Life With Acute Stress Disorder

Experiencing stress is normal in a human’s life may it be physical, mental or emotional stress. Mild stress is considered to be healthy for an individual. We usually fight stress through our defense mechanisms; we learn from them and manage our emotions. However, too much stress may not be good to our mental health. For instance, experiencing an extremely traumatic event like serious accidents may lead to Acute Stress Disorder. This is described as development of severe anxiety and other symptoms after the exposure to the traumatic stressor. This usually lasts for 2 days (the minimum) and a maximum of one month after the traumatic event.

Patient will experience great anxiety after the traumatic event and that distress might be felt from the symptoms. These dissociative symptoms are response to the traumatic event that a person has experienced. A person may have a decrease in emotional responsiveness, may experience less pleasure in an activity they previously enjoy and may feel the guilt in continuing usual life tasks. These are just some of the acute stress disorder symptoms.

After an individual has been exposed to a seriously traumatic event, at least 3 specific acute stress disorder symptoms may be present to him. It may include difficulty in concentrating, feeling of detachment from their body, having problem with the reality, and having a dissociative amnesia (difficulty recalling things that happened during the traumatic event).

Persistent re-experience of the traumatic event may occur through flash backs, dreams, illusions and thoughts. This can greatly affect an individual’s social and occupational life and so necessary assistance should be given to the patient. The person experiencing the acute stress disorder symptoms may undergo a series of counseling and psychotherapy. Psychotherapy includes ways of coping with the anxiety symptoms in a time-limited way. It emphasizes more on the cognitive and behavioral assessments. For some serious cases of acute stress disorder, the counseling and psychotherapy can be combined with a pharmacotherapy where drugs such as antidepressants and benzodiazepines are used to alleviate the dissociative symptoms.

By: Emmanuel Villarosa

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