Acute Stress Disorder

What is it?

What is Acute Stress Disorder?

Acute stress disorder can occur after a person has experienced, witnessed or been confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of the person or others.

Disturbing memories of the traumatic event cause an emotional reaction and a sense of reliving the event.

Symptoms start to appear within one month of the traumatic event. Symptoms that occur after a longer period may mean the person has developed posttraumatic stress disorder.

Symptoms

Signs and Symptoms

Cognitive signs may include thoughts such as:

“I’m going to be trapped and die in a car crash.”
“I’ve escaped being killed once—I won’t be so lucky a second time!”
“The world is not safe.”

Physical symptoms include:

restlessness, difficulty sleeping and concentrating
exaggerated startle response
feeling tense and on edge and/or numb.

Behavioural symptoms include:

avoidance of situations that arouse recollections of trauma
intense emotional reaction or absence of emotional responsiveness.

Causes & risk factors

It is not known exactly why some people who witness or experience traumatic events develop acute stress disorder, while others do not. Research suggests that a number of factors may be involved. Like most mental health problems, acute stress disorder appears to be caused by a combination of biological and psychological factors and challenging life experiences.