It is natural for us to experience all sorts of emotions. They help us adapt to our environment and are important for our survival. Fear, for example, is important to prevent injury, whereas anger gives us the energy to respond to a threat or compete for limited resources.

Military training prepares you for action – to be 'switched on', and to channel fear into action and to fight. On operations, to 'switch off' could have meant death or serious injury for you or your buddies. To be 'sparking', on edge and high alert, may well have saved lives. It is understandable therefore, that it would be difficult to turn the threat dial down after leaving the military, even though the threat level is no longer the same.

If your threat dial has remained high, you might be finding that your physical and mental health are suffering. However, you have reached this page and shown that you are committed to changing things, which is the first step to turning that dial down. Read on and try out the strategies and tips that will help you to retrain your threat response to be suitable for civilian life.