General public definition
- Acute stress disorder (ASD) is listed as a diagnosis in the DSM-5-TR and ICD-11.
- ASD describes a collection of feelings, behaviours, and experiences that can occur in the first month after a person is exposed to a potentially psychologically traumatic event (e.g. actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence). The exposure can occur in many ways. For details of exposures that may be associated with an ASD diagnosis, see the “Potentially psychologically traumatic event (PPTE)” section.
- ASD reactions can include:
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- immediate feelings of terror, panic, anxiety, rage, or sickness when you are exposed to a sound, sight, or smell that reminds an individual of the event
- vivid and intrusive memories of the event that feel as if the event is happening again (“flashbacks”)
- nightmares and disturbed sleep
- not remembering the event (amnesia), or feeling emotionally numb
- avoiding places, people, or circumstances that remind an individual of the event
- being hyperalert to threat or danger, and
- feeling that things are unreal or that you are living in a dream (depersonalization or derealization).
- ASD may develop into posttraumatic stress disorder after one month.
- ASD is diagnosed if there is no other physical or mental health condition that better explains the person’s condition.
Academic definition
- Acute stress disorder (ASD) is currently listed as a diagnosis in both the DSM-5-TR and ICD-11.
- ASD is mental disorder that can occur after exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, sexual violence, or to multiple concomitant exposures. Details of exposures that may be associated with a diagnosis for ASD are provided in the “Potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTE)” section.
- Similar to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, ASD symptoms may include (but are not limited to):
- Recurrent involuntary memories on exposure to reminders of the event
- An altered sense of reality, as if the event is recurring or the patient / client is living in a dream (i.e. “flashbacks”)
- Amnesia for important aspects of the event
- Exaggerated startle response and other forms of hyperarousal on exposure to reminders of the event
- Intense or prolonged psychological distress in response to cues that resemble an aspect of the event
- Irritability and angry outbursts
- Hypervigilance
- Sleep disturbance and nightmares
- Problems concentrating
- Inability to feel positive emotions, or persistent feelings of numbness or detachment, and
- Avoidance of any reminders of the psychologically traumatic event (including memories, thoughts, feelings, or people, places, activities that are reminders of the event).
- ASD may be diagnosed if the signs and symptoms have lasted for more than two days but less than one month and cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
- ASD may be diagnosed if the symptoms and signs are not better explained by another mental or physical health condition or the effects of a substance.
- ASD can evolve into posttraumatic stress disorder or other mental disorders.
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