Acute stress disorder is a mental disorder that is also known as acute stress reaction or shock. This psychological condition develops in an individual in response to a traumatic event. This disorder was first described by Walter cannon in the 1920s and was later recognized as the initial stage of a general adaptation syndrome that is known to control the response to stress in vertebrates and other organisms.

Stress is a multi- dimensional process that occurs in reaction to events or situations in our environment known as stressors. Different individuals react differently to the same event or situation both physically and psychologically. Moreover, a particular individual may react differently to the same stressor at different times.

There is a widespread notion about stress that it stems from the negative events in our lives. However, this is not true. Even positive events such as getting married or receiving an unanticipated promotion can also produce significant amounts of stress.

Diagnostic criteria for Acute stress Disorder:

Acute stress disorder is a debilitating condition in which the stressor is extremely severe and involves an intense fear of a particular situation or event. The individual may feel he/she is faced with a life threatening situation such as the devastation of one’s home, seeing another person mutilated or killed or being the victim of physical violence. The disorder can last from a minimum of two days to a maximum of four weeks and usually onsets within 14 days of the traumatic event. A person is diagnosed with this disorder when:

The individual has been in a traumatic situation wherein he/she experienced or witnessed an event involving actual or susceptible death or serious injury.

The individual’s response was that of intense fear, helplessness and terror.

The individual has dissociative symptoms after the event such as depersonalization, derealization, and absence of emotional attachment and a sense of numbing.

The individual is traumatized.

The individual has recurrent images of the traumatic event in the form of dreams, illusions, and flashback episodes or as sense of reliving the experience.

The individual notably avoids all situations that arouse recollections of the trauma such as feelings, conversations, people or places.

The individual is extremely anxious.

The individual’s daily life is disrupted after the event and he/she is incapable of performing necessary tasks.