Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) is a psychiatric illness that could occur within the first month of a trauma occurrence. The symptoms of this disorder often last from three days to a month if exposed to other traumatic events.
Individuals with this disorder might also experience a great deal of guilt as to not being able to prevent the incident or not being able to move on fast enough from the trauma.
Panic attacks are generally common in the month of the relevant trauma.
When experiencing Acute Stress Disorder, the events affect an individual in a way that creates fear, horror, and helplessness in a way that is incredibly intense.
The development of the symptoms for this illness often get triggered if an individual has seen an event involving
- Death.
- Death threats to oneself or other people.
- Serious injury to oneself or other people.
- Physical violence or threat of physical integrity of oneself or others.
Who is at risk of experiencing Acute Stress Disorder?
Pretty much any person can develop this disorder post traumatic event. There could be an increase in the risk of developing Acute Stress Disorder if:
- The individual has gone through or experienced a traumatic event in the past.
- The individual has a history of ASD or PTSD.
- The individual has specific other mental health issues.
- The individual has a history of symptoms of dissociation during events of trauma.
There are five categories in which the symptoms of ASD fall into and include:
• Intrusion symptoms.
This symptom category includes involuntary and intrusive memories of the distressing traumatic event and could consist of recurring dreams.
• Negative Mood.
The inability to experience love or happiness would be persistent.
• Dissociative symptoms.
Episodes such as time being slowed down and seeing oneself from the perspective of an outsider could be experienced.
• Avoidance symptoms.
Places, people, memories, feelings, and thoughts that were associated with the traumatic event would all be avoided by the individual.
• Arousal symptoms.
The individual would experience difficulty in falling asleep or being awake, behavior would be irritable, and would have concentration problems.
How can Acute Stress Disorder be diagnosed?
When seeing a specialist for something as delicate as this disorder, specific questions would be asked regarding the traumatic event and the symptoms. It is incredibly essential to rule out certain cases such as:
- Abuse of drugs.
- Medication side effects.
- Problems with the health of the person
- Other mental health disorders.
Silver Lining Psychiatry is a Psychiatrist firm based in Orlando, Florida.
SLP provides exceptional behavioral healthcare for adults, adolescents, and geriatric population in the Orlando Metro area.
Here at SLP, we want our clients to feel at their most comfortable level so that our expert personnel can help clients in the best way we can.
Through psychiatric evaluations and medication management, our Psychiatrists and staff here at Silver Lining are committed to offering an outstanding mental healthcare experience.
We understand that each patient is a unique individual who requires a personalized, effective treatment plan that is beneficial towards their health and personal goals.
