Have you ever focused on stopping the hypervigilance? I mean by finding yourself anticipating and then focusing on that with self talk and self soothing?

yes I tell myself I am safe but I dont believe it - I say I can do this - I can survive this

You can't just switch it off. You stop the automatic responses with focused work on what is being triggered.

For you to recognize what was triggered by those police cars is pretty good. How did you handle the trigger? How did it go?

I didnt realise it was a trigger - I got very anxious and wanted to run - I felt like crying (i dont) and I was afraid for no reason

I didnt run away - I stood looking at the police cars tryng to figure out why I was upset - couldnt pin it down till now - then I came up and watched them from my balcony - just the cars - no-one was around - then I put a dvd on to distract myself - that finished and I felt lost so I came here .. then realised it was about being chased by the guy and the guys that tried to break in once while i was sleeping - so I identified the triggers - so yes I got through the trigger and survived - its just left me incredibly sad - I suppose it just adds on to other stuff.. so yes sad is appropriate at this time - thankyou Sannah

So each paragragh here addresses 3 different things going on -
1) hypervigilance and anticipatory anxiety
2) working on the stuff that is being triggered
3) surviving the triggers in the present