We all have stress throughout our lives. After a stressful event, we often feel disappointed for a few days or weeks, but we continue with our lives keeping the memory of that event. But in some cases that discomfort interferes in our lives. PTSD and acute stress often go hand in hand. This is because the diagnosis of PTSD cannot be made until at least one month has passed since the traumatic experience.
However, some people are likely to experience characteristic symptoms of post-traumatic stress shortly after the traumatic event, which may be acute stress disorder. In this Online Psychology article we explain the difference between post-traumatic stress disorder and acute stress.
Index
- Acute stress disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Acute and post-traumatic stress: basic differences
- What causes acute or post-traumatic stress?
Acute stress disorder.
Acute stress disorder occurs when a person has a
The symptoms of acute and post-traumatic stress disorder are much the same. But acute stress does not need all symptoms to be present for a diagnosis, and these symptoms should present shortly after the traumatic event has occurred. Some of the symptom They are:
- Avoidance symptoms: avoid thoughts, conversations, feelings, places and people that remind us of that event. Loss of interest in activities and difficulty remembering some moments of the event.
- Re-experimentation symptoms: thoughts or memories related to the event, nightmares, flashbacks ...
- Hyperarousal symptoms: sleep problems, irritability, anger, difficulty concentrating, etc.
- Negative thinking and emotions: the way you think about yourself and others may change after the trauma. You may feel guilty or ashamed. Loss of interest in activities that used to be satisfactory before the traumatic event. It can also be felt that the world is dangerous and that no one can be trusted.
For example, a person with acute stress may experience thoughts, memories, or dreams related to the traumatic event. And you can try to avoid objects, people, or places that remind you of the event.
Acute stress it also includes dissociation symptoms. Dissociation occurs when a person feels disconnected from himself and his surroundings. Dissociation can range from a temporary loss of contact with reality to having no memories for a long period of time, that life span would be blank, and the person feels as if they are outside her body, as if they are seeing themselves as someone else person.
Post-traumatic stress disorder.
The post traumatic stress disorder it occurs in some people after a traumatic event. Your symptoms usually start shortly after the event, but may not appear until months or years later. Women are twice as likely to develop PTSD as men, even children can develop it. Post-traumatic stress disorder can occur along with symptoms of depression, substance abuse, or other anxiety disorders.
As for the symptoms, as we mentioned previously, they would be mainly those described for acute stress disorder.
Acute and post-traumatic stress: basic differences.
People with acute stress disorder are at higher risk of eventually developing post-traumatic stress disorder. This is due to dissociative symptoms present in acute stress, since the person is not able to remember important moments of an event, nor the emotions that have experienced, which may interfere with the person's ability to recover from the event, and ultimately develop stress post-traumatic.
The post-traumatic stress is difficult to treat and it can have a major impact on the well-being of trauma survivors. Hence, the work carried out with those who present acute stress is very important to prevent the development of post-traumatic stress disorder. Although we must bear in mind that there is some debate about whether acute stress can predict post-traumatic stress, since many people with stress acute end up developing post-traumatic stress, but many people diagnosed with post-traumatic stress do not have a prior history of stress acute.
In conclusion, we could say that main differences between acute and post-traumatic stress They are:
- The moment they show up: acute stress would occur shortly after experiencing the event (3 days-1 month after the event), while post-traumatic stress would appear later, at least 1 month later.
- Diagnostic criteria: the symptoms, although they are the same, in acute stress do not need to all occur, while in post-traumatic stress they do.
What causes acute or post-traumatic stress?
Not everyone who experiences a traumatic event develops acute or post-traumatic stress and is able to recover from the trauma after a time. There is no single cause. Acute or post-traumatic stress disorder can develop as a result of a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
A person who has previously experienced trauma, stressful events, or has a psychological disorder may be more likely to develop acute or post-traumatic stress. So it is very important to take into account the protection and risk factors in each case.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Difference between post-traumatic stress disorder and acute stress, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.
