, basically attentive watchfulness, but I am wondering, with regard to ADD-type symptoms, would increased "vigilance" refer to an increase in self-watchfulness, like self-monitoring and self-regulation?

Thanks to anyone who can offer some clarification.

I would think maybe it means to keep yourself awake to the effects and watch for the ways the drug is working with you. I'm not linguist and I'm not a medical guy in any way, but that's my guess at any rate.
Cheers!

"The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48"
Vigilance Vig"i*lance, n. L. vigilantia: cf. F. vigilance.
1. The quality or state of being vigilant; forbearance of
sleep; wakefulness.
1913 Webster

2. Watchfulness in respect of danger; care; caution;
circumspection. --Cowper.
1913 Webster

And flaming ministers to watch and tend
Their earthly charge; of these the vigilance
I dread. --Milton.
1913 Webster

3. Guard; watch. Obs. "In at this gate none pass the
vigilance here placed." --Milton.
1913 Webster



Vigilance committee, a volunteer committee of citizens for
the oversight and protection of any interest, esp. one
organized for the summary suppression and punishment of
crime, as when the processes of law appear inadequate.
1913 Webster

I had suffered from PTSD and one of the symptoms is hypervigilance which I think comes pretty close to general anxiety. To be hypervigilant you are super aware or supersensitive to your surroundings. Vigilance would be just a little less than this :D

Live and learn. Thanks Fly Away.

Hmm, thanks Fly Away. I guess that sounds about right.

I thought of another way to describe hypervigilance. Think of how a wild prey animal acts when it is out in the open- easily startled, on high alert, jumpy, reactive....okay you get the idea! After I went thru the PTSD I felt more sympathy for prey animals because I figured I knew how they felt all the time. Glad thats over with! Maybe vigilance would be more like the hunter- super alert but not frightened??


I hope I didn't scare you away from something you are considering. It may be that being vigilant is a good thing! Hypervigilant may be too much of a good thing.

Oh no Fly Away, you didn't scare me away at all! It sounds to me like vigilance as a medical term can basically be summed up as "attunement to surroundings". When I think of it this way, I think this is exactly what I need. I experience my ADD as a kind of la-la land, I spend far too much of my time "tuned out" of my surrounding environment. (Although I have my moments of hyperactive impulses, too.) Sure, hypervigilance is not good either-- what you were going through with PTSD sounds awful. But too little attunement to one's relationship to the surrounding context is also a problem. And that seems to be my problem. So, you have only further encouraged me to see a new pscyh and ask for modafinil. Thanks for the help!

i suffer from hypervigilance for a number of reasons, all i can tell you is that a foolish nod to the notion that i'm just too paranoid: a night when i told my husband- yeah its ok if we leave our bedroom windows open, left me completely paralyzed with fear...i couldn't go to sleep b/c i kept on thinking that if something happened to my family b/c i decided to be selfish and leave my windows open to feel the breeze- i didn't want to contemplate that so i ask like a total freak every night..
did you lock all the windows?
is the garage door shut?
is the inner door to the garage shut?
is the lock on our sliding glass doors going to be enough?
what about that my child looked out the window at night?
this stuff just haunts me...i think being abused as a child has forever
left me with this mark. i'm forever going to be striving to never let
my child from straying from me in public,
from leaving my child for a split second in my car...
i sweat when i think of my father in laws cavalier attitudes about
six year olds riding bikes by themselves through neighborhoods
i just can't stop it!!!
i'm afraid of the dark..same thing...but i'm always wondering if a door was
left open...its not some kind of compulsive disorder, i was attacked in my sleep before when i was a teenager and i just can't shake those feelings..
if i see anyone that looks remotely like my attacker i run in the opposite direction
with anything that grips my heart my mind goes wildly in overdrive scrambling with
any useless fodder of protection...i try not to let it leak out too much
i don't talk about it much with other ppl..but when i heard my son's grandfather state 'you just can't physically keep up with a six year old' and pretty much who cares if my son rides his bike unsupervised in his neighborhood? i almost had a heartattack. ..i so don't want to rock that boat but i could almost scream bloody murder at this man!!!

Wow, that sounds terrible. It sounds like you are also suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Perhaps it would help if Fly Away could tell you how she got through her PTSD? I hope this is not something that you have to live with for the rest of your life, fwcomboadhd.

One thing I learned is that traumatic memories are stored differently in your brain that normal memories. Its a survival mechanism but it makes day to day living tough sometimes because your nervous system is always on the look out for the next disaster but your head wants you to block it out because the emotions surrounding the original trauma were too much to deal with. In order to cope your mind blocks out what your body won't let you forget. It becauses a vicous cycle but you CAN work thru it. The key is to change the 'file' the memories are in from traumatic to normal. Thats not to say you minimize what happened in the first place. You can refile it by processing thru the memory with the help of a good therapist. It can be done and you will open up parts of yourself that you've shut down in order to protect yourself.


I am sorry you've had to go thru this. It is misery, I know.

Take care,

Fly Away that sounds very much in sync with something I was reading about memory in a friend's bio textbook the other day. F_W comboADHD, are you doing anything to work through these memories and refile them as Fly Awat has suggested? Would you know where to go for help with this?