[pax]

pepe1,

Tachypsychia is neither good nor bad. It simply happens.

Tachypsychia can be bad if you do not expect it and do not know how to deal with it, because it can be a serious distraction that keeps you from focusing on doing whatever you need to do in order to survive.

On the other hand, tachypsychia can save your life, because it is the perceptual manifestation of the fact that you're thinking very, very quickly. It is often helpful to be able to think quickly when bad stuff is happening!

Tachypsychia, the speeded-up mind and its associated perceptual time distortion, is only part of the body alarm reaction ("adrenalin dump"), a survival response common to all mammals. Other aspects of the same phenomena include increased strength, increased speed, increased heart rate and breathing rate, blood rushing to the core of the body and leaving the extremities ("his face just went white with fear"), and so on. Tunnel vision and auditory exclusion can happen too -- both of which focus your mind and your senses very sharply on the perceived threat as your brain tunes out all other possible distractions. Each of these specific aspects of the body alarm reaction can help people survive in extreme situations.

These same reactions can also get you killed if you aren't prepared for them to happen, or don't know how to cope with them, causing you to get distracted by them or even spend your energy fighting against them instead of focusing on doing what you need to do. But your body is designed to respond that way under life-threatening stress simply because the increased speed, increased strength, attentional focus and so on all help people to survive in such situations.

Although these reactions don't happen to everyone, a significant percentage of people who've been through life-threatening events report experiencing one of the above symptoms or some other response which is closely related to them.

Bottom line? They might not happen to you, but it's a good idea to know that they could happen. Being aware of the possibility means you are less likely to be dangeorusly distracted by them if they do happen to you.

pax