Many people with acute stress disorder do not seek treatment because their ability to complete and perform important tasks is hindered by the symptoms of the condition. Obtaining treatment as soon as possible following a traumatic event is important and is shown to help decrease the likelihood of developing posttraumatic stress disorder. Without proper treatment, the trauma that caused acute stress disorder can interrupt a patient’s system of meanings and beliefs, disrupt interpersonal relationships, interfere with normal functioning, and even create long term PTSD.
Psychotherapy is the most common form of treatment for acute stress disorder, and it can be highly effective. Behavioral therapy focuses on changing the ways of thinking that develop after a trauma, including the way the individual responds to anxiety provoking situations. Behavioral therapy is an important part of treating acute stress disorder, but it is important that the patient has had enough time to shed some of the initial anxiety that follows a trauma in order to ensure that they are able to absorb the information. Psychoeducational therapy can also be very effective, as it combines exposure techniques, anxiety management, and the restructuring of thought patterns to help reduce acute stress disorder symptoms.
Group and family therapies can also be very effective for patients with acute stress disorder. Group therapy offers a safe setting where other trauma survivors can come together to share their feelings and experiences. It helps to ward off social isolation, which many trauma survivors have a tendency towards, especially in the period immediately following a traumatic event. With family therapy, loved ones are given the chance to understand what a family member has experienced and is feeling, as well as the chance to share their own feelings and to learn how everyone can better communicate and interact throughout the healing process.
Summary
Acute stress disorder is very similar to post traumatic stress disorder in many ways. In fact, in about 80% of cases of acute stress disorder, PTSD develops over time. Prompt and proper treatment of acute stress disorder offers patients the best chance of not developing PTSD, which is why it is so important. If you or someone you know might have acute stress disorder, seeking treatment as soon as possible is crucial.
Could I Have Acute Stress Disorder?
Looking for signs of acute stress disorder in the hours and days following a trauma is very important. The questions here are not meant to help you diagnose yourself, but instead to help you know if you should speak with your doctor or mental health professional about acute stress disorder.
Have you experienced or witnessed an event that involved actual death or serious injury or the threat of it?
Did your response to this traumatic event involve intense fear, helplessness, or horror?
If both of those are true, then consider the following:
During or after the trauma, have you experienced any of the following symptoms:
- A subjective sense of detachment or numbing or the absence of emotional responsiveness
- Reduced awareness of your surroundings
- Derealization, or the feeling that things around you are not real
- Depersonalization, or a feeling of detachment from yourself and your consciousness
- Dissociative amnesia, or forgetting important things about the traumatic event
If you experienced three or more of these symptoms, consider also the following:
Are you re-experiencing the trauma through thoughts, dreams, illusions, flashbacks, recurrent images, or a sense of reliving the experience?
Do you experience distress when exposed to things that remind you of the trauma?
Do you avoid things that cause you to remind you of the trauma?
Do you experience anxiety or a heightened sense of arousal or awareness?
Do these disturbances cause you significant distress or impair your social or occupational function or render you unable to complete necessary tasks?
Did these symptoms start within four weeks of the traumatic event and have they lasted more than two days but less than a month?
If any of these questions and symptoms apply to you, speak with a doctor or mental health professional right away. Prompt treatment is the key to overcoming acute anxiety disorder. With the right treatment, you can reduce your symptoms