Acute Stress Disorder
Acute stress disorder is similar to posttraumatic stress disorder, except that it begins within 4 weeks of the traumatic event and lasts only 2 days to 4 weeks.
A person with acute stress disorder has been exposed to a terrifying event. The person mentally reexperiences the traumatic event, avoids things that remind him of it, and has increased anxiety. The person also has three or more of the following symptoms:
- A sense of numbing, detachment, or lack of emotional responsiveness
- Reduced awareness of surroundings (for example, being dazed)
- A feeling that things are not real
- A feeling that he himself is not real
- An inability to remember an important part of the traumatic event.
The number of people with acute stress disorder is unknown. The likelihood of developing acute stress disorder is greater when traumatic events are severe.
Treatment
Many people recover from acute stress disorder once they are removed from the traumatic situation and given appropriate support in the form of understanding, empathy for their distress, and an opportunity to describe what happened and their reaction to it. Some people benefit from describing their experience several times.
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