The anxiety and behavioral disturbances that develop
within a month of exposure to extreme trauma. The symptoms of an acute stress disorder
usually begin during or shortly following the trauma. Such extreme traumatic events
include rape or other severe physical assault, near-death experiences in accidents,
witnessing a murder, and combat.
The symptom of dissociation, which reflects a perceived detachment of the mind
from the emotional state or even the body, is a critical feature. Dissociation also
is characterized by a sense of the world as a dreamlike or unreal place and may
be accompanied by poor memory of the specific events, which in severe form is known
as dissociative amnesia.
Other features of acute stress disorder include symptoms of generalized anxiety
and hyperarousal, avoidance of situations or stimuli that elicit memories of the
trauma, and persistent, intrusive recollections of the event via flashbacks, dreams,
or recurrent thoughts or visual images.
If the symptoms and behavioral disturbances of the acute stress disorder persist
for more than a month, and if these features are associated with functional impairment
or significant distress to the sufferer, the diagnosis is changed to posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD).
medical
dictionary, online medical dictionary, medical
terminology dictionary, free online medical
dictionary, medical dictionary, online medical
dictionary, medical terminology dictionary, free
online medical dictionary, dictionary medical,
dictionary medical online, dictionary medical
terminology, dictionary free medical online,
dictionary free medical, dictionary medical
terms, dictionary drug medical medicine,
dictionary health illustrated medical nursing
profession stedmans, dictionary English medical,
dictionary medical online terminology,
dictionary encyclopedia medical online,
condition dictionary medical, dictionary
medical, dictionary drug medical, medical
dictionary software, cyclopedic dictionary index
medical tabers thumb, medical dictionary, online
medical dictionary, medical terminology
dictionary
